First BC

[normdog]

Hello all,

I am new to this board, but have been diving for 2 years and have done 45 dives. I spent most of the weekend on these boards reading the last 50 pages of each major thread - really have learned a lot!

I went to the local dive shop and saw that they have Zeagles on sale for 30% off. I thinking of the Stiletto for me and the Zena for my wife. I only dive while on vacation 3-4 weeks a year in Mexico, and usually one other tropical destination.

Yes, I know that I should try several out, rent, etc but there is nowhere in my area to rent other than standard vest stuff.

Based on all of the posts I have read here, these seem to be pretty good BCs and I figure at 30% off if they don't work out I could sell them on ebay for more!

Other than "buy a bp/w", any other reasons this would be a bad purchase?

Thanks for all the great info here!

 

[diver 85]

I have dived the Scout by Zeagle almost exclusively for the last 2.5 years---love it!!!(it was my 1st BI after over 20 years in my jacket styled old Dacor....hmmm)....last spring I got a BP/W just for the heck of it & notice no difference between it & my Scout.....Zeagle makes a great product too.......The 2 of you should love them assuming a good fit etc.....

 

[Jim Lapenta]

If you are doing traveling and strictly warm water I;d recommend the Zeagle Express as well. SRP of 280 bucks or so, adjustable for anyone 60lbs to 350lbs! Really! I have had mine for a couple weeks and 3 pool sessions and I love it.

 

[Lee Taylor]

Nope. It will not be a bad purchase in my opinion. I wore a Zeagle Ranger for 14yrs. My girlfriend wears a Zeagle Escape. She has worn it for two dive seasons now. I changed to the Aqualung SeaQuest Black Diamond primarily to try something different. I seem to like the one tank-strap concept better. First off, its much faster. I use to like the Zeagle because it secures the tank better by using two straps. If you need to drop your weights (happen to me, did not think it ever would) it is hard not to drop both of the weight pouches with the Zeagle rip cord design for release. Some BC's have seperate pouches for weights that can be dropped seperately. The Aqualung has two seperate pouches. I like this better because you can drop one pouch at a time. The Zeagle is an excellent product. No serious faults with it. My inflator wore out after 250 dives. I could replace it and keep diving it but decided it is time for a new one. Gave me great service. Had a few fasteners and the tank strap plastic part fail over the years. No big deal. Easily fixable. They are all going to do that. I may re-build it as a back-up.

 

[Crush]

Ditto on the Zeagle Scout. The Stiletto seems like a heftier version of the Scout.

The only problem with the Scout is the 24lb bladder is a bit wimpy for cold water diving in a wetsuit. Cold water in a drysuit or warm water is fine.

Is the Stiletto compact enough to go carry-on on a flight? The scout is.

 

[lulubelle]

I like my Stiletto quite a lot. It is durable enough for NC diving, and travels just fine too. I like the Zeagle line for fit, I was able to put a small shoulder in a medium BC.

 

[Walter]

Zeagles tend to trap air.

 

[lulubelle]

Zeagles tend to trap air.

Perhaps so, but there is a shoulder dump and two rear dumps. I have gotten quite good at keeping mine empty. I don't know if this is an issue with other BCs or is specific to this model.

 

[herman]

Zeagles tend to trap air.

:shocked2: Holy crap Walter I never thougt I would ever disagree with you but the day has come.
I have dove Zeagles for the last 9 years or so- Ranger, Scout (with 2 different size bladders) and now the Express Tech, no problems at all with any of them trapping air.

 

[normdog]

Thanks for the input - I will check out the other models as well.