which bcd for padi instructor?

[Sevenrider860]

The shop I am associated with "prefers" that we use the brands that are sold by that shop. They price the equipment for us in a way that makes that "preference" a very easy decision. No restrictions on BP/W, but the preference is that it be a BP/W from Apeks or ScubaPro. For teaching classes I will switch between BCD or BP/W depending on the class, location, or how I feel that day.

When teaching in the pool, I quite often grab one of the same class/rental BCD and regulators that the students use as I would rather not expose my gear to the chlorine all the time.

Brian

 

[boulderjohn]

Actually, you should own your own gear by the time you reach the pro level. I'll be damned if a student uses any of my kit that I spent my hard earned money on to buy and maintain

I am very confused by this response. As I understood the post to which you were responding, the poster said that as an instructor or an assistant, you end up grabbing equipment from the same set of gear as the students, and if somehow a student gets something that is ill-fitting, then you may end up giving the student your gear (Assuming a better fit) and using whatever the student had instead, putting up with any fitting defect. That is rare in my experience, but it does happen.

I do own all my own gear; in fact, I own a whole lot of gear. I don't use it for pool sessions, though. I use the same rental gear the students use. That way they can see me demonstrate skills the way they will do them. Students learn best by imitating models, and I would not be providing an effective model if I demonstrated an OOA regulator donation using my long hose and bungeed alternate and then had them perform the skill using their conventional octos. When I conduct the OW dives, though, I am no longer demonstrating anything, and I do use my own gear.