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

[lowwall]

Tidbits like this endlessly fascinate me. I've never understood how the dive industry works, and the workings of dive shops have never made much sense to me. This is really interesting, and informative. What else ya got?

You can read about it from the point of view of Scubapro founder Dick Bonin here (note that the formatting of the interview is messed up, it's a little hard to tell where the questions and answers stay and stop): Dick Bonin - SDI | TDI | ERDI | PFI

 

[TMHeimer]

Hold on! You've been diving a while. Given that jacket style BCDs will kill you, how have you cheated death for so long?

By always using my split fins. Maybe Spare Air would be a good idea.

 

[diversteve]

Often they're the cheapest for a shop's rental fleet. One (or two) sizes fit most. Easuest way to get a vacation diver outfitted and in the water.

There's even one with a inventory barcode on the shoulder for rental tracking

For new divers they float you upright and higher at the surface - good for in-water instruction or spotting the boat.

 

[Steelyeyes]

I've been wondering why jacket style is by far the most common. I understand that dive shops carry them more sell more of them etc. Shops carry them because they are the common/popular.

What I'm trying to understand is why are the jackets the most common, how did they become the most common

Mostly to drive the BP/W people crazy and because they look really cool with split fins (of death)

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

By always using my split fins. Maybe Spare Air would be a good idea.

so there is internet access beyond the grave!

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

“Why are jackets the most common?”

As soon as Scubapro came out with the stab jacket it took off like a California wildfire. All the companies followed suit so they wouldn’t get left in the dust. The Jacket BC was one of the biggest breakthroughs of all time and opened up diving to a entire new market that would have been reluctant to take up diving before then when it was backpacks and crude BC devices or no BC devices at all.
They make it super easy to fit people, feel great in the store, safe secure wrapped feeling, built-in BC right in the jacket, easy to hike tanks around on dry land because of better weight distribution on the shoulders and traps instead of all the pressure on two thin straps, easy to stock in rental fleets and fit students in seconds. Then their’s the profit margins, for dive shops it’s a win win.
All the drawbacks are overshadowed by the benefits to the industry.
Not until divers get more experience and exposure to other ideas do they realize there are other products out there that might work better.
But for now jackets rule the market and they will for a very long time.

 

[formernuke]

Once we train divers in a jacket then they purchase the same thing. Ultimately, this results in a culture of diving where training / rental friendly gear is the most widely owned gear. As I look back into my earlier days of diving, it was scubaboard that opened my eyes to BP Wing. LDS did not carry it so I had to order online. It came unassembled so I took it to the LDS for help in assembly. None of the staff knew how to thread it so I was referred to a tech instructor who put it for me.

Kinda the same for me. I did the OW in a jacket, hated the squeeze. Bought a back inflate and was diving that. Shortly after I did a scubaboard group meetup dive one the very advanced divers new I was new to diving and when he heard where I lived he recommend a take a shop only (not part of any agency) class at a local shop that was GUE and used GUE/DIR philosophy even for there shop classes, they introduced me to BPW and that was that, I'll never dive anything else again.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Kinda the same for me. I did the OW in a jacket, hated the squeeze. Bought a back inflate and was diving that. Shortly after I did a scubaboard group meetup dive one the very advanced divers new I was new to diving and when he heard where I lived he recommend a take a shop only (not part of any agency) class at a local shop that was GUE and used GUE/DIR philosophy even for there shop classes, they introduced me to BPW and that was that, I'll never dive anything else again.

I fully credit GUE/DIR for introducing (or re-introducing) the BP/W concept back into the public eye. Prior to that the BP/W was big mystery and strictly a tech thing. You really had to dig hard to find out anything about it. I remember Leisure Pro having some OMS and maybe Dive-rite stuff in their paper catalog but there was no STA’s, tank slots, single tank wings, or any mention that it could be used for single tank recreational diving, that came later.
There was nothing Remotely close to a BP/W in any dive shop on the west coast that I was aware of. It was all 100% jackets, as if the old back packs/plates had never existed.

We have at least made some ground.

 

[Bob DBF]

...when it was backpacks and crude BC devices or no BC devices at all.

The horsecollar BC was much better than crude. It was sometimes inconvient because of its placement and it would float you on your back when inflated, good when unconscious, but sometimes a pain, but no worse than a BP/W. I went to a stab jacket for a couple of decades, but only lasted 5 years, 'till I got the cash togather, with a poodle jacket.

...safe secure wrapped feeling, built-in BC right in the jacket...

The poodle jacket was an evolution of the stab jacket as it became tighter around the waist, and body, with the use of elastic, Velcro, and the cummerbund. Earlier jacket BCs had and needed a crotch strap, and were a bit different animal than what one sees now.

People live their lives vertical, for the most part, and the jacket brings that into the water. It may not be optimal for specialized diving, but gives a more familiar experience to many.


Bob

 

[divad]

I've been wondering why jacket style is by far the most common. I understand that dive shops carry them more sell more of them etc.
What I'm trying to understand is why are the jackets the most common, how did they become the most common

Because there's a billion suckers born every second..........just ask McDonalds.