I think your thread got hijacked again...
When I was shopping for a new BC, I based my decision on things that I had actual issues about based on my old BC. I wasn't too worried about things that didn't cause problems in my day to day diving. Here are some of the criteria that I used:
1) Be able to fold up as small as possible
2) Be as light as possible. I occasionally do shore diving. Therefore I have to walk distances as much as a 1/4 mile with my rig on. I always wanted to be able to carry my rig and doff/don on land without assistance.
3) I wanted a BC that didn't feel bulky. In the wanter and out of the water, I wanted to be wearing as small a BC as possible
4) Would allow me to remove as much weight as possible from my weightbelt. In relation to 2, many BC's have cushioning and foam that are heavy out of the water but because the cushioning is buoyant additional weight is required. I wanted a BC that minimized this bouyant weight to decrease the amount of weight on my weightbelt.
5) Didn't trap air. My old BC trapped a bit of air because of the shape. I wanted a BC that would trap as little air as possible. Air trapping means that you need to carry additional weight to balance that out.
6) Was clean. I didnt want the BC to have a lot of clips, straps, rings etc. I found that for some reason all the fast-clip straps would loosen and I was constantly having to tighten during the dive. I also didnt like all the dangling things.
7) Cheap, I wanted my BC to be less than $300-400
8) Looks cool. I wanted one that looked good (low priority)
My suggestion to you is to figure out what your criteria and priorities are and evaluate based on those.
When I was shopping for a new BC, I based my decision on things that I had actual issues about based on my old BC. I wasn't too worried about things that didn't cause problems in my day to day diving. Here are some of the criteria that I used:
1) Be able to fold up as small as possible
2) Be as light as possible. I occasionally do shore diving. Therefore I have to walk distances as much as a 1/4 mile with my rig on. I always wanted to be able to carry my rig and doff/don on land without assistance.
3) I wanted a BC that didn't feel bulky. In the wanter and out of the water, I wanted to be wearing as small a BC as possible
4) Would allow me to remove as much weight as possible from my weightbelt. In relation to 2, many BC's have cushioning and foam that are heavy out of the water but because the cushioning is buoyant additional weight is required. I wanted a BC that minimized this bouyant weight to decrease the amount of weight on my weightbelt.
5) Didn't trap air. My old BC trapped a bit of air because of the shape. I wanted a BC that would trap as little air as possible. Air trapping means that you need to carry additional weight to balance that out.
6) Was clean. I didnt want the BC to have a lot of clips, straps, rings etc. I found that for some reason all the fast-clip straps would loosen and I was constantly having to tighten during the dive. I also didnt like all the dangling things.
7) Cheap, I wanted my BC to be less than $300-400
8) Looks cool. I wanted one that looked good (low priority)
My suggestion to you is to figure out what your criteria and priorities are and evaluate based on those.
