Noob seeking advice on BCD

[Ytsejam]

Hello to everyone.

I am a newly certified OW diver with just 7 dives under my belt. I am looking to buying my own BCD before taking the AOW course. I am located in Athens, Greece and this limits the BCD manufacturers I have access to through my LDS (a good LDS, ran by true scuba pros and not mere merchants). I will not buy a BCD I can't test dive and I'd rather buy my BCD and regulator from the same people who will be servicing them.

My LDS mainly stocks Mares, Cressi, Effesub and AP Valves BCDs. I do not plan on doing any tech diving in the years to come, but I still want a high end BCD.

The high end choices in my LDS are 2: the AP Valves Buddy Commando and the Effesub Boost Control.

While I appreciate that most divers in this forum recommend BP/W set ups and totally respect their judgment, I feel that a back inflation/jacket hybrid BCD like the Boost Control and the Commando, is the right approach for me at this stage.

The Commando is a well known BCD (at least in Europe) from an old and respected manufacturer and the Boost Controll comes from an Italian manufacturer who's been around for only a decade or so, but it seems like a quality product. I have tried both off water and they fit well (Boost Control a little better) and have scheduled to dive them next week. I can get both at roughly the same price (including some extra features on the Commando, like the rapid release weight pockets and the 0.4L Emergency Air Cylinder).

What I am looking for is advice from people who own/have dived either or both of the 2 BCDs I am thinking of buying.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post.

 

[The Chairman]

I understand your plight!

Can you give us some links to these? I just googled "Boost Control" and pretty much found this thread. I would love to help, but I can't if I don't know your gear!

 

[Ytsejam]

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

I did include the links to both BCDs in my original post only to find out that I had to have posted at least 5 times before allowed to post URLs, so I removed them.


I'll just have to cheat by leaving out the w w w . part

apvalves.com/uk/products/bc/commando/]A.P.Valves

effesub.it/product_info.php?products_id=221&language=en

 

[The Chairman]

I fixed that for you! Here are pictures of the BCs in question:

The Commando

Boost Controll​

To me, both look serviceable, but I think I like The Commando better. That being said, I am only going by the pictures having never seen or dove either.

 

[Randy43068]

Hello to everyone.

I am a newly certified OW diver with just 7 dives under my belt. I am looking to buying my own BCD before taking the AOW course. I am located in Athens, Greece and this limits the BCD manufacturers I have access to through my LDS (a good LDS, ran by true scuba pros and not mere merchants). I will not buy a BCD I can't test dive and I'd rather buy my BCD and regulator from the same people who will be servicing them.

My LDS mainly stocks Mares, Cressi, Effesub and AP Valves BCDs. I do not plan on doing any tech diving in the years to come, but I still want a high end BCD.

The high end choices in my LDS are 2: the AP Valves Buddy Commando and the Effesub Boost Control.

While I appreciate that most divers in this forum recommend BP/W set ups and totally respect their judgment, I feel that a back inflation/jacket hybrid BCD like the Boost Control and the Commando, is the right approach for me at this stage.

The Commando is a well known BCD (at least in Europe) from an old and respected manufacturer and the Boost Controll comes from an Italian manufacturer who's been around for only a decade or so, but it seems like a quality product. I have tried both off water and they fit well (Boost Control a little better) and have scheduled to dive them next week. I can get both at roughly the same price (including some extra features on the Commando, like the rapid release weight pockets and the 0.4L Emergency Air Cylinder).

What I am looking for is advice from people who own/have dived either or both of the 2 BCDs I am thinking of buying.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post.

Many of us recommend a back plate and wing for good reasons. Do yourself a good turn and do a few test dives with one before you rule it out. Lots of threads here discussing pros and cons.

Many people start out just as you are, buying a jacket style BC only to switch later to a back plate and wing. It's an expensive mistake.

Good luck in your search.

 

[The Chairman]

He's ruled out a BP & Wing. He will not die nor will his diving suffer appreciably for not going to the dark side. Let's focus on what he is looking at buying.

 

[Randy43068]

He's ruled out a BP & Wing. He will not die nor will his diving suffer appreciably for not going to the dark side. Let's focus on what he is looking at buying.

You sure like to stretch things out.
Sheesh!!

 

[jd950]

Ytsejam:

You may not get many replies here because neither of these BCs are popular in the U.S and many of the inhabitants of this board are from the U.S. I am not sure either of those products are even sold in the U.S. There are some forums out there that have a much larger British membership and they may be of more help, although I am guessing they will lean towards the Buddy, since that is a well established brand in the UK.

I won't link to any other forums here, because that may be bad form, but if you need help finding them, PM me.

You may also want to try posting in the Europe and UK forums here.

Good luck.

 

[OldNSalty]

I would only add, not knowing either brand, that I wouldn't rule out the boost control simply because it is a new player on the market. There simply isn't that much 'tech' in any BC and so it is possible that someone with enough backing could start making a quality BC tomorrow.
How does this 'emergency air cylinder attach? is it a part of the BC or just a pony? What size bottle is that in imperial units? it may not be big enough to really help you out so it could be a feature you don't need-but again, most of us are speaking in ignorance on these brands. SOrry

 

[The Chairman]

here because neither of these BCs are popular in the U.S and many of the inhabitants of this board are from the U.S.

Our demographics are %56.1 US origin which is down from %61.8 last year. We are more world wide than many people realize and becoming more so.

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