How about a diver that wants to use a single plate and travels (by air) to most of his dive destinations? My additional balast, whatever the amout, resides in trim pockets on my top cam band, on my waist band/harness and (in cold water) in trim pockets on my lower cam band. Personally I'd rather travel with an AL plate and rent my weight, whatever the amount, locally. Why is a SS plate better than an AL plate with weights in properly-positioned trim pockets?
You are of course welcome to do as you please as you see fit for whatever scenario you wish to construct.
I have already answered you question about camband weights and waist band weights, please see my earlier posts.
The fact remains for most divers who dive at home in cold water and travel to warm water a SS plate is a better choice.
Obviously the ballast provided by the SS plate is welcome for cold water and thick suits. If you prefer to dress your rig out with trim pockets and waist strap pockets etc.etc. instead of using the inherent ballast a SS plate provides have at it. I prefer simple gear.
One of the key benefits of a BP&W for cold water diving is the ballast the SS plate provides up over the divers buoyant lungs, and close to their back. IMO it is silly to toss this key benefit away, and then try to "rebuild it" by adding complexity and cost in the form of trim pockets and waist belt pockets etc.
Many falsely assume that SS plates are far heavier than they really are and that massive amounts of travel weight can be saved with a aluminum or Kydex plate. That's just not true, the difference is ~3 lbs.
What is not obvious to many, and I have the opportunity to speak with 2-3 newish divers on average every day, is that the ballast provided by a SS plate is often just about right for warm water too.
As I have posted repeatedly, the typical tropical diver is using a 3mm suit and a buoyant al 80. That means they need about 8 lbs of total ballast, about 4 lbs for their suit and another 4 to offset the buoyant al 80. A typical SS plate and harness provides about 6 lbs of ballast and the regulator another 2 lbs.
That means the diver needs no other ballast. That's a pretty simple streamlined rig. The gear is ready to dive right out of the bag. No weight to track down, or rent or loose, etc. Most prefer this simple approach, a few find reducing their travel weight more important.
I routinely tell divers that if they are traveling to places where they have to cut their tooth brush in half to get on the airplane a light weight plate may make sense, but they will have to get creative with their ballast once they arrive. Most choose the SS plate once they understand the benefits.
Tobin
amazing 
