Cressi Travelight Lady?

[KatieMac]

I'm looking for feedback from people who have used (have partners that have used) this BC. The reviews on this site are from 2008.

I'm thinking this may be my first BC (everyone tells me I will eventually end up in a back inflate) because
- jacket will help me feel stable on the surface
- lightweight so good for travel
- good price
- seems well equiped

But I have read about quality issues after only about 10 dives.

Is this a good BC? Would you recommend it? Would you buy it again? What are the cons?

 

[KeithG]

my dive buddy bought one of these to replace a large, heavy bulky scubapro bcd. we are vacation divers. she loves hers.

she has used it on 3 trips so about 60 salt water dives with no issues. it is holding up well.

i have a several year older cressi version called the flex that is even lighter (no removable integrated weight pockets) that has several hundred salt water dives on it. no issues.

 

[Scubamat]

Not a lady sorry but I have the air travel 2 and like it so far but don't have many dives on it yet bought because all my diving is on the other end of a flight. Will be spending a week diving in Bali at the end of April so will have more to comment then.

 

[UFOrb]

When I was looking at BCs recently my LDC steered me away from Cressi. They actually no longer sell Cressi BCDs citing quality issues. Have you looked at the AquaLung Zuma or Scubapro Litehawk, for example? These are supposed to be better quality than the Cressi in terms of materials (aside from any other (potential) quality issues mentioned be my LDC), particularly the Litehawk, although you don't get proper integrated weight pockets with the Litehawk if that's important to you. FWIW, I ended up with the Litehawk (new version). Will be trying it out in the pool in the next couple of weeks, but very happy with it out of the water (for a start its got metal d-rings and trim weight pockets beneath the wing) - much cheaper here in the UK than N America for some reason.

Edit: I just noticed that the Cressi Travelight is a jacket style (I was originally thinking of the Ultralight), whereas the Zuma & Litehawk are back inflate which may have a bearing on your decision too, one way or another. although I'm yet to try it the back inflate really appeals to me. Many on SB prefer back inflates - and you may even get the BP/W brigade preaching the virtues of a wing set up