Best overall BC made Period

[BadLatitude]

ya know the whole dive industry has us brainwashed in a way ...with my BC completely deflated im neutral untill about 45-50 feet i usually dont even give it a tiney shot of air. Knowing this i often ask myself why i dont go get a back plate and use the simple set up for 80% of my diving. but then again i can hang and stuff so much crap into my BC.

Btw i have a zeagle ranger ltd on order.

 

[costi]

You mention that the black diamond will hold up to 50 # of weight. I am a newcomer to diving, and have been diving in the Northeast in a full 7mm suit. I carry quite a bit of weight (36#), only carry 16 of it in my bc. The rest on my belt. My theory is that if I ever need to remove my Sherwood Avid underwater for whatever reason, I don't wish to remove all of my weight so that I end up like a cork. FYI: I like the Avid extremely well. Not sure why they put a pocket for the collapsible snorkel though. I am not impressed with the snorkel. Could be a good spot for a short safety sausage though. I agree with most of the others that there is no one answer to your question.
Juust wanted to throw in the integrated weight comment.....good luck

 

[kidspot]

... Not sure why they put a pocket for the collapsible snorkel though...

It's a cell phone pocket... at leat that's what my LDS says

 

[Kevin4diving]

Go to scubadiving.com and look at equipment reports. Also do a search there and you should find their "best buy" suggestions by a team of, well, experts.

 

[RonFrank]

Despite Stryker's advice I would recommend a lightweight AL backplate for warm waterd diving and a heavier steel backplate for coldwater diving.

A BP&W doesn't take up much space when you are traveling. You won't have to worry about anything getting broken on it either when you are far from home and can't replace some important doodad...

Exactly what will get broken on a BC that could not get broken on a BP/W? It's not necessarily that I disagree with your advice, but I can not really thing of anything that is all that different between the two as far as things that may break?

I dive a Ranger. O2X has the Ranger, the NightHawk, and a BP/W which I feel are some of the best options available today, so his opinion is definately worth listening too, even if I think he is a bit biased on the BP/W which IMO is not for everyone.

 

[Vie]

Exactly what will get broken on a BC that could not get broken on a BP/W? It's not necessarily that I disagree with your advice, but I can not really thing of anything that is all that different between the two as far as things that may break?

There are just less to break—if you are diving a Hog rig or a “DIR” setup, you have the “one piece” webbing with no plastic clasps, snaps, adjustments etc. and all the fittings such as buckle and D-rings will be metal. Most recent modern BCs will also have two shoulder dumps (one on the right, one where the corrugated hose meets the bladder) as well as rear dump(s). A bp/wing (such as Halcyon or Oxycheq) just have the left rear dump valve.

 

[Azza]

I reckon he should get a horse collar BCD...

 

[kidspot]

Exactly what will get broken on a BC that could not get broken on a BP/W? It's not necessarily that I disagree with your advice, but I can not really thing of anything that is all that different between the two as far as things that may break?...

Part of this is because much of a BP/Wing system is either highly unlikely to break, easy to repair, or replaceable with parts generally available from a hardware store... The plate is not going to break, whereas even in my short time diving I've seen 2 Jacket BCD's with broken packs (the plastic platform the tank sits on) and many with straps about to come apart due to stitching having failed. The jacket I used in my BOW had one strap being held together by 3 pieces of thread on the one shoulder strap. There is no stitching to come undone on a BP and the webbing is easily replaced from any hardware store. In other words there are fewer breakable parts. On either type of system the bladder can be punctured or a lp inflator mechanism fail, but beyond that a BP/Wing system doesn't have any other parts likely to fail or wear out easily. It also folds down very flat for travel. btw - carrying a spare lp inflator mechanism, rear dump valve assembly and a bottle of sealant (about $50 for all 3) means you can repair virtually anything that might break...

My rig has almost 100 dives on it in the past year and the webbing is barely frayed at the edges where it threads through the plate - at the current rate it will last another 200-300 dives before I start to consider replacing it (which will cost about $15) All other parts are stainless steel, which might bend, but not nearly as likely to break as plastic.

Aloha, Tim