Going from BP-wing to Jacket BCD ...

[dumpsterDiver]

What is it about the jacket BCD that you prefer in that case?

My original jacket BCD is still hanging in my scuba closet but I have a hard time trying to figure out what conditions I would opt for it over one of my BP rigs. I do have a number of BP rigs to cover situations where I need to make adjustments to the weight of my BP. I'm sure if the choice were to pack a 12 lb plate or a jacket BCD for a trip to warm water diving, I'd chose the jacket; but that is not a choice I'd have to make.

The BC is just much easier to get into and out of, the adjustable plastic shoulder clips are a huge benefit. I might put a tank on 6 or more times per day and a little less strain and a little quicker doff and don adds up to convienence.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

This is exactly correct. I have said the same thing and people have questioned my ability to dive. In rough water, floating alone and trying to see the boat (and also avoid getting run over by other boaters) the extra visibility, confortable head up position afforded by a jacket BC is very welcome.

 

[Mike Boswell]

The BCDs I have looked at in most shops are too big, too bulky, with too many features, too much plastic, too much padding, are too buoyant, and too cheaply built. IMHO, they are designed to be produced in Shanghai for $75.00 and sold to a novice diver in America for $749.00.

As a Minimalist, I don't like superfluous fluff. As a Robustian, I want bullet-proof features. My BPW has the absolute minimum of stuff, and the stuff it has, is as reliable as I can make it.

 

[Nemrod]

This is exactly correct. I have said the same thing and people have questioned my ability to dive. In rough water, floating alone and trying to see the boat (and also avoid getting run over by other boaters) the extra visibility, confortable head up position afforded by a jacket BC is very welcome.

Though my camera is not especially heavy it does have two strobes and cost a large pile of cash. The extra weight held up front definitely throws face down when using a wing. The poodle jacket floated me high and dry, face up and clear where I could see despite the camera being held up front.

Yeah, yeah, dry suit this, steel tanks that, nonetheless, the tanks available were aluminum and the water temps did not warrant a dry suit. It is what it is, a wing will face plant the diver, it is simple physics.

What, let my camera dangle from a tether below me, you are kidding right .

The BCDs I have looked at in most shops are too big, too bulky, with too many features, too much plastic, too much padding, are too buoyant, and too cheaply built. IMHO, they are designed to be produced in Shanghai for $75.00 and sold to a novice diver in America for $749.00.

As a Minimalist, I don't like superfluous fluff. As a Robustian, I want bullet-proof features. My BPW has the absolute minimum of stuff, and the stuff it has, is as reliable as I can make it.

One attraction to the poodle jacket especially for newer divers and warm water divers is the one stop shopping. You purchase a complete unit ready to go. A wing/BP requires one to educate themselves and choose among many bits and pieces. Kind of like buying a package camera, Sea and Sea or Sealife vs buying a Canon and picking out a system from many pieces, it requires a knowledge base and some education and thinking.

A wing/BP is superior IMO because of precisely that, you can customize it to your diving needs, minimalist or hang crap all over it like the DIR guys.

N

 

[RJP]

Very few shops offer OW students BP/wing setups so they all start out on BCD's...

Did DSD's with eight 10/11/12-year-old students today, every one of them was in a BP/W rig. Still just something funny about seeing a bunch of 10-year-old girls decked out in blue H's.

:cool2:

 

[scubafanatic]

The sternum strap on any rig is a problem with me because I literally freak out with anything pressing on my chest. It is a phobia, a phobia is an unreasonable fear of something and whatever, I cannot have anything on my chest.

The crotch strap as long as it is loose is not an issue and I actually like one as a stop but I rely mostly on the waist strap to hold the rig secure leaving the shoulder straps loose and the crotch strap loose. I have my wings rigged basic Hog(arthian) style.

