Although I am currently transitioning from a jacket-style to a BP/W, I have to admit that the handful of dives I have done in a borrowed BP/W were not the most comfortable. (This was a balanced rig, steel BP, single Al 80, and 5 mm suit, shore diving.) Since there wasn't any weight on my hips and all of it was up high on my back, the straps dug into my shoulders, and the whole thing just felt heavy when donning it and walking to and from the entry/exit point. By way of comparison, when I go backpacking, there is a padded belt on my backpack that shifts some of the weight to my hips, where it is more comfortable. Okay, so perhaps the remedy is an aluminum plate and a weight belt, but if I go that route then am I not circumventing one of the advantages of the BP/W--the ability to shift weight higher and closer to my back? I wish I could say that the only discomfort with the rig was while walking to/from the site, but getting used to it in the water was no cakewalk either. Although everyone talks about this "stable platform," I found that at shallow depths with little air in the wing the rig wanted to roll me over; preventing roll required some small fin movement now and then. My guess is that at greater depths, where the wing is more inflated, the wing acts more like the platform people talk about "hanging" from. But the experience did make me think twice about adopting a BP/W for recreational warm-water diving where I'm just as likely to hang out on a 20-ft coral reef as anything else.
I have not given up hope, and I feel that once I get used to the BP/W, the advantages will outweigh any disadvantages. I have seen an increasing number of rec divers with a BP/W, and I do not think it's just Scubaboard Kool-Aid.
