Can BP/W be better than this backinflated BC?

[ShoalDiverSA]

The BC you are looking at looks fine. I think Doc Intrepid nailed it concerning close-out sales - be very careful. I would definitely not throw money at the weight harness for now. Get the BC plus a conventional weightbelt (or a combination of weightbelt and weight pockets on your tank straps) and you'll be golden.

Of course, BP/W's are better

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[TSandM]

I think if you are doing purely recreational diving, with no ambitions to do anything else (and I'll warn you that that state can be VERY temporary), the DUI BC is a nice blend of the good parts of a back-inflate and a BP/W. If you can get it for that price, you are doing well.

$83 for a weight and trim is a good deal, too, at least compared with what they retail for in Seattle, which is about $105. I don't like the weight and trim because of the nuisance value of rethreading the cord if you pull the weights, so you really wouldn't want to practice anything involving dropping weights. But it is a VERY nice option for being able to move weight up and down and fore and aft to trim out properly.

 

[mrjimboalaska]

[And for what its worth - diving in general is not a sport that you do well on the cheap. Obviously seek out good deals but, like anything else, you will generally tend to get what you pay for.]

Caveat Emptor,

Doc

If you go with the BP/W, you will have a rig that you can grow with, rather than buying BC after BC. Once you REALLY get the diving bug, you will wish and probably get that BP/W anyways, saving money on the front side may cost you in the end..

Doc pretty much hit it on the head....diving is not a cheap sport, why buy cheap equipment?
If you were skydiving, would you buy the cheap canopy (parachute)?

and did I mention BP/W's ROCK..........

 

[SangP]

I'm looking to buy my first BC or BP/W, for warm water single tank vacation/travel recreation diving. A new BP/W system will cost several hundred dollars. Then I saw this DUI backinflate BC on close out sale. It sounds good at $160.

Since, you are doing to do warm water single tank VACATION dives, get the lightest easiest to pack BC u can find. A typical bp/w is pretty heavy with all the ss hardware although it packs real nice and dries fast.

Heck for $160 get the darn DUI bc till you've decided to go further into more technical stuff then sell it off.

Be warned that once you try on a BP/W you might not want to use anything else LOL!

SangP

WAITTTT!!!! I just found out bout this review on DUI bcs:
http://www.divernet.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl?id=1373&section=2004&action=display&show=
If the explorer is anything like the delta, save yourself some grief and get either a Zeagle Escape or Stiletto or if you are be a adventurous just get yourself a BP/W LOL!

 

[victor]

The reviewer at Divernet definitely did not like this BC.

The killer flaw he encountered when he put air into the bladder was and I quote

“ Swimming horizontally, this cushion tends to pull back over the tank, hinging away from you level with your shoulders. The first sign of trouble is when the corrugated direct-feed hose disappears upwards until its business end gets caught by the front left shoulder facing under which it passes.

Distorted inner bag
You are meant to dump air by pulling on this hose, but even once you've located it (and that's not easy), pulling on it only pulls down that part of the buoyancy cell, rather than operating the top-of-hose dump valve.
The net result is that the air is left trapped in the upper and opposite part of the now distorted inner bag.”

This or similar must be common to a number of back inflate BC's and wings.
In traditional BC’s with the bladders at the front and the dumps on the back naturally ensure that as long as you are face down the dumps are at the highest point.

How is this accomplished with a wing.
I know it must be otherwise so many of you not be so enthusiastic about them.
Obviously when you are head up, or head down then this is not an issue but what happens when you are horizontal.

Torontonian Sorry to highjack your thread.

 

[Captain CaveMan]

I know you need to keep the $$ down so take a look at this.
www.diveriteexpress.com

Travel wing 315$
bp/ ss-150 al-65$
Harness next to nothing
2" croch strap Cheep
Weight pockets for 16lbs 100$
so right around 400$ you can have a great bp/w set up tahts a starter kit for all you diving needs.
you can not go wrong. spend the extra 100 and get this.

 

[divad]

LOL... I almost peed in my pants reading this.

You're easily entertained.

 

[drew52]

I know everyone on this board seems to think the BP/Wing is the only way to dive but for the purposes of what you plan to do I would say get an ordinary BC, either Back Inflate or Jacket Style. As great as the BP/Wing is it is not necessarily the best option with regards to your plans.

If at some point you do decide to go Tech or anything that requires the BP/Wing then upgrade. By that time you will have most likely used whatever BC you buy enough to have made it worthwhile.

If you are like me and lot of divers I know you'll probably be wanting new gear by that time anyway. So if you have the BP/Wing you'll probably want a new one. An upgrade and new model, just something new.

 

[divad]

I would say get an ordinary BC.

A BP/W is the most ordinary BC. The more ordinary, the better.

 

[Jarrett]

I know you need to keep the $$ down so take a look at this.www.diveriteexpress.com
Travel wing 315$
bp/ss-150 al-65$

The Travel Wing doesn't work with a BP. Need to go Venture wing with SS sex bolts minimum if you want a 30lb DR wing.

To the OP, this section has become the BP/W section. You can't get advice on non BP/W questions here anymore unfortunately. Most of the non-BP/W users have quit posting here due to the beating that take when they mention anything but BP/W. With that said, take the anti-traditional BCD talk with a grain of salt.