Liveaboard impressions

[Outbound]

@Efka76 thank you for your review.

I'd like to know more about your experience with the Scubapro Hydros Pro. I'm in a similar situation in that my wife and I are kinda new <50 dives and have one by one gotten various gear. Next item is the BCD and we're also considering the Hydros Pro. Main reason for we want to buy is that we plan on doing a longer vacation with many dives (dive trips), probably in the range of 60+ dives.

So how was your and your wife's experience with the Scubapro Hydros? I'm totally interested in your subjective thoughts as a similarly experienced diver, also assuming that during your training you mostly used rented jacket style BCDs.

I have a Hydros Pro as well and I love it. I'm a beginner diver, and my previous experience before purchasing a BCD was my pool sessions using a Scubapro jacket BCD and then seven dives (the first four of them being my cert dives) using a rental Cressi jacket style BCD. By that time I knew that I hated the jacket style. If felt very confining. I considered going the BP/W route but ultimately decided on the Hydros Pro and I'm very glad I did. The monprene harness snugs up nicely and grips well, hugging your body as you move. It isn't super lightweight, but I don't find it heavy either. It dries very fast, which is nice when traveling. It comes with a "Tec/Travel" waist belt that you can swap out if you don't want to use the integrated pockets, which would save you some weight and space if you pack it for travel and don't mind using a weight belt at your destination. I feel my trim is much better with a back-inflate. I suppose some people who are very comfortable with a jacket-style BCD might find the sensation of wearing a back-inflate odd at the surface, but it's really not a big deal. Just lean back a bit and it's fine. You might read some earlier user reviews that mention the straps breaking at the point where they connect to the backplate. That issue has been fixed. The initial run of about 1500 Hydros Pros simply had monprene straps connected by a pin to the rest of backplate. That's a high-stress area and it ended up breaking on a lot of them. It happened to my buddy's BCD. Since then, the new straps are reinforced with an inner core of nylon webbing. The nylon now takes the weight.

The only odd thing I find with the Hydros is that the lower dump valve is on the left side and not the right side like I was initially used to. It's not a big deal at all, it just took some adjusting on my part.

 

[jlcnuke]

With Hydros Pro and 5 mm full (new) wetsuit I used 12 kg weight. Previously I used 8 kg weight with conventional Mares BCD and 3 mm shorty.

12 kg is a ton of weight... did you do a proper weight check when your tank was low to confirm you need that much?

 

[Efka76]

12 kg is a ton of weight... did you do a proper weight check when your tank was low to confirm you need that much?

Yes, i did. Also, tried to dive with 11 kg and it was quite hard to descent. I think that i need this weight due to 2 reasons: 1) I am pretty big - 116 kg and 2) my new 5 mm full wetsuit and boots give positive buoyancy.

 

[qubus]

Thanks @Efka76 and @Outbound for your opinions on the Hydros Pro.

I was able to try it out in the store and liked it quite a bit. I compared it to some other BCDs that were recommended to me and have to say that it's still my favorite choice. I do however have to say that the cost here in the US is very high. I checked on www.scubastore.com but they don't deliver Scubapro items to many countries anymore. Still, I will be able to get it for about 590USD.

I was surprised that it is quite bulky with the integrated weight pouches still attached. When you travel(ed) did you take them off before packing? It seems you could almost fill a suitcase with 2 of these.

Given that there is no padding whatsoever on the Hydros, I'm glad to hear that your wife also liked it!

Another question: where and how did you attach your SPGs? I'm thinking I would clip it to the d-ring below the left weight pocket. Where do you keep it attached?

12kg does sound like a lot, are you sure it wasn't 12 pounds? 12kg would be at the limit of what the BCD can even hold: max 8kg in the weight pockets (4kg in each) and max 4kg in the trim pockets (2kg in each). When we switched from a 2.5mm shorty to a 5mm full suit the difference in weight was 8# (from 6# to 14#).

 

[freedc]

Me and my wife started to dive in December 2017 when we got PADI OWD certifications in Boracay, Philippines. We also went to Koh Tao, Thailand, this February where we were busy with getting PADI AOWD certifications as well as PADI specialties (each): Wreck, Deep, Nitrox, Night, UW Naturalist. After all these trainings and few additional fun dives we had 22 dives each. I also, want to go to Koh Tao once again in order to get Rescue Diver certification as well as try Tec 40 and Tec 45.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Looks like you are an avid collector of certification cards. You've got 7 cards on 22 dives. I would endorse your plan of doing liveaboards or whatever just to get experience and master the skills you've learned before moving on to new ones.

 

[Tippytoes12]

Great review , many thanks for posting. The Red Sea is amazing and we are so lucky in Europe to be so near it. It’s a great idea to do more LOBs and personally I would relax and enjoy the diving before embarking on other courses.

Best fishes x