Herman, I happen to agree with you... I have both a back inflate and a BP/W. Dive the BP/W most of the time, but there is a place for a BC. LP steel tanks throw me too far backward on the surface and if in warm water, don't have enough weight to correct, so I don't use it under those conditions.herman:Welcome to the board and to diving. Don't confuse the overly vocal opinions of a few with fact. There are plenty of experienced divers who choose not to use a BP/wing, including myself. Nothing wrong with a BP and if I were doing tech diving, it would be the BC I would choose but I was not impress with them for the diving I do. They are a pain to adjust, require a weight belt and did not provide any advantages that outweighted the disadvantages for me. And from some of the comments I have seen here lately, they have gotten expensive. You may find you like it or you may not. The best advise is still to rent/borrow several BCs of different types and find what suits you best.
For what little it's worth I do prefer back inflate BCs (a BP/wing is a type of back inflate) over jackets but I have and can dive in them all.
Aluminum tanks require weight on the tank bands, which added to the cost of the BP/W. Anding attachments added cost.. added pockets added cost.
Still like the BP/W, but it is not the low cost solution most would think.