Equipment Trends: The BCD

[Octopusprime]

I think it is a sales experience issue. For any of you that work in a dive shop and someone comes in looking for new reg set. It is really easy for you to tell all of the great features of the regs they have used. Then when shopper asks about one they have not used they may know a couple specks but does not have the first hand experience about it being durable or how light it is and helped with their jaw fatigue.

Same me thing with wings. How many shop workers have used wings? If manufacturers want to increase wings they need to do events for the shop employees. Get them all in a wing in a pool or open water location. So they can experience thefreedom with out the restriction of a jacket and great trim. They would need to have set up for both rec set up single tank and a Tec set up with stages and doubles. Maybe even have them try with plate pad and strap pads so they can tell people is they are worth it.

 

[Centrals]

I thought long and hard during that trip about the best way the scuba industry as a whole could deal with this(POINTER STICK). I haven't got a plan yet.

Some divers will use it as an anchor!!!
They(dive shops in PG) tried to ban it few yrs ago without any success.
In the old days only the experienced shot but now even the OW student has a camera.

 

[lmorin]

Folks are generally certified with jacket style BCDs. Folks then buy what they know. There has been discussion here regarding how some person or other helped another person "tune" the BP/W so that it felt right. I have read that BP/Ws can have pockets, and various other devices added, approaching what jacket BCDs almost always have at the outset. Most rec divers do not want to configure gear or tweak it. And, they'll buy what they know. Moreover, there is a very good compromise between jacket and BP/W styles, and that is the back inflate style--like mine which happens to be an Aqualung Seaquest Balance. I bought it because it felt great in the shop. If I had not tried it on, I almost certainly would have purchased a jacket style, as I think most rec divers do.

 

[gcarter]

I'm also not a fan at all of integrated weights, I think they are a horrible idea. I'm of the thinking that weights and rig should be separate so in the event that a diver gets entagled underwater they can remove their rig free themselves and replace their S.C.U.B.A. while both the unit and the diver remaining neutral. All the weights in the unit means it's going down and the diver is going up.
To me the whole concept is a true warping of gear evolution and the worst idea ever.

Is that any different than the behaviour of a 6lb steel plate with ++ weight added in trim pockets or a STA?

 

[Redshift]

I thought long and hard during that trip about the best way the scuba industry as a whole could deal with this. I haven't got a plan yet.

It will change when dive ops get their s@£!$ together and realize that in order to make a buck today they are throwing away future revenues when the dive sites are all trashed and customers stop coming!
And the same way there are park rangers for land parks, I wonder how it would be to have some underwater ones.

I bought it because it felt great in the shop. If I had not tried it on, I almost certainly would have purchased a jacket style, as I think most rec divers do.

And most dive shops don't give BP for potential customers to try on. If they did, maybe more divers would be aware of their existence and of how comfortable they are.
And the adjustments are very simple. Although I admit that from what I've seen even adjusting a few straps is too much for some divers... which sounds wrong in an activity where plenty of gear is used.

 

[AdivingBel]

Folks are generally certified with jacket style BCDs. Folks then buy what they know. There has been discussion here regarding how some person or other helped another person "tune" the BP/W so that it felt right. I have read that BP/Ws can have pockets, and various other devices added, approaching what jacket BCDs almost always have at the outset. Most rec divers do not want to configure gear or tweak it. And, they'll buy what they know. Moreover, there is a very good compromise between jacket and BP/W styles, and that is the back inflate style--like mine which happens to be an Aqualung Seaquest Balance. I bought it because it felt great in the shop. If I had not tried it on, I almost certainly would have purchased a jacket style, as I think most rec divers do.

I agree. Unless diving locally, I'm not a big fan of new divers buying gear (other than mask & maybe fins & a case can be made for computer) until they get some dives under their belt. I didn't. (I know, I'm going to LDS hell). I dived rental gear for quite awhile and because of that I sampled alot of gear before I bought. I got the chance to try a back inflate rental and liked it. My first BCD was a Stiletto and I loved it. So much so, that when my wife decided she wanted her own BCD she got my Stiletto (she had dived it and liked it & I love her & I owe her for taking up diving with me, but that's another thread) and I moved on to a soft plate & wing rig like one I had seen while vacation diving. The other benefit of diving rental gear was I got really comfy diving what was available. I still rent gear if I'm going on a trip and I know I'm only going to get to dive a couple of times. I'll take my mask (perscription) & computer and maybe my boots/fins (bad feet that don't like rental full foot fins, about the only piece of rental gear that can "harsh my zen"). Of course this is all based on non-local, warm water dive travel (which includes alot of "new" divers). Other types of diving are a whole different story. All IMHO.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Is that any different than the behaviour of a 6lb steel plate with ++ weight added in trim pockets or a STA?

You'll never catch me using weight pockets, and if I'm using a thinner wetsuit I switch to an aluminum plate. There will never be a time when I won't have a weightbelt of some sort, unless I'm ever luck enough to dive in water warm enough to just use board shorts, a plastic backpack, AL80, and no bc, but that's something else entirely and is like liquor to a Mormon to most people around here.

 

[gcarter]

You'll never catch me using weight pockets, and if I'm using a thinner wetsuit I switch to an aluminum plate. There will never be a time when I won't have a weightbelt of some sort, unless I'm ever luck enough to dive in water warm enough to just use board shorts, a plastic backpack, AL80, and no bc, but that's something else entirely and is like liquor to a Mormon to most people around here.

LOL.

That sounds more like a preference though. My point is that logically, the two are equivalent. The argument for a more balanced rig does not dictate how the weight is attached.

When I was using my Balance, I liked the fact that I could split the weight between the pockets and a belt, made it easier to balance the rig and easier to dump weight should it be required in incremental amounts rater than all or nothing.

Switching to a BP/W has left about the same amount on my belt as with the BCD.

 

[Patoux01]

Is that any different than the behaviour of a 6lb steel plate with ++ weight added in trim pockets or a STA?

That's it, exactly what we needed to prove sidemount superiority.

 

[eelnoraa]

... To that end, in my last couple of dive trips I have noticed a slight uptick in the use of the BP/W by divers. ...

You sure you didn't stumble upon boats with some SBer, DIR trained diver or tech diving on vacation?