Pro's and Con's of Ranger and Balance BC's

[Diver smitty]

It is just about time to retire my old though still servicable Scubapro classic. I have no complaints with
this BC it is simple,rugged and easy to use.
This one is early 90's vintage can't speak for the newer
model.
Anyway to the point I'm wanting weight intergration
and back inflation. I have pretty much narrowed it down
to these two. I have my own thoughts but would like to
here others possibly there is somthing I'm not considering that I should be.
So please any and all facts,opinions or questions would be appretiated. The cost of a good BC makes this a major
discision for my po workin behind I gotta get it right the first time!!
Thanks

 

[Paddler_46]

Hi Smitty,
When we were looking to buy our first BCs, we looked at the Aqualung Malibu and Sea Quest Ballance. From what we have heard Aqualung bought Sea Quest, and you can see the simularities in the two BCs. We gave the advantage to the Malibu, in that it had more D rings to attach accessories to and the swivels in the harness straps were made of metal rather than plastic as in the Ballance. Tho the Ballance did have more usable pockets, verses the Malibu's tiny center cumberbund pocket.

In the end, we chose the Sea Elite Tech, for $299 at Diver's Supply. For that price, we didn't see anything on the market that could touch it. Please read our "Newbee diver equipment review" in the General Scuba topics forum.

You probably can't go wrong with the Ranger, but if you're considering the Ballance, you owe it to youself to check out the Sea Elite Tech. Heck, even if you are considering the Ranger check out the Tech.

DSDO
Steve & Margo
Jr. Underwater Explorers

 

[Iguana Don]

The number of D rings a BC has is not an indication of how good it is or any indication of quality for that matter.
If you will check out what the real "techies" use you will probably find that they have a maximum of 4 rings. You don't need all of those rings to hang "Accessories" on, the more you have dangling the less you will be streamlined. Check out HALCYON.NET & check out strealining. Not that I endorse all of their methods. But their gear config is really neat. If you don't need it on a dive, leave it on the boat.

 

[Paddler_46]

Hi Don,
We have to agree with you on your statement that the number of D rings doesn't equate to qualility. It's been a while since we looked at the Ballance BC, and we thought it only had 2, but we might be mistaken. As far as what the real Techies are using, we don't have a clue. We are new to this sport and know we have a heck of a lot to learn.

For our first BC we shopped around, and asked for recommendations here and in the dive shops. In the end we purchased what we feel are quality BCs, that have the capability to be reconfigured as our diving evolves. Only time and experience we tell us how good our choice was or wasn't. Hopefully in tens years time we will be like Smitty, looking to replace a dependable but worn piece of gear.
DSDO
Steve & Margo
Jr. Underwater Explorers

 

[rainreg]

Hello Paddler_46, Don and Diver Smitty, as far as some performance BC's the U.S. Navy completed BC testing a while back and found the following bc's to meet the criteria for ANU inclusion (Authorized for Navy Use) they are as follows:

Scubapro Superhawk
I.D.I. Advantage
Zeagle Ranger
Seaquest Black Diamond
U.S. Divers Sea Master

all of the above bc's scored well and I would not have a problem recommending them as far as cost for each Item well I can not really help you with that.