Need Help Choosing Lady's BC

My wife finally dicided to dive with me, so we have to buy some gears. She will be using 80cf PST E7 Seel tank and 7mm wet suites for now. We have decent regulator for her from my backup, but what she does not have is BC.
I use a SS BP with Venture Wing (Hog Harness) for almost all dives and Zeagle Brigade when I have to walk miles to get to a dive site. At first, I was going to get Zeagle Zena for my wife. Based on reading the threads here, Zena is preferred by many female divers. I personally like BP/W setup that gives me superior control and comfort underwater, but the Brigade is also good BC that gives me better comfort on land. Here are some BCs that I am considering for my wife. I would like to get some opinion from you.
She is small, 5'4" and around 125lb. I would also like to know what size she should get.

- Zeagle Zena (Small?)
- Zeagle Brigade (XS?)
- Aluminum BP with Venture Wing (Hog Harness)
- DR Transplate with Venture Wing (XS?)
- DR Transpac II with Venture Wing (XS?)

If we decide to switch to dry-suits, the bladder from Zena or Brigade may not have enough lift. Brigade is upgradeable. I also heard good things about DR Transpac for ladies, but they are really expensive! I am actually leaning toward Brigade since I have it and it is very comfortable. Although I love my BP/W setup, it may not be as comfortable as Brigade or Zena on land for my wife. These are the list importance in choosing BCs.

1. Comfort/Fit
2. Control
3. Price
4. Upgradeability

It is best we go to LDS and try out. However, I love getting things from Scubatoys. Any comments will be greatly appreciated.


Thanks!

pitio:

- Aluminum BP with Venture Wing (Hog Harness)
-

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There you go.

"If we decide to switch to dry-suits, the bladder from Zena or Brigade may not have enough lift"

I don't undestand that statement (drysuit is going to give you even more lift).........let her wear your BP on land and see how she feels about it? With a 7mm wetsuit, you have a lot of padding? Alternatively, talk to Scott on this board, he represents Zeagle.

http://www.scubaboard.com/member.php?userid=29101

I'm quite partial because I dive one, but my vote goes for the Zena. I tried on a lot of gear and the Zena sold me very quickly!!! It is a wonderful piece of gear especially as far as comfort goes. One question though, does your wife intend to advance to technical diving at all? Wreck, cave, etc? The best advice I was given when I was looking, is that if you don't intend to go technical any time soon, to go with the Zena. Realistically, by the time (if) I decide to do more technical diving, I will probably want an excuse to buy more gear anyway. I checked out the TransPac/TransPlate and found that they were quite expensive to set up. The wing, weight system and harness would have set me back a lot more than my Zena did. Also, I love that the Zena is modular. I had to customize my setup. I have a Medium chest and waist section but I needed a Small shoulder harness section. I was able to get a PERFECT fit!! (Can you tell I'm in love?)

ShakaZulu:

"If we decide to switch to dry-suits, the bladder from Zena or Brigade may not have enough lift"

I don't undestand that statement (drysuit is going to give you even more lift).........let her wear your BP on land and see how she feels about it? With a 7mm wetsuit, you have a lot of padding? Alternatively, talk to Scott on this board, he represents Zeagle.

http://www.scubaboard.com/member.php?userid=29101

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I never tried dry suits yet, so please forgive my ignorance. For dry suits we have to wear more weights, so I assumed we needed a larger bladder...
Thanks for the advice....

She's about my size. I'm 53 1/4 and 120 lbs. I bought a small in the Ladyhawk and everything I tried on was Small. It's a perfect fit if I wear a 7mm or less. But useless for a dry suit. Way too small. If she wants to be able to use 1 BC for both wet and dry, suggest to her that she try a BP/W.

Also, I strongly encourage you to let her try on and decide for herself what she wants. I'm sure you mean well, but you can't know what feels and fits right for someone else. I'm sure given the opportunity and freedom to choose, she will pick the right BC for herself.

Make sure she tries everything on too. I was dead set against a BI until I dove with a BP/W and that experience opened up my choices. I am so glad I didn't get a jacket as I originally planned.

If she does not mind BP/W, should we get SS or Aluminum?
I was thinking aluminum for my wife.
I am 5'10" 180lb and I use 5~7lb weights for SS BP and PST E7 80 with 7mm suit.
My wife is smaller than me, so I believe SS is too heavy. She also should have some ditchable weight? We wiill not switch to dry suit any time soon unless she feels really cold in SoCal water.

pitio:

If she does not mind BP/W, should we get SS or Aluminum?
I was thinking aluminum for my wife.
I am 5'10" 180lb and I use 5~7lb weights for SS BP and PST E7 80 with 7mm suit.
My wife is smaller than me, so I believe SS is too heavy. She also should have some ditchable weight? We wiill not switch to dry suit any time soon unless she feels really cold in SoCal water.

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I use SS and steel tanks for dry suit diving (total of 22lbs of weight with trim and pockets). But when it's just a shorty I only need 8 lbs so I wouldn't use a SS plate. The nice thing about the BP/W is that you can change out plates if you need to later on. They are just screwed on.

I would recommend going with the Aluminum plate if you just plan to dive wet. But someone else might have a different take on it.

I really think this is a decision she needs to be more involved in herself. If you're more into researching it than she is and give her some ideas, that's fine. But I don't think you can do all the research for someone else and buy something untried by them and be too confident it will be the right features and fit.

scubamickey:

I use SS and steel tanks for dry suit diving (total of 22lbs of weight with trim and pockets). But when it's just a shorty I only need 8 lbs so I wouldn't use a SS plate. The nice thing about the BP/W is that you can change out plates if you need to later on. They are just screwed on.

I would recommend going with the Aluminum plate if you just plan to dive wet. But someone else might have a different take on it.

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Thank you for your suggestions!

Still Wondering what we should get for her. She is so new to diving that she does not know what she wants. She does not probably care much until she actually dives.
I was kind of afraid of letting her dive with BP/W and does not like it.
If she does not find the right setup for BP/W, it can be very uncomfortable. It took quit sometime for me to adjust the webbing so that it is comfy on both land and in water. We will go around different LDSs, but I just have not found Zeagle dealer near by us yet....