halemanō;5469730:
The problem with most of these "beginner wondering" threads is that pretty much half the "reasons" regularly given supporting "moving" to BP/W either have absolutely no factual basis or will not be realized until after many expensive training courses, significant diving experience and thousands of dollars of other specialized dive gear.
There's been a lot of Jacket vs BP&W threads over the last few years. All of them contained decent factually based arguments for choosing a BP&W.
You seem to imply that divers don't develop their requirements, or need to upgrade, until they reach a level where they are technical diving, an industry pro or take up a highly specialised activity such as scootering...
There are a thousand reasons why a diver would want to upgrade their equipment. The most common are:
a) Unsuitable initial choice of BCD.
b) Change in diving location (tropical/temperate water) i.e. exposure suit change.
c) Body shape/size change.
d) Development of requirements (weight/bulk for travelling, pockets, d-rings etc).
Jacket BCDs are not flexible, adaptable and cannot be upgraded. They are not modular. They are only available in set sizes. Because of this, they have to try and offer 'everything' needed. Long, dangling straps, to allow tightening (rather than a custom fitted harness). Lots of pockets everywhere - rather than a few pockets where the individual diver specifically needs them. A multitude of D-Rings..having to cover every possiblity, rather than a select number of attachment points, that can be moved by the user. etc etc etc
To provide some factual basis;
I have personally owned 7 BCDs since learning to dive nearly 2 decades ago. None of the first 5 BCDs ever got worn out. They were all sold... The last BCD (a Halcyon BP&W) I have owned for 7 years and 2000+ dives.
That means, in the first 12 years of diving I changed BCDS, on average, every 2 years (
actually it was more frequently, because I only rented equipment for my first 2 years after certification).
So..why did I change BCDs so regularly? Here's a summary:
1) Buddy Commando (bought second hand) - Owned for 1 year. Sold because it was too small, once I started to dive drysuit. BCD could not be adjusted sufficiently large.
A BP&W would have been suitable, as it is infinitely adjustable.
2) Buddy Commando No.2 (bought new) - Owned for 2 years. Sold because I wanted to get a rear-inflate BCD. This was because the jacket BCD felt too 'enclosing' around the torso in my drysuit and it would swing around if not fully cinched tight. I had tried a rear-inflate BCD and felt they offered better trim and bouyancy control.
3) Dacor Pro Rig - I bought this rear inflate tech 'wannabie' BCD because it was on sale and 'looked' like a wing. It was a piece of sh#t. I had a deep freeflow emergency and found that the jacket hampered my ascent because of the number of dangling straps, buckles etc etc. The pockets were inaccessable and the integrated weights fell out. After that emergency I never wore it again.
4) Zeagle Ranger - I bought this as a spur-of-the-moment choice, after my Dacor BCD contributed to an emergency. It had many strong recommendations online etc. Again, it never quite hit the mark and felt awkward. I wanted to dive doubles at this time..and it just didn't make the grade for that.
5) Custom Divers TDB - I bought this for doubles diving and for tech training. On my first course (TDI Adv Nitrox with Mark Powell), I learnt that I had wasted money. Mark demonstrated how my 'Luxury Harness' was unnecessary. The bungeed wing was unecessary. The twin bladder was unnecessary. I did keep the wing, but ended up replacing the harness to a basic Hog design.
6) Halcyon Eclipse 40 - My 'trimmed down' doubles wing was awesome...so I decided to standardise and bought a complete Halcyon Eclipse 40. I opted for the larger capacity 40lb wing, because I was diving drysuit, with high capacity steel cylinder, pony cylinder and umbilical torch. When I moved to Asia, I felt the 40lb was much bigger than I needed. I chose an aluminium backplate, because I already had a steel backplate with my customer divers wing, so I could then inter-change. I used the aluminium backplate for travelling as it was lighter.
7) Deep Sea 30lb - Luckily, because the BP&W is modular, I didn't need to replace the entire configuration. I wanted a smaller capacity wing...so I just bought a wing and changed it out for the Eclipse 40.
NOW..... with the benefit of hindsight and experience.... think of how I
COULD have gone through that process....
1) Purchase initial BP&W for single tank diving. Adjustable, customized harness adapts for wetsuit and drysuit diving. Choose supplementary pockets, as needed. Add, remove or adjust D-rings, as needed.
2) Purchase doubles wing (wing only) for twinset diving. No need to replace backplate or harness. Capability now exists for full tech and cave diving activities.
That's it! Two purchases.... to last a lifetime!
One backplate lasts a lifetime.
Harness is infinitely adjustable.
Pockets, pouches and D-Rings added or removed as required.
Choose whichever bladder shape and size you need.
Any component replaced individually if broken worn - no expense to replace entire BCD.
FAR, FAR, FAR better than the cost involved with replacing an entire BCD every time your requirements change, something wears out or you want to improve your configuration...
I
wish someone had told me those things when I was a newbie.
I
wish I had saved so much time and money over the years.
Everyone has the option to dive in whatever gear they want. Those people advocating BP&W on this forum appreciate that. However, nobody should ever be apologetic for raising awareness of options and providing alternative advice.
A newbie diver can think what they want of the BP&W debates. They can choose to dive inwhatever configuration they want and/or like and should not be scorned or criticized for that. The only time they should be called 'idiots' is if they buy something without informed consideration and research of all the options available..
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