Went to my LDS this AM to buy one and the owner talked me out of it. Said they were uncomfortable. his comment was 'look at it. It would be like sleeping on a steel pillow'.
A rather inane comment from the shop owner. You don't sleep in your BCD. Frankly, sleeping in my Aqua Lung Wave - a fabric, jacket BCD with padding - would be uncomfortable. The plate is irrelevant in that context. Unfortunately, too many shop staff 'sell' divers on excessively padded BCDs. They have the diver, in street clothes, put one on in the shop. And, it feels so-o-o good. (That is why my first BCD was a Zeagle Ranger - when I tried it on at the shop, it felt like I was putting on a tailored jacket. Of course, I tried it on without a cylinder, without a regulator, without any weight. Only after I bought it did I figure out that little fact.) That 'feeling' of comfort in the shop is completely irrelevant. What the shop owners who want to sell you a nice padded, fabric BCD (with their higher markup) often fail to point out is that you pay a price for that (completely unnecessary) padding - you have to strap on more weight simply because the BCD and padding is SO positively buoyant. And, THAT weight is uncomfortable.
In the water a BP/W is QUITE comfortable. You hardly notice it is there. They are generally very stable, and that adds to the comfort.
I have walked up a steep, and very long, flight of stairs, wearing my steel backplate to which was attached double steel 120s. Yes, by the time I reached the top of the steep climb I was tired. But, at no point was the rig 'uncomfortable'. It was just (da***d) heavy. That would have been true with a fabric BCD as well.
Scuba1821:
Should I be worried about this?
Frankly, no.
Scuba1821:
I usually dive with a 3 or 5 ML wetsuit so I would have some padding but I also often do beach dives that require a long walk prior to entering the water.
As Tom said, define 'long' . If I was walking two miles, ANY rig would be uncomfortable, because of the weight, not because of the plate. If I am walking 100 yards from my set-up area to to water's edge, I simply do not notice the plate.
An anecdote to emphasize my point. When my then 15 y.o. daughter - a newer diver - and I went to FL years ago, I took my wife's backplate with us for my daughter to use. When we got there, my daughter - who at the time was thinking she wanted me to buy her a brand new Zeagle Zena - said she didn't want to wear the BP, that it was uncomfortable. Now, keep in mind, she had never put one on, yet she concluded on the basis of appearance that it was 'uncomfortable' (something like the shop owner was attempting to persuade you to believe). Well, she dove it, for several days, after which she didn't want to put on anything else.