Choosing a bc is a pain.

[Peter_C]

You must have two different wings for single tank vs double tanks. The same plate will work for both.

With that said I have two plates. One is made from stainless and dedicated to single tanks. Then I have an aluminum plate that I use for doubles. I had another stainless plate but found I was head heavy with double HP100's, so I switched to aluminum.

 

[spectrum]

You can't go wrong with a BP&W. It will work for your present mild water and adjust easilly for the heftiest drysuit. However, nearly any well fit jacket regardless of air cell placement will allow for excellent single tank diving. Getting that sort of fit range from a jacket can be difficult depending whre you fall in the sizes.

I agree that a one size does all rig won't do enything exeptionally so for now buy something optimized for single tank diving with a modest (#30?) wing.

In reality if you do come to dive doubles you will probably not stop single tank diving altogether and you won't want to reconfigure a plate ad nauseum. In other words since the big money is in the wing which must be bigger you will probably just buy another plate and rig a harness to your liking.

Pete

 

[ams511]

If you go into tech diving then you will likely have 2 rigs. One for single tank and one for doubles. At a minimum you will need separate wings which are generally the most expensive part of the rig. A cheap stainless steel plate and a basic harness will cost about $100 new, which is why many divers just opt for a second plate. Especially when many of the no-name plates are copies of the brand-name plates. It is not worth the hassle of swapping out the wings.

If you decide to go with a BC I would suggest a back inflate over a jacket as (at least to me) they are more streamline and stable.

 

[doctormike]

I don't think that you would need to duplicate the plate and harness when going from single to double tanks, just the wing. Once you get the harness set up the way that you like it, it should work the same for any time of diving. I use the same plate and harness for doubles/dry suit and single tank/3 mm shortie. Of course, you would need a different regulator setup - you can save money by moving hoses around, or splurge and have a single tank/travel setup in addition to your double tank regulators.

One thing that might change is that if you don't wear a weight belt, you might need to either put weight pockets on your harness when switching to single tanks, or use some other scheme (weight insert for a single tank adaptor, cam trim pockets, etc..). Obviously this depends on your exposure suit and tank choice as well...

 

[mrfixitchapman]

My 2 psi:  I use a stainless backplate with a 28 lb. wing for all my dives with single tank.  It works with wet suit or dry suit.  If I move over to doubles all I need to do is change the wing.  I use a simple weight belt for wet suit and a weight harness for dry suit dives.  If you want answers you can ask SB member coolhardware52.  His website is https://www.deepseasupply.com//   You won't go wrong.

DC

 

[Jim Lapenta]

My thinking on buying two is that from what I read that if you do doubles you have one setup for that and one for singles. I guess if the bpw is so good it wouldn't hurt to have two of them.

---------- Post added February 15th, 2013 at 03:41 PM ----------

I'm not really worried about cheaper. I want what is best suited for my diving.

Now you sound like a thinking diver! BC's that "can be adapted" to doubles can. Poorly. They use a Rube Goldburg style approach to do something the unit was not designed to do but some design engineer decided that they could make a few bucks taking advantage of less informed divers.

The jacket style and even back inflate style non BPW BC's are not stable enough for heavy doubles. The BPW is designed to do the job.

I have 4 plates, 2 steel and 2 aluminum. And right now 4 wings. On top of a Zeagle Express Tech with a 35lb wing. There is no substitute for having the right tool for the job if you can afford it.

 

[j2s]

Do a 'cost' analysis for the following......BP/W [a single wing + a doubles wing, you're set for singles and doubles].....The plate works w/either and there are many used ones around and it's just a hunk of metal, nothing to break/wear out.......Lots of good used wings too.........The BP/W set-up is highly adjustable/customize-able, add/subtract what ever your needs are.......Then look at the cost of a BC, most are only good for either singles OR doubles.......If you factor in two 1st stages w/2 reg's, which can be used for doubles or broken down/set-up for singles, you can adjust your gear to just about any environment you want to dive.....It's a simple cost analysis..........

 

[toddster541]

Hmm... I haven't bought new gear in a long time. But FWIW, I first had a backpack-type, and while the old design had some drawbacks, I liked the stability and secure cam-lock on the tank band. I simply out-grew it. Then I got a "soft" jacket-type and never really have liked it, but couldn't justify replacing it. It does fold tighter than the old one, for travel, and has nice big pockets. Some day when the boat doesn't need parts, I'll get a new backpack.

 

[halocline]

Back Inflate BCD's in general work just as well as BP/W...

No they do not, not by any stretch of the imagination. There is no comparison between a soft- BC with padding, cumberbund, etc...and a rigid plate that couples the tank to your back, provides ballast on your back, and a simple webbing harness that is infinitely adjustable and provides a very un-cluttered feel in the water.

 

[elan]

It all depends on the price. If you have to fork 300-500 for a bcd i would just go with BPW. I pnce got my wife a new sherwood solaris back inflate for $160 on a closeout in NYC and i even dive it myself on the trips and prefer it to bpw. Although its on the small size for me it works well with single AL80