Newly Certified Diver - Back Inflated BCD or Wing?

[lowwall]

+1 for the basic DGX BPW. Make sure it fits properly, what I have repeatedly seen is persons not having a properly strung harness that doesn't fit properly. Basically without a bottle on you should have about 4" (a sideways balled fist) of slack at the breast bone in the harness risers. Often folks string it too tightly and it is uncomfortable to wear.

Indeed. The crotch strap keeps everything in place. To anyone thinking about this, get the full 2" wide crotch strap, it's actually more comfortable than the narrower ones.

 

[VikingDives]

I advise my students to try both and allow them to in the pool. Then they decide what they will use for checkouts. When someone says they plan to do both cool (not cold) and warm water with air travel as a means to get there, I advise an aluminum plate with weight pockets on the cam bands. This allows you to add lead to mimic a steel plate if necessary. Shove the pockets up against the plate and you wouldn't know it wasn't steel.
I've sold and set up somewhere near 100 BPW's over the last 10 years. I've made custom hardware for the harness, modified harnesses to work with some unusual body types, and made custom harnesses in various colors.
While I own jackets, back inflates, and BPW's - the BPW is what I use in open water if I'm not diving sidemount. The jackets get used in the pool and for students. The last time I used a jacket in open water was probably 8 or 9 years ago.

TL;DR: BP/W mostly, always with doubles. There's sometimes I like a back-inflate bcd.

I'm with Jim on this. There's no right answer. Our students get a BP/W with a basic harness and steel BP. I dive a TBCS with adjustable shoulder straps more like a BCD because I have mobility issues in one shoulder after having a rotator cuff repaired.

When I was teaching for another shop, I used a cressi back inflate travel BC because it was more like what my students used. I still like that BC, and I'm taking it on a trip next week. In some ways, I still like my travel BC more than I like the TBCS.

If you want one BC to rule them all, it's the BP/W. If you're making a price decision, BP/W is the right choice as it will last you a lifetime, and it will be half the cost and it's modular. If you get a TBCS, you can make it ~4lbs for travel with a soft plate (that's off the top of my head, I haven't weighed it), you can dive doubles with it in either config (soft or hard plate), and you can do the same with rec diving.

Additionally, don't break the bank buying stuff. It's far more important to master yourself (buoyancy, air consumption etc.) as a new diver than it is to have the best equipment. Good gear is nice, but good skills will allow you to compensate for cheap rental stuff. 99.9 percent of being a good diver is skill. Equipment is never a solution to a skill problem.

 

[Centrals]

New diver practically has no idea on the topic so no idea where to start. Easy meat for some unscrupulous instructors or dive operators. And judging by the questions raised in SB, even experienced divers have the same issue.

 

[Gone for diving]

I dive my pack plate and never adj the shoulder straps I dive Shorty. 7mm semi-dry, and dry suit. Only the waist strap gets adjusted... one complaint I have with a back plate was that the waist strap was to high coming of the plate... (I have a long torso)
Best mod I ever made

2inch crotch strap for sure... 1inch are horrible

 

[Centrals]

2inch crotch strap for sure... 1inch are horrible

For sure but softer material than the harness.

 

[Blackcrusader]

I went from Back Plate to BCD. As I dive in tshirt and shorts I am happy with how my BCD cocoons my upper body.
My Scuba Pro Black xxl size fits me perfectly and has large pockets inserted weights and it's just want I wanted.
BCD's are fine for diving as are back plate and wing. One is not necessarily better than the other for recreational diving. I can easily sling a pony if I want to have extra backup gas for deco dives.

 

[Hoag]

For sure but softer material than the harness.

Not trying to be a "Smart A$$" here, I am asking it as a legitimate question. Would something like a car's seatbelt work/be recommended?

 

[divad]

Not trying to be a "Smart A$$" here, I am asking it as a legitimate question. Would something like a car's seatbelt work/be recommended?

No.......unless you just love "the wedgy effect". That stuff is like ribbon.

 

[grf88]

Not trying to be a "Smart A$$" here, I am asking it as a legitimate question. Would something like a car's seatbelt work/be recommended?

I use some leftover webbing from a tie-down that is a little stiffer than seatbelt webbing.

 

[Centrals]

Not trying to be a "Smart A$$" here, I am asking it as a legitimate question. Would something like a car's seatbelt work/be recommended?

Not a clue.
Why not?
Try it and see if it is comfortable.