Technical Bcd question

[Sir_Garratt]

Well Im curious about my Bcd purchase

1) Sherwood Avid Jacket vest style regular style http://www.scuba.com/shop/product.asp_category_2

2)Halcyon Eclipse http://www.halcyon.net/mc/eclipse.shtml

I was told the Sherwood was a great all around vest style bcd and i would be very happy with it, but when i was doing price research one dive shop said if i was serious about scuba diving and i wanted to explore many new levels of diving get with new school gear and recommended the Halycon Eclipse which is like a back plate i researched it a little but of course they wont give the downsides, so if anyone could give me a few pros and cons about either of the two , or which style of bcds are better jacket vest, back inflation or that plate style that would be great

and is www.scuba.com a safe place to make purchases from???

 

[shoredivr]

Hi fellow Canadian:

Try checking the Buoyancy Compensators/weighting devices forum of scubaboard by scrolling down the main page; or you could just do a search on these two BCs, or even "Wings vs. jackets". You'll get tons of opinions about backplates/wings and jacket styles. The technical diving forum also has more info.

When I first started diving in a wetsuit I had a Sherwood jacket. Once I started drysuit diving here in Ontario, I switched to wings. Love them. Not going back.

If you want information about specific brands of wings and plates from an all-technical diving board, try www.thedecostop.com

Cheers

Shoredivr

 

[terrasmak]

There arnt any cons to the Halcyon gear , now for the Sherwood there are plenty. The first to come to mind is you will have wasted your money on it when you replace it with a BP/w

 

[rockjock3]

Well Im curious about my Bcd purchase

1) Sherwood Avid Jacket vest style regular style http://www.scuba.com/shop/product.asp_category_2

2)Halcyon Eclipse http://www.halcyon.net/mc/eclipse.shtml

I was told the Sherwood was a great all around vest style bcd and i would be very happy with it, but when i was doing price research one dive shop said if i was serious about scuba diving and i wanted to explore many new levels of diving get with new school gear and recommended the Halycon Eclipse which is like a back plate i researched it a little but of course they wont give the downsides, so if anyone could give me a few pros and cons about either of the two , or which style of bcds are better jacket vest, back inflation or that plate style that would be great

and is www.scuba.com a safe place to make purchases from???

I'll share my experiences with you for what they are worth. I am a person who is very slow to take people's opinions to heart so I research, research and then research some more. I started like most people, with a jacket style BC.

When I started hearing all the hype about BP/W setups versus jacket style I was skeptical (started diving 13 months ago). After a couple of months I figured I would research BP/Ws some. Now mind you I had no real problems with my jacket style other than not enough connection points. I had none of the problem that others complain about how they float you, they are to hard to trim, etc. Mine floated me fine and my trim was spot on.

As I researched them and looked at many in the shop as well as on some friends I came to see many of the short term benifits as well as long term benifits. I finally bought one and could not be more happy with that decision. I currently dive a Halcyon Eclipse 30# wing with an AL BP and absolutely love it.

Here are some of the things I found
Jacket style BC:
Pros--
--cheaper up-front cost (many of them)
--quick connects
--quickly adjustable
--pockets
Cons--
--plastic buckles are expensive to replace (usually requires shipment to the factory)
--constricting when they are inflated at surface
--little harder to get trimmed correctly
--damage is costly to repair (some damage warrants a whole new BC)
--bulky for kayak diving
--most have few connection points and those are not adjustable
--very bouyant and hard to dump all air out of all the little sewn corners

BP/W:
Pros--
--very modular (most if not all components are user replaceable)
--highly adjustable
--as many or few connection points as you wish and as adjustable as your imagination
--very compact (especially for kayak diving)
--easy to get trim down
--no constricting feeling whether fully inflated or not
--no plastic that is easily breakable
--easy to completely dump all the air
--negatively bouyant from the start (no hidden plastics or air pockets)
Cons--
--Higher up-front cost (for many)
--long initial fitting time (whew, that was a bugger)

I kayak dive, shore dive and boat dive with this setup and have about 90 dives on it now. I have no plans to go back as this is the most comfortable and logical diving setup I have found (for me). It works well in all the types of diving that I have down so far. That being said. You should research, research and research some more to see find what will suit you and your diving style the best.

 

[duckster3d]

the only con for the halcyon is the price there are a lot of great bp/wing combos that will cost half as much and allow you to have extra money to take a class or two.

the con with the bcd is if yo plan on doing any type of tech diving down the road it will either end up on ebay, or collecting dust in the closet. once you go bp/wing you'll never go back lol.

check out deep outdoors,
dive rite
as they both have great bp/wings

 

[divemaster_jim]

Consider what type of diving you want to be doing in 5 yrs or so and then make your purchase based on that. there's always gonna be pros and cons to everything,,,

 

[rawls]

I used to use a vest, but use an OMS bungeed wing now. I wouldn't go back to a vest. I have heard that Halcyon has had problems with their inflator hoses. They may have fixed it by now....

 

[jeckyll]

It was inflators, not hoses. And all the new inflators are plastic and that problem seems to have gone away

 

[Wildcard]

There arnt any cons to the Halcyon gear , no for the Sherwood there are plenty. The first to come to mind is you will have wasted your money on it when you replace it with a BP/w

WOW, the perfect system..... NO cons...
YA right. No matter what a statement like that is talking about, never believe it.
Here is my suggestion for you. Buy a used BCD, thousands of them out there that are just fine, if in doub't buy a serviced rental return from a LDS. You will pay 1/4 price. Dive it for a while and that will give you time to research the options and form your own ideas. BP/Ws are good but not nessarly teh best for everyone.

 

[ZzzKing]

Although you'll get about 99% of the people on ScubaBoard to recommend a backplate/wing, in the real world there is a much smaller percentage of people that use them. Probably more like 1%.

I just spent a week in Belize and never saw a backplate of any brand other than the one on my back so don't think you'll be getting mainstream advice around here. It seems like most ScubaBoard members are a tad more, shall we say, fanatical about the sport and tend toward being gearheads. A lot of them do more challenging dives than would be considered standard recreational type diving and need the versatility and durability that a backplate wing setup offers.

If you are considering progressing beyond recreational diving and getting into deco/wreck/cave type things then it would be good to go ahead and take the plunge now. That way you learn on the same type of gear that you will be using in your more technical endeavors. If you mainly enjoy shallower/shorter/clearer/warmer diving, a jacket or back-inflate BC will be fine and serve you well for years. Of course there is a vintage gear curmudgeon or two that wonder why you need a BC at all...

I think one or two folks on here may have said it before, but try to rent, borrow or steal several different types of setups prior to buying and see what you like best. I also like the advice about trying to imagine what you'll be doing in 5 years and head that direction.

Edit: Wildcard may have the best advice yet.