Anyone went scuba diving with this new back-inflated BCD. I was looking at it and tried it on in my LDS this morning and quite liked it. I can't really try it in the water and couldn't find a review or comment about it in the internet, so I was wondering if anyone tried it...
Mares Jubilee
- Thread starter ThierryA
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DMTJLA
Guest
A frined of mine has one and was showing me how cool the weights system was, well we hit the water and 2x the weight pockets fell out but we found them but still they fell out 2x so I am not to sure about the weight system. 
Delhi Diver
Contributor
Not sure what the point of this thread is, but I have a Mares Jubilee BCD and it's great... no squeeze on the sides when inflated, and relatively easy to pack and store. I did have some trouble emptying it of water after post-dive cleaning, but there was only a little bit of water left (hopefully freshwater since I did rinse it thoroughly).
I got it for $314 from a LDS, which is a good non-Leisure Pro price! Saw it available in Cozumel for over $450!
It just fits so much more snugly than a jacket-style BCD...
I got it for $314 from a LDS, which is a good non-Leisure Pro price! Saw it available in Cozumel for over $450!
It just fits so much more snugly than a jacket-style BCD...
I dove this BC about 10-12 times, and I had a few beefs with it.
I felt that the LPI was not heavy enough, which caused it to float. I was always having to search for it, which can be a real pain when adjusting your bouyancy when doing something like taking pictures. I missed several shots becasue I was figiting in the water when I should have been able to grab and dump to get negative.
I also really hate the weight pouches on this jacket. I do a lot of kelp, beach, and climb diving where I am exiting over rocks, etc. I managed to lose 3 weight pouches, with only one recovered. This was the most expensive demo I have ever done, seeing as I had to replace the pouches.
Needless to say, if you need to put a decent amount of weight in the front pouches, you're going to be sorry. For warm, tropical dives, this would be a wonderful jacket. For cold water, pass.
I felt that the LPI was not heavy enough, which caused it to float. I was always having to search for it, which can be a real pain when adjusting your bouyancy when doing something like taking pictures. I missed several shots becasue I was figiting in the water when I should have been able to grab and dump to get negative.
I also really hate the weight pouches on this jacket. I do a lot of kelp, beach, and climb diving where I am exiting over rocks, etc. I managed to lose 3 weight pouches, with only one recovered. This was the most expensive demo I have ever done, seeing as I had to replace the pouches.
Needless to say, if you need to put a decent amount of weight in the front pouches, you're going to be sorry. For warm, tropical dives, this would be a wonderful jacket. For cold water, pass.
PurduEE
Guest
I have a friend with one of these who kept dropping pouches while diving. The problem seemed to be that the weight pouches, if inserted with the push button release pointed down, kept getting released whenever he would raise his legs up beyond a certain point ( climbing rocks, certain moves in the water, etc.). He has since changed the pouches so that the push button is pointing up (just swap the two pouches left to right and right to left). Since that time, he hasn't had problems with the weights dropping out unexpectedly.
Now if we could find an unloseable (sp?) knife for him, he'd be all set...
Now if we could find an unloseable (sp?) knife for him, he'd be all set...
What i'm looking for is some honest, no BS opinions on the Mares Jubilee BC. What I am not looking for is the DIR faithful to come crawling out of the woodwork to tell how wrong and how evil my choice of BC is. I am not looking to get into the tech arena for quite some time. I have no need or desire to invest a huge sum of money into getting BP and wings. I'm leaning towards this BC because it is simple and no frills.
Also, I'm not looking for the Mares haters to come trolling my post, so please don't. I've dove Mares gear for two years now and have never had an ounce of trouble out of any of it.
Tell why you love/hated this BC and please be specific.
Also, I'm not looking for the Mares haters to come trolling my post, so please don't. I've dove Mares gear for two years now and have never had an ounce of trouble out of any of it.
Tell why you love/hated this BC and please be specific.
Ok, so you dont want anyone that is DIR to answer your post. You also dont want anyone that hates Mares to answer your post...
But you do want to know why people hate this bc??? Well, here goes:
Mares cant make a quality BC. They just cant. Weight pockets fall out, stitching comes undone, nevermind that the inflators are junk.
BTW, a BP&W is NOT a huge sum of money.... AND, whats more, you will only have to buy it once.
But, you might just be happy spending your money on a useless piece of gear...
But you do want to know why people hate this bc??? Well, here goes:
Mares cant make a quality BC. They just cant. Weight pockets fall out, stitching comes undone, nevermind that the inflators are junk.
BTW, a BP&W is NOT a huge sum of money.... AND, whats more, you will only have to buy it once.
But, you might just be happy spending your money on a useless piece of gear...
What I am looking for is people who have actually dove this BC and their opinion of it. Love it or hate it and why.
The DIR thing came up because I have noticed that nearly every post about BC's on this board turns into a sermon on how the particular piece of equipment isn't DIR and is therefore crap. I don't care if the persons who post are members of the Holy Church of DIR, I just do not want this thread to turn into another DIR sermon.
I do not know of the supposed problems to which you speak in regards to Mares BC's being crap. My own experiences with them have shown them to be nothing but high quality. Where I work we dive Vectors with kids ranging in age from 14-18 and adults. I can think of no other group of individuals who abuse gear more, and none of the BC's we have shown any of the problems of which you speak. And to add insult to injury, these BC's are exposed to a VERY highly chlorinated tank, 2-4 hours and day, 4 days out of the week, 52 weeks a year, and have hardly ever been rinsed out. A lot of the students in the classes we run use these very same BC's in fresh and salt water too. So, depite all this abuse, Mares BC's are crap?
PS- There's a period after the first do. It's in the script
The DIR thing came up because I have noticed that nearly every post about BC's on this board turns into a sermon on how the particular piece of equipment isn't DIR and is therefore crap. I don't care if the persons who post are members of the Holy Church of DIR, I just do not want this thread to turn into another DIR sermon.
I do not know of the supposed problems to which you speak in regards to Mares BC's being crap. My own experiences with them have shown them to be nothing but high quality. Where I work we dive Vectors with kids ranging in age from 14-18 and adults. I can think of no other group of individuals who abuse gear more, and none of the BC's we have shown any of the problems of which you speak. And to add insult to injury, these BC's are exposed to a VERY highly chlorinated tank, 2-4 hours and day, 4 days out of the week, 52 weeks a year, and have hardly ever been rinsed out. A lot of the students in the classes we run use these very same BC's in fresh and salt water too. So, depite all this abuse, Mares BC's are crap?
PS- There's a period after the first do. It's in the script
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