Hi,
I've been monitoring this forum for the last few months as I've set my mind on a new BCD, and I really want value for my money. I want the save as much as possible for travelling to places where diving is extreme fun, instead of having to spent the next couple of months in local dives below 10°C (having a little bit less fun.:14
I also find that there's a lot of fun and personal reward in extensive research.
So yet another 'what should I buy' - question. I'll try to make it interesting, though!
Baring in mind the general advice 'buy the BCD that has the most comfortable fit within your budget/ a given pricerange', I went out and hired, begged, bribed, ... a whole lot of people for a whole lot of different BCD's, ranging from very basic to advanced (weight-integrated, flight piloted, .... whatever, .... ) models. I can recommend this approach to everyone, ... it has given me a lot of fun, a few exhilarating stories and a lot of new friends!
So I have used BP/W, Mares, Cressi, Seaquest, Beuchat, Dacor and quite a few others in the process and finally decided on going with a backinflate BCD.
I'm not really interested in the BP/W vs. BCD-jacket-style discussion. So don't bother, there's enough said on this forum and others to go around. BP/W is indeed very nice, but a bit to much for the recreational type of diving I'm into (lot of moving around, travelling, no twin-setup needed, ....). I choose backinflate over jacket-style BCD, because of a higher over-all personal level of comfort. This narrows down choices quite a bit.
Looking around, there's a lot of good comments on the Seaquest and Zeagle BCD's: Zeagle Ranger comes to mind, and at www.scubatoys.com, also the "Zeagle Barricade" looks promising from a travelling point of view (not as bulky?)
So here's the thing.... I'm not buying a BCD without having tried it. Doing otherwise just seems like a stupid thing to do, but I would really like to compare the Zeagles to the Seaquest BCD's (my favourite so far). So I started looking around for a Zeagle-dealer in the neighbourhood of Antwerp (Belgium). I'm even willing to travel a few miles (e.g. the Netherlands). Result : I found no dealer, no reseller, not even an online shop!
What to do? Order myself one in the States (Larry & Joe?) and make a refund agreement if the BCD doesn't please me? Is this possible? Are there any other possibilities? Help me out here, because the order-try-refund approach seems a little over the top, taking shipment and import taxes into account.
Are there any other ways to get to know the Zeagle BCD's? If I ordered one in the States, how will I get it serviced/fixed in the future?
All your help and comments (or perhaps other suggestions) are greatly appreciated.
Happy diving.
I've been monitoring this forum for the last few months as I've set my mind on a new BCD, and I really want value for my money. I want the save as much as possible for travelling to places where diving is extreme fun, instead of having to spent the next couple of months in local dives below 10°C (having a little bit less fun.:14
I also find that there's a lot of fun and personal reward in extensive research. So yet another 'what should I buy' - question. I'll try to make it interesting, though!
Baring in mind the general advice 'buy the BCD that has the most comfortable fit within your budget/ a given pricerange', I went out and hired, begged, bribed, ... a whole lot of people for a whole lot of different BCD's, ranging from very basic to advanced (weight-integrated, flight piloted, .... whatever, .... ) models. I can recommend this approach to everyone, ... it has given me a lot of fun, a few exhilarating stories and a lot of new friends!
So I have used BP/W, Mares, Cressi, Seaquest, Beuchat, Dacor and quite a few others in the process and finally decided on going with a backinflate BCD.
I'm not really interested in the BP/W vs. BCD-jacket-style discussion. So don't bother, there's enough said on this forum and others to go around. BP/W is indeed very nice, but a bit to much for the recreational type of diving I'm into (lot of moving around, travelling, no twin-setup needed, ....). I choose backinflate over jacket-style BCD, because of a higher over-all personal level of comfort. This narrows down choices quite a bit.
Looking around, there's a lot of good comments on the Seaquest and Zeagle BCD's: Zeagle Ranger comes to mind, and at www.scubatoys.com, also the "Zeagle Barricade" looks promising from a travelling point of view (not as bulky?)
So here's the thing.... I'm not buying a BCD without having tried it. Doing otherwise just seems like a stupid thing to do, but I would really like to compare the Zeagles to the Seaquest BCD's (my favourite so far). So I started looking around for a Zeagle-dealer in the neighbourhood of Antwerp (Belgium). I'm even willing to travel a few miles (e.g. the Netherlands). Result : I found no dealer, no reseller, not even an online shop!
What to do? Order myself one in the States (Larry & Joe?) and make a refund agreement if the BCD doesn't please me? Is this possible? Are there any other possibilities? Help me out here, because the order-try-refund approach seems a little over the top, taking shipment and import taxes into account.
Are there any other ways to get to know the Zeagle BCD's? If I ordered one in the States, how will I get it serviced/fixed in the future?
All your help and comments (or perhaps other suggestions) are greatly appreciated.
Happy diving.
