My 11 yr old daughter finished her open water certification this passed weekend. She is currently 4' 8" and 80 lbs. She is obviously going to be doing some growing over the coming years. I want to get her a bc that will grow with her. Most of the posts that I have seen on this subject are several year old. I am leaning hard towards the Zeagle Express Tech.
There is no reason that it should not be a great BCD platform for her. The Express Tech is simply a 'soft' backplate. Frankly, I would not waste money on the 'Express Tech Deluxe' (
Express Tech Deluxe), which is what Zeagle now sells. It has unnecessary padding and fluff. Rather, I would get the Express Tech backplate (
Express Tech Backplate), buy about 8-10 ft of 2" webbing, 3 D-rings, and a waist buckle, and create the harness that fits her - a
competent dive shop that is a Zeagle dealer can help you with this.. (As she grows, if there is a need to replace the webbing, that is easily done.) And, ignore some of the annoying Huish Outdoors website features, you can still cut to the chase and get the information you need on the Zeagle website
As for the wing, you can go with a Zeagle horseshoe wing (
Single Bag Bladder Assembly) - e.g. the 24 lb wing that is marketed for the Express Tech - or any one of a number of available backplate wings (you are in FL, I assume she will be diving warm water, and something like an 18 lb wing [
Apeks Products; or
http://www.oxycheq.com/oxycheq-18-mach-v-chroma-series-single-tank-wing-forest-green.html] may be good for her for single cylinder diving.)
A quick anecdote: I put my then 15 y.o. middle daughter in a backplate after she completed her OW certification dives. On the first dive, BEFORE she got in the water, she said she didn't like it. It was uncomfortable, it didn't fit, etc., etc. AFTER the dive, she said she loved it, and never dove another BC other than the backplate / wing.
] I am also thinking that I am going to go to either the same or a regular backplate and wing setup. Anyway, how do you think this will work for her or does anyone have a better suggestion?
Depending on how much weight you need, the Express Tech may or may not be optimal. Even for warm, salt water diving, I use a stainless steel backplate, to avoid putting lead on my waist. The ET is a good system, I just prefer a little more negative buoyancy on my BCD, to help avoid too much weight on my waist.
You may see comments recommending the Zeagle Zena for female divers. The Zena is a very nice unit, but offers no pockets, and limited availability of points to attach lights, etc. In the past year alone, I have helped 3 female divers, on our shop staff, move from the Zena to a simple backplate / wing combination. Each of them liked the fit of the Zena but found it to be too limiting to them for anything other than simple daylight recreational dives. The same daughter I mentioned, above, originally wanted a Zena, in fact. After using the plate, she forgot all about the Zena.
