Integrated weights versus weight belt

[String]

Thats the fault of the diver wearing it not the buddy. Every diver should ultimately be responsible for their own safety and own gear.

 

[MattC007]

Well, with my BC, whenever I try to put much more than 2lbs in each pocket, it gets extremely difficult to put them in the holders, so I always use a weight belt. However, I think that if this was not the case with my BC, I would most definitely use integrated. As it is, much easier to use a belt. With my belt, I use soft weights, but would be willing to use hard ones. Whatever gets me under

 

[NudeDiver]

Well, with my BC, whenever I try to put much more than 2lbs in each pocket, it gets extremely difficult to put them in the holders, so I always use a weight belt.

Sounds like a poorly designed BC to me.

 

[Redhawk]

From deep, dark Africa! This is the solution:Brightweights.com (can't post URL's until I've got 5 posts); this system lets you tailor your weighting on your waist, cylinder, ankles & wrists if required and in your WI BC. You can really tailor your weights perfectly. The buckles & belts are really robust & I can't forsee them ever wearing out / breaking. Now the biggest problem will be to ship all that lead to the "1st" world! LOL PS: I don't work for this company or any company involved in the dive industry!

 

[D_B]

Now that's a different design ... BRIGHTWEIGHTS - Swim Like A Fish (welcome to th' Board Redhawk)

Only 2lbs??? .. I have gotten 12lbs in each weight pouch of my Knighthawk using soft weights

 

[Redhawk]

The brightweights fit really well & don't seem to impede movement (they are bullet weights), I am new to diving (only doing OW in December with my wife & kids) so haven't used them in water yet but in the shop they really are unbeatable, I have decided to go this route, now I just need to find a wetsuit (6'4" & 300 pounds)!

PS: D_B thanks for the welcome, coincidentally D B are my initials.

 

[GotNoOcean]

I just recently gave up on a BC that originally used a velcro retention system. Over the years I had it, once I had the velcro fail & dump one of my 10lb pockets. A buddy saw it drop (fortunately, it wasn't a wall dive, we were right on the bottom) and got the pouch back to me. I was wondering why I was suddenly floaty and twisting right side down!

After that, I had an upholstery shop add straps and quick release buckles to fit over the pouches & got a couple more years out of the system. After I got my drysuit, I really got to thinking that it wasn't such a good idea to have all the weight on the BC and none on a now very floaty me. I added a weight belt and weight pockets on the cam bands to improve my trim. Nice half step.

Finally realized it was time to get a new BC. I went with a BP/W setup, aluminum plate & single tank adapter, kept the pockets on the cam bands. Much better balance and trim than the other rig (whole lot better fit too!), better distribution of weight between the rig & me.

Your mileage may vary, but especially for larger amounts of weight, I'd recommend a belt if you can make it work with your build.

 

[MattC007]

Sounds like a poorly designed BC to me.

either that or I'm impatient

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Out of morbid curiosity, I went to my logbook and my sons (buddies log books) and totaled our dives with integrated weights, 358 total dives since I purchase new BC's with integrated weights. 4 failures (unexepected release of a pocket, different reason each time). This is a failure rate of over 1%, not acceptable in my book.

I then went and counted dives with weight belts (we use both in cold water), 242 dives. I then added an estimate of previous dives I made with weight belt only (log books lost) of 200 dives. No failures.

My bottom line, I like integrated weights. They are streamlined, comfortable, easy to use. I just don't trust them in cold water when I need significant amounts of ballast. I want gear I can trust a whole lot more than 99% of the time.

 

[garyfotodiver]

Out of morbid curiosity, I went to my logbook and my sons (buddies log books) and totaled our dives with integrated weights, 358 total dives since I purchase new BC's with integrated weights. 4 failures (unexepected release of a pocket, different reason each time). This is a failure rate of over 1%, not acceptable in my book.

I then went and counted dives with weight belts (we use both in cold water), 242 dives. I then added an estimate of previous dives I made with weight belt only (log books lost) of 200 dives. No failures.

My bottom line, I like integrated weights. They are streamlined, comfortable, easy to use. I just don't trust them in cold water when I need significant amounts of ballast. I want gear I can trust a whole lot more than 99% of the time.

Now THIS is an intelligent post, IMHO.