Vote on your preferred BC -

[RiverRat]

Oh, another cold water diver... Cheers, Tim

Hey Tim, all in fun I hope you know

Just for the record, I dive cold local and I like to travel and dive warm even more.
As I'm changing exposure suits, tanks, etc. the BP/W gives me many options that I prefer. Also for the record, I'm in G. Cayman in my avatar, in my BP/W flat as a pancake and having a blast. To each is own.

Dive safe

 

[kidspot]

Perhaps you could just sell that thing on the Board and buy a new jacket?

Best, Tim

Actually by the results of the poll so far selling a back inflate shouldn't be too difficult to accomplish

 

[meisburger]

Good for you. I was going diving today, but instead am taking my kids to a movie called "Robots". I'd rather be diving, even in a wing!

Best, Tim

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

1. No crotch strap
2. Safety (you will float head up at the surface)
3. Pockets
4. Simplicity and weight (important for travelling divers)
5. Stability underwater
6. Fit (one size does not fit all)
7. Comfort (try carrying your tank down the beach from your hotel to the wreck at Tulumben wearing BP/wings
8. Divers in shorts and flip-flops sipping beers by the beach won't snicker when you walk by
9. No crotch strap that other divers might potentially grab on to for a tow
10. They are cheaper.

For those who like back inflation, I'm sure the modern back inflate BCs (like Zeagle's) are a much better alternative for tropical diving than a BP/W, which is, after all, very old technology.

Tim

Well, my tropical rig is a Dive Rite TransPlate harness with AL plate. To respond to the above ...

1. I like the 1-inch crotch strap for tropical diving, and to be honest I never notice it's there when I'm diving.

2. I always float heads-up ... the "face-down" stuff is an urban legend, based on misinformation and/or improper use of gear.

3. Pockets? Most BCDs I've used have pockets that aren't very user-friendly anyway. Try getting them open underwater ... especially with gloves on.

4. BCD's are no simpler than BP/W's ... and usually less so. Weight? My TransPlate system weighs less and packs smaller than most comparably-sized BCD's.

5. Stability ... depends more on how the diver's weights are distributed, and the cylinder they're mating to the BCD than it does the style of BCD they've chosen.

6. Fit is important whatever rig you choose ... and a harness gives you a much wider range of adjustment if the one you chose doesn't fit you properly.

7. You carry your own rig in Tulamben? Dude, hire a porter ... they're very inexpensive, and you're supporting the local economy. Heck, for an extra $5 most of 'em will give you a nice massage after the dive ...

8. Who really cares what other divers think?

9. If someone wants to use you for a scooter, the style of BCD you're wearing will really be irrelevent.

10. Not really ... you'll generally pay more for a quality BCD than you will for a quality BP/W ... unless you decide to buy the one with the big blue H on it. In fact, I paid more for my ScubaPro SuperHawk then for any backplate system I currently own (I own five of 'em, plus two standard BCD's).

I won't advocate one style as being universally better than any other ... I know what I prefer, and that's simply based on personal experience. But of your 10 reasons, several are simply based on personal preference, one is an urban legend, and and the rest are (or should be) irrelevent when considering what style would work best for you.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[SeanQ]

9. it does seem that the rationale for the crotch strap is ... that it provides a place for your buddy to grab while you are towing him

A sudden frog kick will make leeches rethink their actions. Problem solved!

 

[kidspot]

A sudden frog kick will make leeches rethink their actions. Problem solved!

LOL wish I'd though of that during my BOW when my "buddy" decided to taxi behind me . . . and I never even knew it until the other students told me about it later ... I was wondering where he had gotten off to frequently though

Tim

 

[Bob C]

There still seems to be some disagreement on each side of this question about the stability of each type of BC. I like the definition of stability that SPHYRNA uses above, and I quote "Neutral stability, like neutral buoyancy, means that the BC/tank combination does not tend to put you in any other position than the one you're in. If you're head up, or horizontal, or head down, or on one side or the other you stay there without kicking or sculling. This neutral lateral and longitudinal stability is particularly valuable to the open water sightseer or photographer, allowing the assumption of any position easily to look in that hole or to compose that perfect shot without having to use the reef as an anchor."
I have ask other BP/W users if they get this kind of stability and when you get right down to it, they say they don't. So which is it?
If I have a BP/W and I want to be vertical, heads down or on my right side, can I stay there as long as I want (no currents, of course)? Or is there a tendency to roll over, face down as I was told by one BP/W user?
Thanks for educating me, Bob C.

 

[simbrooks]

Nice UW, but quite uncomfortable on the surface - it does push me forward and it's too much work to stay upright or lean back into it. (Yes, even with only a little air in there, less air than I want. No, it doesn't float up on me.)

Not saying its not possible, but you are one of the only people i have heard this from. Again i prefer the easy chair floating position and a full bladder, but even full i can still float head up when vertical.

