Why are jacket style BCD's the most common??

[outofofficebrb]

It is what most if not all dive shops use as part of their rental fleet. Students use them for their classes so they learn on them and are comfortable in it and familiar with it. That is probably what they want to buy when they are ready to buy because that is probably all they know and have tried. Shops stock what people want. That helps turnover in inventory, not stocking things people may not want to buy. Shops tend to use the jacket style in their rental fleet because of how they make someone feel at the surface when they may be a bit more nervous and inflate them all the way full. There are probably a lot on the market at lower price points which lends itself to better ROIs. It probably offers the students a more secure feeling to have the entire air bladder wrapped around the them, similar to how a flotation device or a life jacket might feel around them.

 

[jadairiii]

Horse collar BC's were not the most efficient BC's for a diver wanting to perfect buoyancy while diving, although they did pretty good on the surface if you didnt mind your nut sack being split in half by the crotch strap.

Then came the Back mounted BC (wings), Watergill AT-PAC and soon after the Scubapro BCP. These solved the problems associated with horse collar BC's but...."would float an unconscious diver face down", instant death said many! but about the same time, Scubapro brought out the Stabilizing jacket, tons of lift and float you on the surface up to your waist, but underwater acted more like a back mount BC. Remember, at this time it was all about lift, most, BC's, regardless of design bragged about 40 to 60 pounds of lift! (for a single tank diver) My At-pac has 60 pounds of lift and the BCP had 45.

Stab jacket took off, and all companies followed. Seatec, Sportsways, Seaquest, SAS and a few other still produced back mounts but those of use who used back mounts were ostracized and made to feel like second class citizens.....how could we dive with such a suicide style gear, we would surely die. Zeagle was one of the few that pushed back mount BC's during the "dark times" of wings. But still huge amounts of lift, and lots of drag

It really wasn't until the advent of tech diving that those of us that used wings were no longer considered deviant. Halcyon really started making good single tank wings and it took off from there.

Truly, back mounted wings in the late 70's into the 90's were way too big, and had too much drag. Watergill in 1978 came out with a retractable bladder that really made a streamlined wing, but a tad tough to orally inflate.

 

[pauldw]

You're not going to hear this often here, but if you're going to be bobbing in waves (for example, shore diving) then you're likely to be more comfortable in a jacket. Seeing as you'll be more vertical. If that's your main diving environment, then before you listen to someone who tells you that back mount works just as well at floating you vertically, try one first before buying!

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

You're not going to hear this often here, but if you're going to be bobbing in waves (for example, shore diving) then you're likely to be more comfortable in a jacket. Seeing as you'll be more vertical. If that's your main diving environment, then before you listen to someone who tells you that back mount works just as well at floating you vertically, try one first before buying!

Meh. Not a big deal at all. Been in 2 meter swell. I don't think a jacket style BCD is going to make much of a difference.

 

[rjack321]

Another way to look at it is that “new and improved” is a selling point. Products evolve as manufacturers make supposed improvements, hoping that it boosts demand. The backplate and horse collar BC evolved into the modern jacket. Stripping a product of features is not a good strategy for persuading consumers to buy yours rather than your competitor’s. There is a market for “minimalist” or basic products, but it will always remain a niche.

Plus a jacket BC <looks> like a lifejacket. And if you're going to be a novice in the great big ocean you needs that jacketeeze!

 

[Altamira]

For new divers looking to purchase their own gear, it is not easy to find a rental bp/w or back inflate rig to try out to see if they would actually like, or benefit from, those vs the stab jackets they were trained in by most dive shops. FWIW, I hardly ever see a bp/w on dive boats, and back inflates are not that common either. Also, from what I have seen, a very good diver can perform equally well in any bcd type, so it is not the equipment that is the controlling factor.

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

Also, from what I have seen, a very good diver can perform equally well in any bcd type, so it is not the equipment that is the controlling factor.

I think this is the correct answer.

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There’s also a good chance that that a BP/W diver wore out one or more jacket BCs before moving on to a BP/W.

 

[pauldw]

Also, from what I have seen, a very good diver can perform equally well in any bcd type, so it is not the equipment that is the controlling factor.

The problem being, of course, that few divers are very good divers, so the real question then is how will a normal diver perform in them, seeing as it's life safety equipment.

 

[rjack321]

There’s also a good chance that that a BP/W diver wore out one or more jacket BCs before moving on to a BP/W.

Not only do they wear out and get ratty looking for easier, there are just that many more permutations and options for weight integration, moving the lift around, cummerbunds, and even simple stuff like tank straps have far more ways to experiment and move around on jacket.

Wearing out fast + places to "look" unique = sales to new or beginning divers striving to have a "tech" or cutting edge BC.

 

[MichaelMc]

Also, from what I have seen, a very good diver can perform equally well in any bcd type, so it is not the equipment that is the controlling factor.

What a very good diver can use is a misleading argument. That a every good diver might do well with either does mean a beginner would. A very good pianist can play any piano, despite how well the keyboard action performs, though maybe not as well as they would a well tuned one. For a beginner, a crappy or inconsistent action adds troubles they do not need. For the expert, playing the piano very very well would be hard with a crappy keyboard. It certainly adds extra work. I say that as a prior piano student.

I learned on a jacket, but don't recall it much. Then I used a web harness. Then I went to renting jacket BCs. I hated the jackets, they kept shifting around. How stable I could get them varied with how inflated it was. I went back to a backplate and harness. So I've had multiple periods of diving each. I would not go back to a jacket.

I'm sure I can dive decently in a jacket. I don't think I would do it as well or as comfortably as I dive a BP/W. In the past, I've found it to have more issues underwater, I don't think those have changed. I say this as a decent diver, a blackbelt, and having taken advanced and masters level classes in west coast swing dance, a few others at lesser levels, and competition coaching in international ballroom. So my expectation of 'can dive with' may be a hair above 'swims with generally the right direction and depth'. With a jacket, diver and BC seemed usually separate, with a harness, they seem one.