OK dfs, see if you can follow along "in context."
Dave quoted the above underlined words and asked;
To which my full answer was below;
You seem to have only maybe read the three parts you quoted (underlined) without reading any of the pertinent conversation. Following from above, we are having a conversation about my opinions. I also related some facts from my guiding/teaching experience, things I personally saw on Ocean dives.
I tried to be pretty specific about the gear I've used and seen to come up with my opinions. Yes I guess I got a little lazy not typing SeaQuest every time I typed Balance but I did type "SeaQuest Balance" the first time, just a few sentences ago, in the same post. As far as absolutes; I typed superior, not most superior ever. I guess the bold parts above are the cliff notes of this off topic rebuttal. The one correction I will make is;
I do know a few instructors who like me now use BI to guide off the boats, but more than half would use jackets when teaching students in the pool at least (students would mostly be in jackets) since we still own chlorine faded jackets. I only do Open Water training dives in my SeaQuest Balance when the Boss surprises me after my boat shifts.
IMHO, the SeaQuest/Aqua Lung jacket BC's that most of my employers have used for rental/training are the easiest BC's to release air from during a dive that I have had the pleasure to work with. My favorite photography BC is one of those designs. The Mares jackets at my current job seem to be easier to release air from than the non-jacket used by the occasional divers I get to lead. Also, IMHO, the majority of these divers are intimidated by the regular wind chop on the surface from our trade winds, and the jacket divers deal with that intimidation much better than the non-jacket divers. These opinions are due to the much greater percentage of non-jacket divers I see flailing near or at the surface.
Dave quoted the above underlined words and asked;
What makes these jackets easier to dump than other brands?
To which my full answer was below;
For starters, SeaQuest's superior designs. One of the best moves Aqua Lung ever made was buying SeaQuest.
The first superior design I will mention is not just on their jacket BC's; the in/deflator unit has simple easy to use buttons! The first shop I worked for used Oceanic jackets and I liked their in/deflate design less than SeaQuest but it was not that big an issue, until the new Oceanic wrap around inflate button circa '03-ish. That Oceanic design may be the worst ever, making it very hard to press the deflate button without also pressing the inflate button. As I see it, most big name BC manufacturers have similarly difficult deflate button ergonomics, you have to pay more attention to not inflate when you are trying to deflate than with the SeaQuest unit.
That said I'm sure there are other systems that are workable, above I was really just talking about the gear my employers have had for me to use (and many other shops/boats/resorts here).
The other superior design must be the way the in/deflate unit is positioned, as the vast majority of my divers in SeaQuest jackets have let air out easier than any other jackets I have seen infrequent/new divers in. I also dive a SeaQuest Balance, which has the same in/deflate piece as my jacket, but I must contort way farther up and to the right to get all the air out compared to the jacket. The kidney dump is also way more accessible on the jacket models (any brand here); the Balance wings out so I have to stretch as far back as possible to reach that dump, and I have relatively long arms!
I work in the Balance because the slate my employer requires me to use attaches more elegantly (and it was only $20 at the Lahaina Salvation Army), but it is more difficult for me to adjust my buoyancy in the Balance than in any jacket BC I have ever used. I had thousands of dives in jackets before using the back inflate so the difficulty is minimal to me, but when I see Balance divers with buoyancy issues I am not surprised!
The only divers I know with bp/w bought them for the flexibility of diving doubles or because they used to dive dry. I do know plenty of instructors who like me now use BI, but most of those would use jackets when teaching students (who would mostly be in jackets).
You seem to have only maybe read the three parts you quoted (underlined) without reading any of the pertinent conversation. Following from above, we are having a conversation about my opinions. I also related some facts from my guiding/teaching experience, things I personally saw on Ocean dives.
Hello Halemano, I have no intention to bash you as I believe you truly just want to convey your view with the best intention
However, I think you should differentiate more clearly between facts and personal opinions, as well as be careful with absolute statements.
Above, I think, illustrates what I mean by the latter.
I tried to be pretty specific about the gear I've used and seen to come up with my opinions. Yes I guess I got a little lazy not typing SeaQuest every time I typed Balance but I did type "SeaQuest Balance" the first time, just a few sentences ago, in the same post. As far as absolutes; I typed superior, not most superior ever. I guess the bold parts above are the cliff notes of this off topic rebuttal. The one correction I will make is;
I do know a few instructors who like me now use BI to guide off the boats, but more than half would use jackets when teaching students in the pool at least (students would mostly be in jackets) since we still own chlorine faded jackets. I only do Open Water training dives in my SeaQuest Balance when the Boss surprises me after my boat shifts.