DaleC
Contributor
...In the 70’s and 80’s is was all about the lift of the BC, 40 lbs was considered minimal and 60 was common, in a horse collar BC! I high lift horse collar (regardless of what the vintage guys think) were not very comfortable in the water ESPECIALLY if you were over-weighted...
I know this is a BP/W vs Jacket match but I couldn't let this pass unanswered. My SeaTec horsecollar has 24lb's of lift, less than most modern wings. I dive it as close to neutral as possible and add air only to off set wetsuit compression at depth which results in a small, manageable bubble. That was what the original buoyancy compensator was meant to do - compensate for a loss of buoyancy. True, the 70's and 80's produced some strange creations, but there is nothing inherently wrong with horsecollar use.
You can watch the first minute of this video to see how that works:
[video=youtube;W1eJfyLbzA8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1eJfyLbzA8&feature=gp-n-y&google_comment_id=z134ffx54lymvrpcn234xbf5ltrhsl c4l04[/video]
On the surface the horsecollar is the only system guaranteed to float a diver face up. They also allowing the diver to swim forward by resting on top of the bubble (thus keeping the face out of the water). Most modern divers swim backwards because they need to rest on the back bubble.
OK, back to the regularly scheduled slugfest.