Recommendations for newby BCD?

[TSandM]

Ben, it doesn't suck. In fact, virtually EVERY single student or diver who has played with primary donate with us has concluded it makes better sense than the "donate the octo" approach. And when it comes to using cheap octos, remember that, in your setup, the person to whom you are giving the second-rate piece of equipment is the person who's just had a life-threatening event occur, and is probably pretty freaked out. If having a reg that breathes hard adds to their anxiety, you're looking to push things closer to panic.

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

I think Ben was just saying a conventional octo that is relatively inexpensive may be a better choice than a relatively expensive air II. Of course you can have two high quality and identical second stages. Also there are pretty good and pretty cheap second stages like the ScubaPro R109. But then I hesitate to mention that since ScubaPro makes it pain to get parts.

I too hate the perfunctory "do a search" response but there have been many many threads comparing Backplates/wings to conventional BCs and they are worth reading. If I was traveling exclusively to dive I would buy an aluminum backplate and a wing with <<30 pounds lift. I'd expect that would be lighter and more compact than "travel" BCs and perform better while diving. Dan MacKay's book "Dress for Success" available from GUE offers an overview of suggested gear configuration and may save you money in the long run.

 

[Ben Prusinski]

I meant to say that having a quality octo is better than the SP air2go option in an emergency. I have no problem giving my reg to save my dive buddy life.

 

[Teller]

I am really not sure how comfortable I would be using the OCTO Z in an OOA, I think I would keep the octo z on the bc you have picked, but still get a alt as well. Since the octo z takes up no extra room, than a standard inflator, I would prefer to have a longer hose alt too. You can never have enough redundancy.

Yes but can you afford to service all that redundancy? Keep it simple, two second stages is plenty and the octo z is rather bulky and not very streamline.

 

[naim06]

Scubapro x-force !!

 

[k ellis]

the octo z is rather bulky and not very streamline.

It is a tad bulky but is it really any smaller then another second stage? It may be bigger then some octos but not by much. Your eliminating not only an octo but also a whole entire hose too. The hose itself plays a small part in streamline too.

 

[Dr Dog]

Yes but can you afford to service all that redundancy? Keep it simple, two second stages is plenty and the octo z is rather bulky and not very streamline.

Well I was not really going to have that setup, it was more for the OP than me, I would be using two identical 2nd stages in the DIR cnfg, I don't think Dr Beckwith has the same goals as I do in diving. But I was saying that if his chose BC comes with one, why not get another reg, perhaps a proper octo.