My opinion of the Zeagle Brigade

[Adobo]

I am a newbie going through OW cert classes. I am so infatuated with scuba diving that I went ahead and purchased my own BCD.

I have had the opportunity to wear a vest style BCD (Scubapro classic plus?) and have examined a Scubapro Knighthawk closely.

So here goes..

Likes:
- I like the idea that it has upgradable or replaceable components.
- Ripcord to dump weights. It only requires one hand vs. the two step two handed approach used on scubapro BCDs.
- Rear trim pockets are easy to access compared to the knighthawk rear trim pockets.

Dislikes
- The bladder only has two places where air can be vented. Scubapro BCDs have 4. Additionally, the handles for the dump valve on the brigade is black which makes it difficult for a buddy or instructor to locate.
- No handle inside the BCD. The Scubapro BCDs have a rigid handle inside which makes it easy for the buddy to lift and handle the BCD. This seems particularly useful when you have the added weight of the air cylinder.

As I said, I am a newbie. I suspect that as I gain experience, I will learn what is really important and what is not with the BCD. For now, that is my list.

 

[DiveTub]

On your dislikes
Why do you need 4 dump points ? just more failure points if you ask me.

The Zeagle BCD's do have a carry handles, have a look down the back of it.

Cheers
Chris

 

[Adobo]

I'm not sure what the right number of dump valves is. Perhaps once one is more experienced, less dump valves will actually wind up being more.

When I was in the pool, I was struggling to vent some air out of the BCD. The instructor came over to help me out but couldn't figure out where the dump valve was. Perhaps outside of the pool, it is not a good idea to have someone else fiddling with the inflation of one's BCD.

As far as the carry handle, there is one on the back of the BCD. However, that handle normally goes around the cylinder valve (or so I'm told). Once the regulator is attached to the cylinder, the whole package becomes quite difficult for a newbie to handle. Scubapro bcd's have rigid handles inside that make it easy for a buddy to pick up the bcd/cylinder package and assist.

These dislike prolly go away once one is more experienced. Just sharing a newbie's perspective.

 

[DiveTub]

Opps sorry I should have read your profile.
I see you have not done any dives, and are not certified.

Cheers
Chris

 

[crpntr133]

The handle can also be used around the tank, most use it as a handle.
Next year Zeagle is going to switch to two bottom dumps instead of one. Shouldn't make a difference anyway.

Dive the BC and report back in a few months.

 

[scubatoys]

Just figured I'd share my take on bottom dumps. Personally, don't care, don't need them, don't use them. I don't really care if it even has one. Here's the thought.

The only time air is coming out a dump, is if that dump is the high point on the BC at the time. If I am swimming, proper weight and trim, I'm neutrally buoyant. Now the only way air is getting to a bottom dump is if I start swimming down, and now the bottom dump is the high dump on the BC... But if I'm swimming down, any air that was in the BC is now compressed and I have no reason to dump air... I have already become more negatively buoyant. If anything I need to add air to the BC.

I have found most new divers spend more time pulling bottom dumps, and when they do, they are normally only introducing water, not venting air. But perhaps some others have a different opinion.

 

[PerroneFord]

This is an interesting thought Larry. I've looked at hundreds of images of divers over the past couple of months. Generally, I see two kinds of divers. Vertical water-walkers, meaning those that get vertical any time they are not swimming. And those with fairly good trim.

Water walkers tend to have their shoulders be the highest point on their bodies when the dive simply because they tend to be overweighted. This sinks the hips and promotes the fins-down posture we see so often. In this posture, a shoulder dump makes the most sense.

For those with good trim the wing on a BP/W or back-inflate, tends to wrap the tank a bit at depth. This means that the bottom dump is now the highest point on the diver. If the diver assumes a slightly head's down position in the water, it is most certainly the highest point of the BCD, and a logical place do dump air from.

Of course, I could be way off base here. This is just something I see from general observation.

 

[crpntr133]

At either rate 4 dumps is too many... 3, still don't see the need. Two is plenty. IMHO, if you need 4 then you need to go back and retake OW classes.

I have been known to use the rear dump on my Brigade.

 

[DiveTub]

Yep too use the rear dump on my 34lbs Elastic and Ranger wings (both on Backplates) when I am horizontal on ascent.

Never understood the point of having a second dump on the right shoulder or two rear dumps, as I said just more holes in the wing that you just don’t need.

Cheers
Chris

 

[Scuby Dooby]

I'm with Larry on this one, my ranger has 1 dump on the bottom but I generally forget about it because I never need it. When I dump air I just raise my head and that brings the power inflator / dump high enough to do it's job.