Aqualung Black Diamond

I am new to the world of scuba diving and will be taking the open water course this month. In the meantime, I have been researching gear and assembling the rig I want to buy.

Does anyone have input on the Black Diamond BC? I would be using it for recreational diving in Idaho and Washington. I would like to do some spearfishing and crabbing along with our annual vacation to a tropical location like Cabo or ???

Thank you,
Marcus Carr

I have a black diamond and love it. I use it for everything from Tech diving with my Double steel 100s to a single 80.
It does take a little getting use to for a new diver beacause it is a back buoyancy design.

Thank you for the input Divemastertim. I have narrowed my choices down to a Seaquest Black Diamond or a Seaquest Pro QD+. Since I have not had the opportunity to dive either one, I will have to wait until my open water to decide. Of course, actual experience may blow my perceptions out of the water.

-Marcus

I loved mine while I had it but if I were to buy another bc (other than bp wing) it would be a zeagle ranger or tech. The black diamong (or zeagle) will suit your diving style well as long as you adjust to the back inflation. It has plenty of lift for cold water diving, works well in tropical waters and would be great for lobstering. The only possible downside would be while spear fishing, you will be positioned more horizontal than a stab jacket which may(?) be harder to get the shot off. The black diamond will accomidate small doubles but if you start to advance into more technical diving you would be better off with a bp/wing. Looking back on that particular BC, my only complaints were:
1) I did not like how far up the bladder came up. It kinda wrapped up to far into the harness of the bc.
2)to many d-rings
3) I prefer the less cluttered effect of the harness system on a BP.
4) Its nearly impossible to mount a canister light on it. (I ended up butt mounting my light and the clamps tore up my wetsuit).