Why are BP/W users more common on this board than at the beach?

[MikeFerrara]

First off there are so many divers who just haven't gotten around to trying to tune their diving. They think what they have works but they aren't always asking very much out of it.

I had a bunch of different bc's before I tried a bp/wing. I got by but there were aspects that I just barely got by with. We continued to advance our diving and training and it became increasingly harder to make a non bp/wing work the way we wanted. One of our instructors asked if we had ever tried a bp. I sluffed it off and tried a different Zeagle...then another. I was a Zeagle guy. Every so often he's mention it again. He wasn't pushy but it was clear that he didn't think what we were using was really working out as well as it could. Finally I broke down and tried a bp and never went back. I owned a shop for a while and taught for shops before that. I could have and did dive anything I wanted and a bp/wing is what I settled on.

I'm not just talking about technical diving either. A bp with a little single tank wing is, to me, simply the cleanest, most streamline, comfortable thing you can get your hands on. Id have to be faced with a really great...just can't pass it up dive and none of my normal equipment around to even be willing to get in the water with anything else. It's like going from a Yugo to a Rolls. It doesn't matter what kind of pockets, weight systems, colors or other goofy gimicks they add to try to get you to buy a new bc every year a simple bp and wing gets my vote.


the other reason of course that you don't see more are because there are so many dive shops that have dealerships with companies that demand such huge anual minimums that they can't afford to dive or sell anything else. And of course they were brought up in the same system and may never have had the chance to try a bp/wing themselves. You don't know what you don't know even if you are an instructor or own a dive shop.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I actually do see a lot of backplates at the beach and on boats. Of the dozen or so divers last night three or four had backplates

I think it depends on where you dive. I was at Seattle's most popular dive site last evening. Of the 30 or so divers I saw, probably half or more were in BP/W rigs.

And BTW - not everyone who wears a backplate is (or has any interest in becoming) a GUE trained diver. Around here there are many BP wearers who are PADI or NAUI trained ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[meisburger]

I think Mike's post above is the reflective of the point Upnapistim made earlier. The thread is about why more posters than divers use a BPs, but Mike has responded with the standard sales pitch as to why everyone should switch to a BP. Perhaps they should, but it does seem as if the BP divers are kinda missionary in their approach. To each his own... Cheers, Tim

 

[novadiver]

when I learned to dive (circa 1978) we didn't use BCDs at all. just a plate and a tank. and I still find myself with zero air in the wing at the end of the dive anyway, so does this mean that the BCD is a crutch ( for a lack of a better word) for divers that lack proper training to begin with. HMMMMM makes me think?

 

[Wijbrandus]

Hi, my name's Robert. I'm PADI trained, and I use a backplate.

Crowd: Hello, Robert!

I started off in jackets, and had all the problems with them that others did. I felt clautrophobic, and wondered if I was in the right sport. When I wandered onto ScubaBoard, I heard about this bp/w thing. So I checked it out. I got a lot of crap from a lot of LDSs that didn't sell them, until I found one that did. I took advantage of an opportunity to dive one, and I've never looked back since.

I don't think a bp/w is for everyone. I'm always the only one on the boat with one. Even my wife doesn't like them. They are harder to get into than a jacket, they've got that crotch strap "thing". They are uncomfortable. I hear it all from her, and I agree.

Until I get in the water.

 

[redacted]

Real differences in numbers are probably not the only reason for the apparent disparity on this board. Some of it may just be that BP divers are louder. We talk about it much more. And that sets off a couple other groups including the anti's who are just trying to protect their turf (and livelyhood). After all, in how many LDS's have you ever seen a plate that didn't need the Ketchup washed off?

Anybody seen a shop that was displaying more BP rigs than jackets?

 

[MikeFerrara]

I think Mike's post above is the reflective of the point Upnapistim made earlier. The thread is about why more posters than divers use a BPs, but Mike has responded with the standard sales pitch as to why everyone should switch to a BP. Perhaps they should, but it does seem as if the BP divers are kinda missionary in their approach. To each his own... Cheers, Tim

What I offered wasn't a sales pitch because I'm not selling anything. That was just my experience.

Missionary? I think it's more like divers being eager to share some of the things that helped their diving. I don't care if you dive in your underwear and sip your air from a coffee cup but when we get to discussing equipment and techniques that's not what I'm going to recommend.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Anybody seen a shop that was displaying more BP rigs than jackets?

Yes but not many.

 

[JimC]

Until I get in the water.

Classic, love it.

 

[MASS-Diver]

I had never heard of a bp/wing set-up before I joined SB. I was new diver with around 50dives and an AOW card. My LDS was a typical PADI operation selling vacation gear. I dropped a ton of cash on stuff like a Sea Quest Raider BC - I new this gear wasn't cutting it, but I didn't know the alternative untill I came here (several years ago).

People on SB are more educated than many divers whose realm of expertise often doesn't no extend outside there LDS, how can you dive a bp/wing if you have never even heard on one?