First BCD: Aqua Lung Soul i3 or TransPac Travel XT for Petite Woman

[Morlan]

My girlfriend and I just completed our OW course and are looking into our first BCDs. She’s petite; 5’2” and 95 lbs.

Using the rental jacket BCDs, she used 4 lbs. in tropical conditions (rash guard) at Turks and Caicos and used 20 lbs in California (full 7mm wetsuit, hood, gloves, boots) during the OW course.

After researching women’s BCDs, I narrowed the list down to the Aqua Lung Soul i3 in a size XXS with 22 lbs. lift capacity. Using the optimal buoyancy calculator, she might still need to wear a weight belt in addition to the integrated weights on the Soul i3 due to lift capacity.

I’m also looking into my first BCD and was initially interested in the ScubaPro Hydros Pro but now looking into a BPW setup and narrowed it down to Dive Rite Transplate or Deluxe with Travel XT and Voyager XT wings to cover local and travel dives. I was also considering Xdeep Zen or Zeos systems and Halcyon Eclipse or Infinity systems.

During my research, I found that Dive Rite offers smaller sizes for the TransPac which can be used with the same wings so was thinking maybe girlfriend can use a TransPac Travel XT. I haven’t found many smaller metal backplate options and would love to hear more suggestions.

Thanks in advance for your feedback and suggestions!

~Mor

 

[Fred Tagge]

Backplates can be had in many sizes and materials. I think the smallest plate I've made was a specialty plate for a very short individual that had a top of plate to bottom length of a bit over 9 inches, while the longest so far is a bit over 29". "Normal" plates run a bit under 16" but folks commonly order plates in the ~18" -20" range. If you normally travel to dive an Aluminum plate is a good idea, with cold water divers often needing either a heavier plate material and thickness or methods to easily add weights to match conditions. Most aluminum plates have a negative buoyancy of about a pound or less, while Stainless steel plates start at about 3 pounds and can go up from there to over 50 pounds if that is what the dive requires. My wife is 5'2" and uses a plate just a bit under 13" long. Putting her in too long a plate or BC and she'll be beating on her pelvic girdle with the weight of the tank, a truly non-optimum result.
I can be reached by PM here or Fredtgearms@gmail.com if you have any other questions on fit.

 

[azstinger11]

My wife and I started out with the i3 system, I'd recommend against them. It's pretty gimmicky, non standard, and expensive when it breaks.

I'd recommend either a traditional BP/W or the transpac. My wife dives a standard size backplate and its fine. But if you truly need a small backplate could do something like this, Helium Dive - Short Titanium Backplate .

 

[Marie13]

I love the Transpac. It’s the base for my sidemount rig.

 

[Morlan]

Thanks for all your feedback.

She thought the i3 system was so convenient but I’ve convinced her to go with a BP/W so now I just need to decide on a small backplate. The following were mentioned in other threads:

SubGravity 3mm short stainless steel
OxyCheq small stainless steel

I believe Halcyon also has a small backplate but much more expensive. The OxyCheq small is 13” and weighs 4.2 lbs.

Now I’m debating between standard HOG style harness and “deluxe/confort/adjustable” harnesses. I guess trying to convince myself as well. All feedback greatly appreciated.

 

[azstinger11]

Thanks for all your feedback.

She thought the i3 system was so convenient but I’ve convinced her to go with a BP/W so now I just need to decide on a small backplate. The following were mentioned in other threads:

SubGravity 3mm short stainless steel
OxyCheq small stainless steel

I believe Halcyon also has a small backplate but much more expensive. The OxyCheq small is 13” and weighs 4.2 lbs.

Now I’m debating between standard HOG style harness and “deluxe/confort/adjustable” harnesses. I guess trying to convince myself as well. All feedback greatly appreciated.

Those both appear to be out of stock at the moment?

I’ve dove both single piece webbing and harnesses. I now dive exclusively harnesses. I frequently would go between 3mm, 7mm, and drysuit and felt like it needed adjustments for each exposure suit. Could dial it in for any one suit/exposure but frequently changing between the extremes found it to loose/tight for my tastes. That and I have a shoulder flexibility issue. So for me they were just a righteous pain the butt for no real benefit when a good harness makes life easier.

This admittedly a non standard opinion about one piece webbing.

 

[Morlan]

Those both appear to be out of stock at the moment?

I’ve dove both single piece webbing and harnesses. I now dive exclusively harnesses. I frequently would go between 3mm, 7mm, and drysuit and felt like it needed adjustments for each exposure suit. Could dial it in for any one suit/exposure but frequently changing between the extremes found it to loose/tight for my tastes. That and I have a shoulder flexibility issue. So for me they were just a righteous pain the butt for no real benefit when a good harness makes life easier.

This admittedly a non standard opinion about one piece webbing.

Yeah, I contacted Sub-Gravity and they’ll have stock in 4-6 weeks and the OxyCheq might be available from other retailers.

I don’t change exposure suits often but will if I travel but at that point I’ll have to swap out the backplate and wing so would have to readjust anyways but the flexibility/adjustability of a harness is appealing. I can understand the plastic buckles are a failure point but then that would be the case for all jacket BCDs. The Dive Rite Deluxe with quick release only has a buckle on the left shoulder I think. Shoulder pads can’t be that evil.