Transpac vs Besea Help?

Hi, I am looking for some objective, expert advice on my new BCD choices. I only dive in temperate and warm climates, am not interested in tech diving, but want something comfortable, and preferably light weight for travelling. I have ruled out backplate and wings, but am looking for a back inflate to eliminate squeeze. Have tried a Zeagle BP/W, and found it OK. The Poseidon Besea W50 appeals but I wonder if the 50lb of lift is overkill for single tank diving and might flap around in the "breeze" . At a slightly higher price is the Transpac and travel Wing. The only thing with the Transpac was that the shoulder straps seemed quite widely placed and encroached on my upper arm, I'm not sure if this is fixable (170cm 80kg build) An alternate would be the Beuchat Tech, the older model which is cheap ($300.00), the price appeals but I can find very little info on this. Any other suggestions or help would be much appreciated. I have found that most threads on this sort of topic end up with a solid recommendation for BP/W!

The reason most of these discussions end up pushing BP/W is because the BC's you are looking into, are designed to compete with BP/W. IMAO a BP/W is so much better than a Transpac or a BeeSea. A BP/W will dive much the same as these two BC's, but it will be a modular setup that you can change as your experience level and diving style change, in addition to being much more streamlined and easier to dive if setup properly.

50lbs of lift for single tank diving is big time overkill. A smaller wing in the 20-30lbs range should be sufficient for single tank diving. If you need more than that, you are significantly over-weighted. That is my problem with most of these "so called tech BC's".

The one instance I would recommend the BeeSea is if you have back problems and plan to carry heavy double tanks. The way it shifts weight to the hips is very unique for a BC (the idea came from backpacks). Otherwise, I think most people are better off avoiding this BC altogether.

What makes you lean toward these BC's instead of the BP/W?

IMO: warm water, single tank diving, light weight, and good for travelling does not equal a BC with 50lbs. of lift.
I don't know much about the transpac, but I have seen some good comments about them on here. Maybe a transpac owner will give some opinions. Atleast with the transpac you can swap out wings and get the right amount of lift for a single tank. That alone would make me pick the Transpac over the Besea in this case.
Given your requirements, what made you narrow your choices to these 2? Was it price, local support, etc?
There are lots of good travel BCs available. If price is your issue, you might get a better response if you said that you were looking for a light weight, back-inflate, travel BC for under X dollars, and see what kind of recommendations you get.
Since you don't want a BP/W, and given your requirements, I would recommend looking at the Zeagle Stiletto, or something like it.
If you are set on these 2, I would go for the Transpac.
Good luck in your search.

Thanks for those suggestions, The Stiletto is an excellent suggestion, what has put me off is what I have read about the the ripcord weights, which may not be an issue as I have always used a weight belt, and never tried integrated weights. I will try and look at one soon. I think the difficulty is the manufacturers withdrawing advertising when gear is unfavourably reviewed. So most things get a thumbs up from the press. There is no one store that affords the opportunity to examine several alternatives. The advice form the LDS is always in favour of their own stock, and frequently to run down the oppostion. There are so many unknowns as manufacturers generally don't publish much in the way of specs, and it is all left to gathering opinions from various sources, however biased they may be. So to answer the question, both these products have been favourably reviewed ( admittedly, I am skeptical of the review process eg. a dive rite hurricane is the "best" breathing reg at 150 meters, and the beuchat vx200 fails at 80 meters. go figure) If there is a difference then publish it and exploit it, if there isn't then publish that information as well. So in summary without being able to get 1st hand experience I have been trying to fish for clues, and as you pointed out a back inflate light weight BC is probably what I'm looking for, having been temporarily confused by reading reviews. thanks for helping sort that out.
The Transpac does seem to be a hybrid , though, a back inflate bc that is modular and could accommodate twin tanks and bigger wings without necessarily adding a back plate (rigidity from the tank). Overall the simple backinflate BC is probably what I should get. Thanks

I have tried both (I dive BP/W to state my preference clearly), and I would choose Transpac from your two options. Ultimately I see it as more versatile. I wonder if it was not set correctly for you, because I have pretty narrow shoulders, and never had a problem like you describe. Indeed, I had that problem with BeSea, the shoulder straps are more rigid and stood wider apart, not hitting the correct spot on my shoulders. It was not so much a problem with Besea because the weight really distributed onto the waist like they say.

However, like I said I do think TransPac is more versatile because you can swap parts (wings, pockets etc, even make it sidemount). Lot of the bits and bobs with BeSea (starting with D-rings) are proprietary which is a pain (greater expense in the long rung). Also BeSea packs really poorly for travel, it's quite a hunk of stuff. I have no complaint how BeSea dives if I don't compare it to BP/W, I think it actually is very stable if it fits you nicely but it is a bigger unit, and the main benefits were on land because it carries the load very solidly.

I have the Transpac and have switched to the Apeks WTX Harness.

I can slip in a steel backplate if needed for cold water diving or use just the harness for warm water adventures.

I also use the 30# Venture Wing in either case.






WTX Harness