As a traditional open water diver I bought the DUI BCS, which is the previous generation of the Delta. I thought it would cross over nicely when I got more technical. Here was my impression:
I had the smaller wings (medium, I think). In single tanks one side of the wings would fill with air, or the other, so I would always be swimming on one side, I could turn and the air would RUSH over to the other side, there was no controlled transfer of air from one side to the other. When I got to my intro cave course (with single tanks) this caused some problems, mainly my instructor laughing at me most of the time. My instructor's rebreather came with the same first generation DUI BCS, he said he took it off after several dives and replaced it with a Trans Pac II (Dive Rite).
I felt like the BC was of really good quality. The harness has grommets, not small D rings, on the back, which makes it hard to attach clips, for instance for pony bottles or light batteries. This would only be a concern for technical divers and not intro divers. The dumps and auto inflator were really nice. The little Velcro thingy that you can use to strap your inflator hose down to your shoulder strap on the harness is Velcro on both the right and left shoulder strap, which is really handy. The trans pac II has the Velcro only on the left shoulder strap, the right one is a perminate loop.
One other nice feature was auto retract suicide clips on the shoulder straps. They have been replaced with "Patented Auto-Retract Attachment System Stainless 3/4 attachment rings on Attachment System NEW" These are 3/4 inch d rings on a little bungee that goes up into the shoulder straps somewhere. You can clip your gauge(s) to it and it stays close to your body, when you need to check your air you just grab the gauge and pull the bungee out till you can see it. When you let go it retracts close to your body again. I really miss this, now I have to clip and unclip the gauge. I know it will be embedded in muscle memory shortly, but it's a few more steps.
The wings are bungied (which I don't have a problem with in theory), with these crappy little yellow plastic suicide clips on the end of the bungies, I bumped into my buddy once, who has the same bc, and got one clipped on my bathing suit strap, not fun to get those cheap stiff little plastic gates open while attached to someone, in a high flow cave.
I didn't have as much trouble with the wings being balanced in doubles.
Then there's the buckle on the waist belt. Recently my buddies came apart just inside a cave, it's actually three pieces of cheap plastic pressure fitted together. He had to abort the dive and was really upset.
Overall I was disappointed with the BCS. I see from the Delta picture those nasty suicide clip bungies are still on the wings, but the plastic buckle has been replaced with a steel one. The wings look the same, which for me would be enough to go to the trans pac, or buy the harness from DUI but get another brand of wings.
I bought a used Trans Pac II with trek wings and think it is really a great bc, but the trec wings are a little small for my doubles and light battery. It's pretty easy to find used trans pac's in great shape (I paid $300 for mine, half the MSRP of the delta), one way the dir and non-dir folks can help each other out
I found the trans pac to have a little closer fit, it felt more comfertable, more secure.
If you do go for the Delta, and you have doubles, buy the dive rite stabilizing plates, they are ~$15 and really help:
http://www.diverite.com/products/mbs/stab_plt.htm
And, my slightly used, fresh water dives only, first generation DUI BCS is for sale!!!
Hope this helps.
-Katrina
katrina@koski.net
