BC Question...

As I was prompted in another thread, I am posting this question...

We all have seen the many posts of those who have switched from a standard BC to a BP/W. Well the question is...

Has anyone here ever switched from a BP/W to a standard BC?

I dive with a few that have prefered the Jacket style, they are single tank recreational divers. There was a thread (late spring 2005) on the topic if you dig back.

Pete

I am not looking for those that just prefer it...

Has anyone here ever switched from a BP/W to a standard BC?

Click to expand...

I am looking for those that actually used both and decided that the feel of a standard BC was better for them.

Anyone?

Yes, I prefer a back mount weight integrated BC over a BP&W.

There are many of us older divers that dove back packs with wings, in the early to mid seventies before any production back mount BC or jacket BC came along. I've worn new model BP&Ws too, but prefer a BC for both recreational and technical diving.

Reasons? Better comfort, adjustability, pockets (thin) and packability. I like a cummerbund instead of a strap and weight belt buckle, and tailored shoulders over webbing straps. My BCs are just as versatile as a BP&W for interchanging wings, but I don't do that. I prefer to have complete separate BCs ready to go.

MHO,

Chad

I have dove back inflates, BP/wing and a jacket for that matter and I much prefer a back inflate to the BP or jacket. The BP in it's true form lacks some of the features I want/like. I like being able to quickly adjust it for different dives or just to make it easier to get on and off. I like intergrated weights. I like a little padding in the BC as I do 99% of my diving in just a skin or tshirt. I found the BP to be somewhat uncomfortable above water. I also found most of the "vast improvements" in buoyancy and trim were non existant for me. I have spent some time perfecting my trim and weighting and suspect most of the so called improvements were actually because the BP forced the user to move some of their weight to the rear rather than a true difference. A lot of the other so called advantages are at best minimal or at least way over rated. Lack of failure points is a good example. No doubt that there is less of a chance that the harness on a BP will fail as compaired to a BC with quick releases. The questions you have to ask are, how often does this actually happen and how serious was the failure. I have actually ask around at several of the shops here in the area and the answer I got was they see very few failures, in the order of 1 every couple of years. We have a lot of active divers in this area. I for one will chance the failure instead of giving up my quick releases. Another big "advantage" often made about the BP is you can change out the harness if you wear it out. OK fine, who has actually worn out a BC? No doubt it can be done but it takes 1000s of dives to do so, I am going to want something new by then anyway.
I guess in short, the BP is a fine BC and if I were cave diving or diving doubles, I would have one but for my normal warm water shallow reef diving I don't care to give up my creature comforts for any possible advantage the BP may (or may not) have.

I kind of have to agree with Herman. It really depends on the diver and the environment in which he is in. I personally dive a back inflate so the trim and balance are similar to the bp/w. I find my bc to be extremely comfortable, even while diving with just shorts.

What really makes a difference no matter what gear one uses is the diver's skill and his knowledge of his gear.

However, will I switch to BP/Wing in the future quite probably. But for the time being, mastering bouyancy with the perfect amount of weight has made diving much more enjoyable.