SeaJay, thanks for taking the time to post your experience with various BC's you tested. I am a very new diver and just purchased the OMS IQ Pac system. (Never used it before!) I will try to explain my first experience of using it last weekend.
I went out diving with a local Dive club in San Diego. We took an inflatable hard bottom boat out to one of the local wrecks off shore (Yukon). It was my first time diving in such a small boat. Four of us loaded our gear into the bow of the ARC. I immediately noticed that everyone had the jacket style BC's (Rangers, Seaquest etc..) I was the only one with a BP.
When we arrived at the dive site, we were told to throw our BC's into the water and tie them to the boat so they would not float away. Right away, I noticed the large D ring on the top of the BC came to good use (clipped rope from the boat onto it) I proceeded to put my fins on and then jump into the water and put my BC on.
I swam under and up into the BC and basically slid into the harness with no problem. I tightened the sholder and weist belt/straps with no problem.
I then tried to find the crouch strap. For the life of me, I could not find it. I guess it had somehow got tangled up under the BP. I tried for about 5 mins and could not untangle it. My buddy came over and found it for me. I then tried to clip it together. With gloves on it made it very hard to clip together. What ended up happening was the clip came unattached from the strap. I ended up putting the clip in a pocket did not use the crouch strap.
I did notice the BC was trying to push my face into the water. Probably because I had about 28 lbs of lead in the front pockets. I am a big guy and need a total of about 32 pounds.. I need to replace the aluminium BP with a SS BP so more weight is on my back, not around my waist!
I just sat back like I was in a chair and noticed that the Wings supported me much better the jacket style BC. I kicked over to by buddies and was already used to the new feel of the wings.
We desended down to about 95 ft. I noticed that the bungies around the wing helped all of the air come out of the BC much faster than the Jacket style BC! I also noticed that on the decent down I had much more control (Felt more streamlined).
Once at the bottom, it took me a little time to establish netural buoyancy. Once buoyancy was established, I immediately noticed how much easer it was to swim horizontal. I always found that I had to work hard using the jacket style BC to hover horizontal. With the BP, it was a natural feeling. I had no problems with placing my body in any position that I wanted. The BC did move a little probably because the crouch strap was not being used. Even with the slight movement, it felt very comfortable.
When it came time to ascend, I used the dump value in the upper right to release all of the air out of the bc. I ascended to the 15ft safety stop, put some air the wing and found it very easy to hover horiziontal at the safety stop (I did not have a line to hold on to). In the older jacket style, I was always fighting to get the proper buoyancy to hover horiziontal at the safety stop. I ascended to the surface and filled the wing up all the way (100 pounds of lift!) I was right out of the water and felt like I was sitting on my favorite chair. I easily kicked over to the boat, loosened all the stramps, slid out from under the BC and attached the BC to the boat.
On the second dive, I had similar problems with the crouch strap. Other than that, it was a great dive.
To summarize, I feel that BP wing style BC is much better for me. I need to figure a way to attach the crouch strap while in the water. I also need to get a SS BP to distribute the weight better.
Keep in mind I am a rookie (Less than 5 dives!) and know that over time and with more experience that I will probably find things I don't like about the BP winds setup. (Hard to travel with etc..) However I feel that from my first experience last weekend that the positives will probably out weight the negatives.
Seajay, you should take the time to give BP another try and have somebody with more experience help you! I am very positive that over time you will appreciate all of the benefits that it has to offer.
I went out diving with a local Dive club in San Diego. We took an inflatable hard bottom boat out to one of the local wrecks off shore (Yukon). It was my first time diving in such a small boat. Four of us loaded our gear into the bow of the ARC. I immediately noticed that everyone had the jacket style BC's (Rangers, Seaquest etc..) I was the only one with a BP.
When we arrived at the dive site, we were told to throw our BC's into the water and tie them to the boat so they would not float away. Right away, I noticed the large D ring on the top of the BC came to good use (clipped rope from the boat onto it) I proceeded to put my fins on and then jump into the water and put my BC on.
I swam under and up into the BC and basically slid into the harness with no problem. I tightened the sholder and weist belt/straps with no problem.
I then tried to find the crouch strap. For the life of me, I could not find it. I guess it had somehow got tangled up under the BP. I tried for about 5 mins and could not untangle it. My buddy came over and found it for me. I then tried to clip it together. With gloves on it made it very hard to clip together. What ended up happening was the clip came unattached from the strap. I ended up putting the clip in a pocket did not use the crouch strap.
I did notice the BC was trying to push my face into the water. Probably because I had about 28 lbs of lead in the front pockets. I am a big guy and need a total of about 32 pounds.. I need to replace the aluminium BP with a SS BP so more weight is on my back, not around my waist!
I just sat back like I was in a chair and noticed that the Wings supported me much better the jacket style BC. I kicked over to by buddies and was already used to the new feel of the wings.
We desended down to about 95 ft. I noticed that the bungies around the wing helped all of the air come out of the BC much faster than the Jacket style BC! I also noticed that on the decent down I had much more control (Felt more streamlined).
Once at the bottom, it took me a little time to establish netural buoyancy. Once buoyancy was established, I immediately noticed how much easer it was to swim horizontal. I always found that I had to work hard using the jacket style BC to hover horizontal. With the BP, it was a natural feeling. I had no problems with placing my body in any position that I wanted. The BC did move a little probably because the crouch strap was not being used. Even with the slight movement, it felt very comfortable.
When it came time to ascend, I used the dump value in the upper right to release all of the air out of the bc. I ascended to the 15ft safety stop, put some air the wing and found it very easy to hover horiziontal at the safety stop (I did not have a line to hold on to). In the older jacket style, I was always fighting to get the proper buoyancy to hover horiziontal at the safety stop. I ascended to the surface and filled the wing up all the way (100 pounds of lift!) I was right out of the water and felt like I was sitting on my favorite chair. I easily kicked over to the boat, loosened all the stramps, slid out from under the BC and attached the BC to the boat.
On the second dive, I had similar problems with the crouch strap. Other than that, it was a great dive.
To summarize, I feel that BP wing style BC is much better for me. I need to figure a way to attach the crouch strap while in the water. I also need to get a SS BP to distribute the weight better.
Keep in mind I am a rookie (Less than 5 dives!) and know that over time and with more experience that I will probably find things I don't like about the BP winds setup. (Hard to travel with etc..) However I feel that from my first experience last weekend that the positives will probably out weight the negatives.
Seajay, you should take the time to give BP another try and have somebody with more experience help you! I am very positive that over time you will appreciate all of the benefits that it has to offer.
