Torn between Stiletto, Seahawk 2, and TransPac XT

[SmokeyCatSteph]

I'm planning on purchasing a BCD in the next couple of months. I'm a relatively new diver, and love it, so I plan to be an active diver! I live in the midwest of the US, and most of my local diving will be in quarries. So far, I've been diving in quarries, in Hawaii, and off the California coast - and plan to continue diving in these locations, but also want to be able to take my BCD with me on trips to dive in other tropical waters, and in colder water in the Great Lakes and Canada. Will likely spend most of the time in 3mm and 5mm wetsuits, but with California and other cold water diving, will likely be in 7mm wetsuit. with vest and hood. (I'm not drysuit certified yet.) Will be diving single tank for the foreseeable future. Am petite, slim build female with 17" torso, but don't want to limit myself to women's models. While total weight of the BCD is important, I'm not interested in a purely travel BCD, as I don't think those typically offer enough lift for diving in colder water.

I've narrowed down my search to these models (in no particular order):

• Zeagle Stiletto
• Scubapro Seahawk 2
• Dive Rite Transpac XT (looking at the divegearexpress.com's DGX Custom - Dive Rite TransPac XT Singles Package | Dive Gear Express®, but will purchase through my LDS)

I've been spending a bunch of time comparing these options, but so far, I've only been able to try the Stiletto. Overall, I really liked it, but found the gear/utility pockets small/tight after I inserted weights into the weight pockets. Love that Zeagle is made in US, is customizable with the personal fit system, apparently has great customer service, and their Ranger and Stiletto BCDs are reportedly tough and long-lasting. Not sure if the horseshoe wing is as good as a donut wing, or if it really makes a difference.

I like the quality of the Scubapro products I've tried and have seen (but haven't tried the Seahawk 2 yet). I like the Scubapro integrated weight system, but see the benefits of the Zeagle Ripcord system. And I like that Dive Rite is also made in US, and has a good reputation. Seems like Zeagle has the best warranty of the bunch.

Does anyone have any thoughts - and experience - with these models? In advance, thanks for your input!

 

[Marie13]

How tall are you?

 

[Marie13]

The TransPac comes in women’s sizes. The DGX website does not mention this. I might be wrong, but I believe the women’s sizes have a shorter torso.

Here is the product on the Dive Rite website.

Transpac XT | Dive Rite

Click on specs to see the sizes.

 

[SmokeyCatSteph]

How tall are you?

5'4" with torso of 17"

 

[pauldw]

You can directly attach a garden hose to a Stiletto.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

I would go with the Dive Rite TransPac. It is far more versatile than the other BC's. You can change wings from a small warm water one to a larger one for cold water, you can add a backplate to take some weight of you weight belt, and you can use different size weight pockets.

 

[Diving Dubai]

you can add a backplate to take some weight of you weight belt

It you want to use a plate, then you'll need the Transplate harness. You can't add a plate to the Transpac. I have both, and just move my wing, waist pockets, cam bands and butt plate across for the winter/summer

I do like the Transplate/Transpac harnesses, because I use large steels off a boat and they do move the load to your hips better than standard webbing, and they are faster to set up and more easily adjustable than standard webbing harnesses.

Depending on your circumstances the much higher cost of this type of harness over standard webbing might be hard to justify

 

[oly5050user]

If op is female go for zeagle zena

 

[Nathan Doty]

I dive a transpaq, I like it a lot.

 

[happy-diver]

We used to sidemount caves with transpac II 20+ yrs ago and some of us still do