New divers and BCs

[Jaksonbrown]

I have a small tidbit to add... When I got certified,.. I bought myself and my family all jacket style bcds... as recomended by my LDS and Instructors.. (I should have noticed that all the DM's were using BP/W setups) after a dozen or so dives here in the cold pea soup,.. I have found that the jacket style just sucks..... too much pinch,restricted movement,.. upon asking several seasoned pros here in Wa,... there reply,... get rid of your jacket BC and get a BP/W and you will never go back.......

I wish these kinds of things would have been discussed in OW class.... would have saved me lots of bucks.....

Samson-

 

[NudeDiver]

Incognito....I'm not a bad or dumb person,,,,but hate to meet yall out one day and have you say,,oh,,theres *******,,,dont talk to him...I;ll just fade off and be forgotten...LOL

Don't be ridiculous. You're simply not important enough for most of us to remember who you are.

I'm not important enough for anyone to remember who I am either

 

[oreocookie]

First off,I see 3 or 4 that always seem to wait til someone says something,opinion or otherwise and jump on them.Thats one reason I started this,just to see how long it would take,and dang yall are quick.

There are ways to do this without having people jump down YOUR throat.

I am sorry to be misunderstood,my writing is probably not as good as the more educated,but I did not intend to say,,,buy this because I said so,,it was meant as a starting point,Hence the name of the thread,to help maybe one that wanted to but right the first time. ... It's all ,comfort,fit,what are going to do,doubles,tech,ect.kind of advise.I said the same thing and look what I started.I admit I may have said it in the wrong way.

I think you just hit the nail on the head. Personally, I really wouldn't mind summaries of what is said about different types of gear, since it's not always easy to pick out opinions of people who love what they use because they've never tried anything else and those who use the types of gear or setup that they do solely because thats what they learned in or what is pushed by the philosophy they follow in their diving. Not all opinions are of equal value to somebody looking for info, and the useless are not always easy to pick out from the useful. If somebody were to post a summary of the pros and cons of each type and suggestions that are often given : if you are planning on doing this, look into that since the other thing isn't well suited to it, i would find that more helpful as there are reasons for why something may be better than something else for a given situation. To me, your summary came across as "if you want to go tech, or dive doubles, get a bp/w. if you're just gonna be recreational and can't justify and/or afford getting a bp/w, then get a back inflate until you can afford or justify a bp/w." not having read alot of threads about it, my reaction would be: ok, but why is that?

To another comment,no.at this time I will not give an opinion on gauges or anything else,I admit I know nothing about those things. ...I want to end this by saying,my apologies to any and everyone that thought or took it as I am expert in BCs,I didnt mean that way and sorry it came out that way.

I didn't expect you to write a book about every piece of gear available, that was an example only of other topics that could easily spark arguments. Telling somebody who has driven nothing but Fords in their lifetime that they should buy a Honda will spark an argument weither you know anything about cars or not. I did not see your post as coming across as you being an expert in BCs, but rather somebody trying to look like they are when they really aren't. I doubt that was the intention but that was my interpretation.

Someone basically said they agreed with me ,but I was wrong?..LOL>>>Please forgive me for saying anything,my lesson learned..

I didn't say I agreed, I said my summary was similar to yours. mine, while leaning towards bp/w, is much more neutral than yours is. because of this, having read things myself, I am MUCH more likely to try jacket style BCs before I eventually buy than I would had I only read your summary. And I'm not going to post what I currently think I might get when I eventually get something because it's really quite irrelevant and will quite possibly change once I've tried enough of everything.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Just in case any beginning divers or prospective beginning divers are still following this thread, here's one full time destination guide/instructor's observations; most rental locations in temperate to warm water rent mostly jackets, most training done in same waters is done mostly in jackets, most beginning divers have not perfected deflation of the BC (especially when over-inflated), most beginning divers have a harder time deflating back inflate or wing rigs.

Following the same logical path, after thousands of successful, comfortable dives in jackets, I bought a back inflate. The two main reasons were; it was $20 at Lahaina Salvation Army (less than 10 dives est.) and the big slate my employer requires me to carry did not attach nicely to my jacket. After hundreds of working dives in BI my personal observations are; the slate attaches nicely, it requires more effort/skill/practice to deflate.

When I dive for pleasure I prefer my jacket; it's much easier to dive well in. When I have to take my slate I look cooler in my BI.

 

[Dtaine]

Just in case any beginning divers or prospective beginning divers are still following this thread, here's one full time destination guide/instructor's observations; most rental locations in temperate to warm water rent mostly jackets, most training done in same waters is done mostly in jackets, most beginning divers have not perfected deflation of the BC (especially when over-inflated), most beginning divers have a harder time deflating back inflate or wing rigs.

Following the same logical path, after thousands of successful, comfortable dives in jackets, I bought a back inflate. The two main reasons were; it was $20 at Lahaina Salvation Army (less than 10 dives est.) and the big slate my employer requires me to carry did not attach nicely to my jacket. After hundreds of working dives in BI my personal observations are; the slate attaches nicely, it requires more effort/skill/practice to deflate.

When I dive for pleasure I prefer my jacket; it's much easier to dive well in. When I have to take my slate I look cooler in my BI.

Here's one less experienced (you could say beginner) diver who prefers a wing over a jacket. It's really not that difficult at all to deflate, it packs well for travel and is incredibly adjustable.

Everyone has their own preferences and should try out different types before making a purchasing decision.