Trouble is weight dist - I use 6# max, so if I put any weight in the back trim pockets I've got nothing ditchable. (Rarely are 1# weights available so not too many ways to distribute 6# and remain symetrical!) Next time I'll try 2# on the tank strap and 2# in each ditchable pocket, but I don't know if that will be enough to make a difference.

This one i can help on, buy some tank strap weight system, offset the pouches - one on the top left the other on bottom right or vice versa, there you go decent lateral and vertical balance - 3# in each

...and I've got no pockets and I really miss them, still trying to find a good solution.

Either go with the wetsuit pockets or x-shorts or just buy a pocket made for a harness (anything in size from a slate type to a mask pocket and larger) that you can slide on your waist band. I have some on my BP harness - although i really dont need them with my DS pockets - unless i am diving wet

 

[simbrooks]

1. Our Jackets don't ride up, 'cause we have the dreaded cummberbund!

As that rides up it can help to constrain your diaphragm even more than the jacket wrapped around your ribcage - far better.

2. I could be wrong, but I think that an unconcious diver in a jacket stands a better chance of floating head up on the surface than a diver in a wing, and that it requires less energy for an injured or weak diver tostay face up in a jacket.

I have yet to have one die on me, but i havent seen folks face down in a back inflate or BP/W and see no extra effort for them to do so.

3. Pockets in a well-designed BCD don't disappear when we inflate them (and by the way, we don't put much air in them underwater anyway).

You can buy pockets and they dont get in the way nor are covered up. From my limited (thankfully) experience in jackets i can say i never managed to get anything in the pockets when it had any air in it (not jacked up either)

4. I do leave the weight belt at home. If I have to buy another plate, won't that increase the cost and complexity of the system?

Not complexity, choice, tunability - you can of course just add more air. The only reason i have two wings is the same reason you really cant/shouldnt dive singles/doubles on the same jacket rig (only a couple of jackets can take doubles anyway) - you dont want a giant taco on a single tank nor underpowered by using a single tank wing with doubles.

6. Yes, thats true. But you can wrap a big enough towel around anyone, but that doen't make it better than a fitted Armani suit does it?

I would hardly say a stock off the shelf S/M/L/XL is an Armani, i would however say that the custom fitting (to your exact size) of the harness is very much more like a good suit

7. Then you know what I mean. That harness set up is a wicked uncomfortable way to carry a load on land. A jacket is set up more like a good backpack, and allows you to shift some of the load to your hips.

Never noticed it being oncomfortable even in t-shirt and shorts or a 1mm skin - strange that.

8. I wouldn't care either, but some people do. I suspect, some people are influenced in their gear buying by how they think they gear will be viewed by the community.

Actually i do care what the people at the bar think, i hope they dont think they are driving home after that or being around me all leery when i'm done diving thinking they can be smart.... oh but this was about gear - who cares what they think then. BTW, if they are divers, why arent they in the water actually diving - look like bar drifters to me rather than scuba divers.

9. Lose your buddy? Shame... No, I'm just kidding. But it does seem that the rationale for the crotch strap is not that it keeps the balloon from riding up on the surface, but that it provides a place for your buddy to grab while you are towing him through a cave, and I have no immediate plans to dive in a cave.

I guess they could/might ride like that - havent done that type of diving yet, i know they clip the scooter on to the crotch strap and of course when i cave dive i clip my reels onto my crotch strap rear d-ring to keep them out of the way, but yet very accessable and streamlined.

10. Okay. Maybe thats true, but when I bought mine I couldn't get set up for less than $500, and all that for a bit of webbing, a hunk of steel, and a balloon.

There are deals every day for an AL or SS BP with choice of wing, crotch strap and either the deluxe harness or basic one for around $300-350 in cave country - i think that rates as pretty cheap on the BCD front without quality being affected - i would never buy a jacket BC (well that is enough of a statement right there) for less than $350 or so, maybe even $400 as i have dove many that were <$200 and they were awful.

BTW - i love feeding them, lets see what these comments bring up

 

[SeanQ]

2. I could be wrong, but I think that an unconcious diver in a jacket stands a better chance of floating head up on the surface than a diver in a wing, and that it requires less energy for an injured or weak diver tostay face up in a jacket.

3. Pockets in a well-designed BCD don't disappear when we inflate them (and by the way, we don't put much air in them underwater anyway).

I suppose you see as many dead divers wearing BP/W floating around as Dan sees snorkelers who die from too much CO2.

I suppose you don't carry anything you need to access at the surface, such as a whistle. The last jacket I used had pockets on the chest that opened from the top around my ribcage. It's not exactly easy to get a small object out of a small, poorly placed pocket while wearing thick gloves. As a matter of fact, it's downright frustrating.

LOL wish I'd though of that during my BOW when my "buddy" decided to taxi behind me . . . and I never even knew it until the other students told me about it later ... I was wondering where he had gotten off to frequently though

Tim

Imagine how confused your instructor would be when you signalled that your buddy is missing.