Kinda rambling here, but looking for advice.
Reading through here I can't help but get sucked into the BP/W discussions. I'm a newbie warm water weenie diver. I can say with a lot of certainty I won't be doing any dry suit, cave, or wreck diving. The only interest the BP/W setup holds for me is the lack of mass you take into the water with you.
Being a big newbie, it takes a lot of weight to get me down with my Brigade. 8lbs in a swimming pool and around 18lbs in salt water(Cozumel). That's with as much air as I can get out of my BCD. I like idea of integrated weights that can be dumped in the event of an emergency... granted I have a hard time figuring out what that emergency would be under the water
but I still like the idea. Mostly because of the nightmares I have from wearing a 30lb weight belt during OW check out dives.
Anyway, here are the rambling questions I have about this whole thing:
Is a metal plate comfortable underwater against a T-shirt/bare skin? I see some with wing nuts sticking out. Meaning, do you have to dive 7mm to be comfortable in a BP?
Why do you need a crotch strap even though BCDs dont have them generally?
For a BP/W setup, is the Zeagle weight system the best way to go here for integrated, out of the way, and dumpable?
I guess the question is once you add padded shoulder straps, integrated weights and possibly a pocket to a BP/W setup, have you just built a Zeagle BCD? Or are you gaining anything?
And my big question is: Why is it that a Zeagle Brigade is $399 while a similarly equipped BP/W setup is $100-200 more? Why is it more for less?
Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.
Reading through here I can't help but get sucked into the BP/W discussions. I'm a newbie warm water weenie diver. I can say with a lot of certainty I won't be doing any dry suit, cave, or wreck diving. The only interest the BP/W setup holds for me is the lack of mass you take into the water with you.
Being a big newbie, it takes a lot of weight to get me down with my Brigade. 8lbs in a swimming pool and around 18lbs in salt water(Cozumel). That's with as much air as I can get out of my BCD. I like idea of integrated weights that can be dumped in the event of an emergency... granted I have a hard time figuring out what that emergency would be under the water

Anyway, here are the rambling questions I have about this whole thing:
Is a metal plate comfortable underwater against a T-shirt/bare skin? I see some with wing nuts sticking out. Meaning, do you have to dive 7mm to be comfortable in a BP?
Why do you need a crotch strap even though BCDs dont have them generally?
For a BP/W setup, is the Zeagle weight system the best way to go here for integrated, out of the way, and dumpable?
I guess the question is once you add padded shoulder straps, integrated weights and possibly a pocket to a BP/W setup, have you just built a Zeagle BCD? Or are you gaining anything?
And my big question is: Why is it that a Zeagle Brigade is $399 while a similarly equipped BP/W setup is $100-200 more? Why is it more for less?
Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.