BC's with "Elevator" Lever

[24940]

Hey! Stealing points from my post, are you? Well, we both agree on very much it seems. Good points!

Steal? Me? More a case of great minds thinking alike, I should think.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bu...09970-bc-s-elevator-lever-11.html#post3216006

 

[CBulla]

I dove a jacket for a while post OW class (which was about 20 years after I started diving both free and with gear) and it bothered me a LOT. I felt like I was wearing an uncomfortable harness every time. I started diving with it somewhat loose after I hit the water and really only used it to float the tank along with methen I saw and learned about the other rigs. I bought a plate from FredT, pulled a wing from Ebay, put the parts together and went off Venice Beach FL for the test dive and haven't looked back since.

You know, I don't know any of the jacket BC people who put on their gear then trot to the water like I do when diving single tank... they've got so much extra weight and the tank hits them in the legs.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I dunno, Mike, he may have a bit of a point here. His wording and description may be a bit etreme, but people do tend to get extreme on this board sometimes. I've gotten a general feeling that alot of divers here on this forum describe the bp/w as the end all of bc configuration. Some have a serious elitist attitude about their bp/w and toward non bp/w users.

It's true that many people with more than a casual interest in diving (or anything else) can be a bit extreme. However, if you're saying that BP/wing users have mistreated other individuals, I have to ask for specific examples.

On this board, it seems fairly popular to use the term "elitist" when one disagrees with another but has no content on which to base a discussion or debate.

Besides, I think he may have meant this a bit tongue-in-cheek.

I didn't get that impression.

Describing some of the elitists on this board as "Taliban" can be pretty accurate and funny.

There is that "elitist" again...I guess "funny" depends on your sense of humor but in what way do you think the reference to the Taliban accurate?

 

[MikeFerrara]

I dove a jacket for a while post OW class (which was about 20 years after I started diving both free and with gear) and it bothered me a LOT. I felt like I was wearing an uncomfortable harness every time. I started diving with it somewhat loose after I hit the water and really only used it to float the tank along with methen I saw and learned about the other rigs. I bought a plate from FredT, pulled a wing from Ebay, put the parts together and went off Venice Beach FL for the test dive and haven't looked back since.

I started diving with a jacket. The first bc I baught was a jacket and used it for a couple of years and I don't know how many hundreds of dives. Of course the dive shop only had jackets and a zeagle ranger. Since then I've owned and used LOTS of jackets and a bunch of back inflation bc's. It all worked ok until our needs changed. Once I reluctantly moved tried a plate/wing for some kinds of diving I found that I prefered it for all my other diving as well. The rest of the stuff is stacked up in the garage someplace.

 

[markrovner]

Besides, I think he may have meant this a bit tongue-in-cheek. Describing some of the elitists on this board as "Taliban" can be pretty accurate and funny.

Thanks -- I was both going for the laugh and trying to make a point.

I've been aronnd the dive world enough to get a snoot full of what genuinely seems to be wrong with the scuba industry. PADI is awful and their magazine is a giant ad, presumably for advertisers. It's old school bad -- the kind of puffery that one rarely finds anymore.

I really value this board -- real people offering generally great advice on dive operators, places to go, etc. BUT...there are a vociferous few (bordering IMHO as trolldom) for whom the backplate is the answer to all questions. It's incredibly irritating, and it seems to have happened on this thread.

I plead guilty to adding little useful information on the QDi3. I am going to Grand Cayman (Ocean Frontiers) in a couple of weeks and hopefully then will have actual experience to share. I am a newbie (just shy of 60 dives) and you'll need to take that into account.

For those whose manhood i questioned, my apologies. And to all, happy and safe New Year.

 

[PerroneFord]

Every diver that attacked the i3 including the dive shops/instructors had nothing but negative remarks for this BC; and yet they had never ever dove one, so what gives?

If a person has even a bit of knowledge about cars, they will know better than to take a Ferrari driving through the woods. And they won't take a Hummer to the racetrack. Direct experience driving each vehicle is unnecessary. In much the same way, an experienced diver can evaluate a piece of diving equipment, and rate it's potential effectiveness under water. I could name you dozens of experienced divers who do the most difficult dives in the world under the most harsh conditions, and for whom gear failure might mean death. And none of them use an i3. I won't bother to tell you what every single one of them uses, because you already know.

I have mastered my bouyancy...

This comment alone speaks volumes.



Good luck with your diving.

 

[evil_xander]

Mark, as it seems, you didn't yet get a chance to try a BP/W as you didn't answer my question back there. Please do when you have the opportunity, perhaps you'll realize why some people are almost fanatical about it. I'm pretty much sold on it.

I for one will not go back to any jacket type BC, regardless of gimmicks or lack of. I don't really care how comfy they might look like on the surface, that is not their role, plus the 'comfy factor' acts like a magnet for more lead to sink it.

I find nothing uncomfortable about a single webbing harness or a steel/AL plate on my back, but do appreciate how it packs, requires less led on my belt and feels solid, not wobbly and doesn't ride up. If you feel the same about your ProQD, more power to you then.

The whole i3 thing I have a problem only as it presents itself as a solution for lack of skills, something that should be worked on not neglected by relying on a technology solution.


Merry xmas to you too!

 

[MikeFerrara]

for whom the backplate is the answer to all questions.

I don't think I've come across many problems that only had one possible solution. However, a bp/wing is one possible solution that elegantly addresses quite a few common problems in a single package. It's not the only solution, though, and there isn't any magic to it.

 

[markrovner]

Mark, as it seems, you didn't yet get a chance to try a BP/W as you didn't answer my question back there. Please do when you have the opportunity, perhaps you'll realize why some people are almost fanatical about it. I'm pretty much sold on it.

I for one will not go back to any jacket type BC, regardless of gimmicks or lack of. I don't really care how comfy they might look like on the surface, that is not their role, plus the 'comfy factor' acts like a magnet for more lead to sink it.

I find nothing uncomfortable about a single webbing harness or a steel/AL plate on my back, but do appreciate how it packs, requires less led on my belt and feels solid, not wobbly and doesn't ride up. If you feel the same about your ProQD, more power to you then.

The whole i3 thing I have a problem only as it presents itself as a solution for lack of skills, something that should be worked on not neglected by relying on a technology solution.


Merry xmas to you too!

Thanks. I have never even seen a backplate -- perhaps owing to my warm water dive habits. I absolutely look forward to trying it though, and for my own sake, having just plunked down 5 bills for the ProQD, i hope I don't fall in love with it.

The thing that does confuse me a bit regarding reactions to the i3 -- it strikes me as a more elegant and streamlined way to get air in and out of a BC instead of a big-ass corrugated inflator hose. Why is this not appealing. I can also say as someone who still has to get upright to vent air, i look forward to being able to stay horizontal. Admittedly this is a newbie thing....

Mark

 

[CBulla]

For those whose manhood i questioned, my apologies. And to all, happy and safe New Year.

HA! That was never in question for me. I'm one of those guys confident enough to dive in a speedo, which is why the thought of me as a Diviban type is bordering on the line of absurd hilarity! Seriously, could you see a manatee man of my size in full neoprene dive burka trying to stay warm?? Pfft! I've got enough natural bioprene and dive in water no colder than 70 degrees anway.

What actually was being questioned was why some of us who chose something different were being lumped in with those who chose to represent themselves as indulging in a different soft beverage. Some of us have adopted some practices or configurations that make sense, but there is nothing more than just the basics man.