We were drift diving and I was coming up alone usually, having the poodle jacket float me high and face up was v-e-r-y nice. Yeah, yeah, I have heard it before, wings do not face plant a diver, whatever, I have been using them forever and I am sorry, but they do when you inflate them enough to raise your head up, a poodle jacket simply offers a higher surface position and greater comfort on the surface and is nearly equal in trim underwater.

N

The crotch strap (I like mine 'snug' ) is instrumental when, on the surface, for translating 'lift' into elevating your head 'high' in the water. It's not so much a B/P versus poodle jacket issue as it is a crotch strap versus no crotch strap issue.

 

[scubafanatic]

One attraction to the poodle jacket especially for newer divers and warm water divers is the one stop shopping. You purchase a complete unit ready to go. A wing/BP requires one to educate themselves and choose among many bits and pieces. Kind of like buying a package camera, Sea and Sea or Sealife vs buying a Canon and picking out a system from many pieces, it requires a knowledge base and some education and thinking.

A wing/BP is superior IMO because of precisely that, you can customize it to your diving needs, minimalist or hang crap all over it like the DIR guys.

N

I completely agree about the poodle jacket-new diver connection. Poodle jacket is a simple, minimal thought/decision process, and new divers don't know what they don't know, so it seems to make sense, especially as most new divers will be exposed to a recreational dive shop versus a 'tech' dive shop, and won't be exposed to a B/P until after they've sunk several hundred $ into a poodle jacket, which has to really suck during real-world diving in order for them to abandon that investment.

I guess my old Zeagle Ranger = poodle jacket, but it is back-inflate with crotch strap, so honestly is still pretty divable, and once a diver becomes reasonably skilled/experienced, something like the Ranger pretty much equals a B/P-wing for recreational diving purposes....diver skill is a much higher % of diving success than gear configuration.

My Ranger is a back up unit for me, perfectly divable, and I'd be comfortable taking it on any recreational dive, it's just that I prefer my DeepOutdoors Matrix Limited harnesses/Oxy 'Extreme' wings for my front-line units, as they are much more amenable to modifying/adding D-rings-pockets than a 'fixed' design unit like a Ranger.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hello everyone -

Curious! scubaboard has always been a very pro-BP wing place. You really can not talk about BCDs without the BP wing recommendation popping up. I am a BP wing user myself but the anti jacket pro wing sentiment on here sometimes amazes me because it really does not represent the statistics I see on dive boats.

I am just curious how many people here have gone from BP wing to jacket or back inflate bcds.



Anyone?

I'm sure there's been a few reverse switches by members of this board, but I doubt you'll ever hear about it.
With the hail storm of belittling and controversy it would cause, anybody who does it would NEVER admit to it and certainly never post about it here.

 

[Hatul]

I'm one of them. Sold both harnesses, plates and wings and bought a Zeagle Escape, which is what I dive with now.

And by the way, I just came back from San Diego diving the Yukon, and of the 13 divers none used a BP/wing.

Adam

 

[Web Monkey]

Hello everyone -

Curious! scubaboard has always been a very pro-BP wing place. You really can not talk about BCDs without the BP wing recommendation popping up. I am a BP wing user myself but the anti jacket pro wing sentiment on here sometimes amazes me because it really does not represent the statistics I see on dive boats.

I am just curious how many people here have gone from BP wing to jacket or back inflate bcds.

When I got my BP/W, I immediately became smarter, better looking and tremendously wealthy.

Oh, wait. Sorry. None of that happened.

Contrary to popular belief, a BP is just a place to hang your tank, and the only way it would make anybody a better diver is if the were improperly trimmed or over-weighted with the jacket BC.

I own both and switch as appropriate (the jacket would take a real beating with my doubles).

Neither is significantly better than the other, and are simply trade-offs in horizontal stability vs the ability to hang in any position. I'm constantly amazed how the BP proponents recommend it like it's actually going to improve anything.

I'm reasonably certain that if I posted that I lost my car keys, someone would pop up and tell me to switch to a BP/W.

Terry