Suitable bc for the aegean sea (newbie)

[Dotcomdiver]

Sorry for the lack of technical knowledge, still very new to diving.

Ii am interested in purchasing a durable bc for a number of dives in the agean sea.

I am six feet tall and 90 kg.
Diving will be from boat 95% of the time and the rest from shore.
Tank used will be steel in 12 and 10L always.
Will be married up with apeks regulators.

price range with in $3-400 Australian.

Dotcom

 

[Mike.D]

Sorry for the lack of technical knowledge, still very new to diving.

Ii am interested in purchasing a durable bc for a number of dives in the agean sea.

I am six feet tall and 90 kg.
Diving will be from boat 95% of the time and the rest from shore.
Tank used will be steel in 12 and 10L always.
Will be married up with apeks regulators.

price range with in $3-400 Australian.

Dotcom

What kind if BC are you looking at? Jacket or Backplate and wing? They are both very durable and both have their own pros ad cons.

What type of diving are you planning on undertaking? Solo? Overhead, wreck or just open water?

Budget?

-Mike

---------- Post added August 21st, 2013 at 07:44 PM ----------

Oops didn't see the $3-$400. Thats a pretty healthy budget. I bought my single tank ally BP/W for $350.

 

[Diver0001]

Sorry for the lack of technical knowledge, still very new to diving.

Ii am interested in purchasing a durable bc for a number of dives in the agean sea.

I am six feet tall and 90 kg.
Diving will be from boat 95% of the time and the rest from shore.
Tank used will be steel in 12 and 10L always.
Will be married up with apeks regulators.

price range with in $3-400 Australian.

Dotcom

Any BCD on the market will suffice for this. The main consideration will be availability of service for a BCD you bought in Australia and will be using in Europe.

Mares is an Italian company with a world wide presence (including Australia) so that would be my first impulse.

R..

 

[Dotcomdiver]

Not sure of the differences between the options you suggested, it will be for an internship I have been offered so dives will be every day for 6 months and upto three per day, dives completed there already include reefs , boat wrecks and caves.

 

[Mike.D]

Not sure of the differences between the options you suggested, it will be for an internship I have been offered so dives will be every day for 6 months and upto three per day, dives completed there already include reefs , boat wrecks and caves.

A BP/W setup (backplate and wing) consists of exactly that. A inflatable bladder mounted onto a back plate of either aluminum or steel. Most of the simpler designs have a one piece continuous harness much one used for rock climbing. This BC design is very easy to use, highly adjustable and also upgradable. Very useful if you are planning on getting into different types of diving. Also, your trim tends to be better as the wing is mounted directly to your back. You'll see tech divers wearing this rig.
Jacket BC's are slightly different, yet just as good in there own way. It's type of BC all dive shops stock and rent. Instead of just a wing on your back inflating, the whole jacket inflates.
I first started diving jacket then tried a BP/W and I'll never look back (hint hint) but it would be wise if you tried both types first and see how you felt. There isn't one type more suited your normal open water dives, but seeing as you will be diving caves I'd recommend a BP/W setup.
-Mike

 

[Diver0001]

A BP/W setup (backplate and wing) consists of exactly that. A inflatable bladder mounted onto a back plate of either aluminum or steel. Most of the simpler designs have a one piece continuous harness much one used for rock climbing. This BC design is very easy to use, highly adjustable and also upgradable. Very useful if you are planning on getting into different types of diving.

This much I agree with.

Also, your trim tends to be better as the wing is mounted directly to your back. You'll see tech divers wearing this rig.

Tech divers wear them for other reasons. Sometimes people suggest a wing based BCD to solve a trim issue and for some people it does seem to make a difference. However, the issue solved is often something that could have been solved with other approaches, like focusing on skills or tweaking other bits of the gear. I use both and to my way of thinking if you skills are good enough then the difference is really irrelevant. Both are a sack of air that keeps you from sinking when you don't want to. They do not give you perfect buoyancy. Perfect buoyancy is a skills issue.

To be honest, BW/Wing configurations have been hot on the internet for quite a while. I think a lot of the motivation for all the arguments about how much better the wing configs are really based in people's opinion that it looks cooler because people somehow look up to tech divers and tech divers use them... ergo if you use one too then people will respect you more and assume that you're a good diver. At least, this is what seems to lurk just below the surface in a lot of these kinds of discussions.

Jacket BC's are slightly different, yet just as good in there own way. It's type of BC all dive shops stock and rent. Instead of just a wing on your back inflating, the whole jacket inflates.
I first started diving jacket then tried a BP/W and I'll never look back (hint hint) but it would be wise if you tried both types first and see how you felt.

I would agree this is good advice.

There isn't one type more suited your normal open water dives, but seeing as you will be diving caves I'd recommend a BP/W setup.
-Mike

This I would agree with as well just because cave diving will probably lead to certain equipment choices that will not suit a jacket on the long term. It's relevant for Dotcomdiver too since the Aegean is full of volcanic tubes and caves.

R..