New diver, BC opinions please.

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I would Agree with everyone here that says not to go cheap. You have to look at this as an investment in both your enjoyment factor and your personal saftey. If you take good care of your equipment it will last you a long time so you may as well spend the money and get good gear. However like somone suggested I would try and test and size as much as possible. Simple fact is when it comes to buying gear that will keep you alive I never look in the bargain bin. As for Zeagle I Love my Tech I think the make the best BC but I am biased obviously. The Ranger is a good starter BC, definitely talk to your local dive shop operators and shop around.
 
I have to echo what Hex said, with some caveats. I can't afford the rig I want. I needed to purchase all of my dive again after giving my equipment away (to my nephew) a few years ago. So the initial expense of getting everything limited my choices.

You could rent gear, but I travel to dive and choose different operators, so getting the same equipment would never happen. I like being familiar with what I dive with, intimately familiar, so I chose to buy to what I could afford NOW and dive.

Now when I purchased the Orion I took a chance. It had all the features of your typical back inflate bc. It was as feature rich as the Oceanic Chute 3 and Zeagle products at about 25% of the cost. I read all the reviews concerning this product (it is the exact same thing as the Poseidon Teclift) both here and outside websites. With that information, and the cheap cost, I decided to purchase it to get me through with MY equipment.

When I finish purchasing all of the gear I will need (now I need tanks, another $600), I will then go back and purchase the bp/w that I really want. I priced it out at $600. So, I dive now with good equipment and when I can afford better I will.

Joe
 
Ranger is a good starter BC? It looks to have much more than what a "starter" BC offers from what I can see, and at that price range...ouch. I'll risk it with the Orion and go from there. In the future I can see I will make a sizeable investment into this, I just can't afford to do that now. Hence, I'll limit my diving to what I feel my equipment can handle. Most likely keep my dives to what's common around South Florida anyways, which is generally shallow depths of 15-50ft, where a lot of marine life and coral are so no biggie. Anything goes terribly wrong at those depths a single breath of air can get you to the surface with slow exhalation so I'm not that worried. What can go that wrong in a BC? The bladder popping/leaking? If it does, ditch the weights and you should have enough leg power to keep you afloat. Am I missing something here? The reg is one place where I see skimping as dangerous, not the BC. Give me a scenario, perhaps I'm just that naive.
 
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