Looking into buying gear. Bcd or bpw?

[Michael Guerrero]

Something for new divers to bear in mind also is that there are plenty of shops and instructors out there who have no experience with a Back Plate and Wing. They've only ever dove with standard BCs, jacket or back inflate, and it's a pretty normal tendency for people to steer you in the direction of what they know.

My advice would be to go with people who have dived both (not necessarily any of us here on SB, but I think we're a good resource) and get their opinion. If you're really not sure, and want some time to think about it I'd just hold off on the purchase (at least until Black Friday, when I'd buy a BP/W ). you could buy regs, wetsuit, or a whole host of other things before you buy this.

By the way, all of those will spark plenty of debate .

Best of luck,

Mike

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Another way to do it is first buy the BP/W, and if you don't like it then buy the jacket. That way you could always sell the BP/W for close to what you paid for it and only be out a small percentage, instead of buying the jacket first then deciding you don't like it and losing your shorts.
Jackets don't have near the resale value of BP/W....again, for a reason.

 

[99tmsmith]

i have the dive rite [FONT=trebuchet ms, trebuchet, sans-serif]TravelPac and i love it at first bought without try it and took it home tried it in my small pool and i didn't like it. i figured i wasted all this money on it. and then i went to ocean i figured id try in again and it was great. i love it now . my first bc was the sea quest balance which was a back inflated and it was ok. it work great for my open water [/FONT]certification. but then i went to hollywood divers and got the dive rite travel pac. and I'm glad i made the change. i don't have to carry as much weight. and it more stable under water and at the surface. with my old bcd at the surface you would always feel like you were tilting forward which was kinda a pain. but it really comes down to is personal preference. my dive instructors swore my jacket style bcd. and like hollywood diver swore my bp/w. if you can you should try different bcd , bpw to make sure you will be comfortable in ether bcd or bp/w

 

[mk706]

Hollis SMS75, with Edd's mods. I have several BP and wings, and a SP Knighthawk. The Knighthawk is currently for sale, and while I won't sell my Halcyon wings or plates none have been dived since buying the SMS75. BP/W has it's place, and I'm sure I'll dive them again. I've dove my SMS in both open water rec dives, and overhead environments. Only issue I had was passing through interior hatches on artificial wrecks. I'll plan to dive BM doubles next time I plan to dive inside a wreck.

Whatever you buy learn how to set it up and dive it properly. I've lost track of the recreational divers I've observed who bought a BP/W and set it up/sized it wrong. My personal favorite it seeing a Rec-Tech diver with a wonky rig, and their octopus on a 39" hose dangling a foot beneath their chin on a bungee necklace.

If you buy anything other than a standard BCD you need to find a competent instructor or mentor to go over the whys and how's of various configurations.


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[DiverRtNY]

Recently invested in scuba diving and gear and went through same question. LDS looked at me like I had broccoli coming out my ear and had to describe what BP/W was without looking like a moron. When the person understood what I was getting at, I got the snide response "what are you planning on being a tek diver?" . SO I bought a rear inflate BCD on-line (Aeris Oceans 5). I guess if they wanted to be rude then I'd save a couple hundred bucks and buy online! I wish I bought the BP/W initially. I don't have much confidence in getting pointers at my LDS for a BP/W but I'd still take my chances. Not that my diving is advanced to needing a BP/W over a BCD but cold water great lakes dry suit have BP/W being the direction I should've chosen. And as far as a rear inflate pushing you forward on the surface... it might be over inflated ( at least I've learned from experience and reading on sb). Just lean back a little and stare at the sky. And who wants to see their buddy grinning with snot all over their facing anyways .

 

[rockystock1]

Exactly, I lay on mine like a nice comfy bed


Mike

 

[cib]

I had this dilemma recently.

Michael and Eric at the top of this page had excellent posts and advice !

This forum is a great source of information but highly biased towards the BP/W, maybe fairly so though. I had a jacket style BCD first. Learned in one, dove subsequently on my AOW and a live aboard with one before it got a small tear. The small tear being enough to need to replace the entire thing. I obviously needed a new rig so did my search, as you appear to be in the middle of, and found out about the BP/W. I never found the squeezing effect of the Jacket BCD painful but certainly uncomfortable and was drawn towards the BP/W, partially due to the additional freedom but also due to my experience of having to replace the entire set due to a small tear on the shoulder (something that would be a $12 repair on a BP/W).

I now dive a DSS BP/W (Med SS BP, Torus 26 wing) and have no intention of even considering a jacket BCD again. It didn't feel completely comfortable when sizing and sorting it but this was of course out of the water. In the water, it felt completely natural. Much moreso than previous BCDs had done. My trim (as a new diver myself and therefore still working on my trim) was perfectly level.

The instructor I have dived with for my AOW and later wreck diving, although diving with a jacket BCD himself, only does so to create familiarity with his students. Himself congratulating me on the 'correct choice'.

There is a lot to be said for jacket style BCDs - easy to use, fit and widely available. However, I find the repairability, ease of customisation, feeling in use, packability (travel) and general ability to upgrade/downgrade at a low cost to mean the only way to go is BP/W. Not only that but my rig was cheaper than a comparable Jacket.

I went with DSS thanks to Tobin's support - the best customer support I've experienced. You'll learn a thing or two after a short chat with him aswell.

Good luck in your choice.