Cressi BC ??

I just moved my new lds only sells Cressi I would like a new BC.
Cressi seems alittle price. Any compliments or complaints from Cressi BC's?

It's essentially an S-111 with Cressi's version of Mares' "Airtrim" system. I've only had it in the pool so far, but I'll hapefully actually be diving with it in a couple of weeks. Control was excellent. The only gripe I have is that the inflator/deflator control stub is about 4" long and could snag in certain situations. Quality of construction appears to be excellent.

Put another post when you get it in open water.
Let me know how it dives and how the trim was how ever deep you are going.
Thanks for your reply

Isn't this the unit in which you manually inflate the BC by removing a thin plastic tube from one of the pockets and blowing into it?

That alone should be enough to give you pause.

The airtrim system is a failure waiting to happen. I saw one this weekend on a Dacor Hub. Looked very high tech on dry land. Of course, it was a different story when the diver needed to be rescued and ascended from about 65 ffw. Then it was a pain in the butt. First, I needed to figure out how it works before I ascended him. Once I did figure it out, I was not pleased with the dump function as we ascended.

BTW, this diver was not on my team, so there was no reason for me to have checked out his gear beforehand.

I use the S-111, which is an all-round excellent BC. Mine has got 40+ dives and no problems. The construction is pretty rugged and you don't get squeezed when inflating. Check out the review in Diver Magazine:

http://www.divernet.com/equipment/0702divertests.htm#cressi

I do not understand why people compare blowing into a "thin plastic tube" versus a "think plastic tube" and say it's any different. Maybe because it's stored in a pocket rather than dangling from your BC?

I recently switched from an old (and rather good) Sequest BC, to a Mares Morphos Airtrim BC. Very streamlined, low drag and very effecient. The Airtrim system responds quickly and makes bouyancy control a breeze. The back inflate/jacket style BC incorporates the best of both BC worlds. I even had TecRec buddies of mine test the Morphos out and they were all pleasently suprised.

In the ten years that I had my Sequest, I never had to manually blow it up. If I ever do with the Mares, I have practiced with it enough to feel confident that I can do it safely. Isn't that what training is all about?

If the Airtrim systems were such a failure waiting to happen, why is every manufacturer coming up with their own versions of the same concept? Guess we should go back to diving with hardhats and bellows. Hell, when I started diving, if you wore a BC you were a wimp. Certification, not!

It's called Evolution, and I like it. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Enjoy the ride
:mean:

MaresMan1 once bubbled...
I do not understand why people compare blowing into a "thin plastic tube" versus a "think plastic tube" and say it's any different. Maybe because it's stored in a pocket rather than dangling from your BC?

If the Airtrim systems were such a failure waiting to happen, why is every manufacturer coming up with their own versions of the same concept? Guess we should go back to diving with hardhats and bellows. Hell, when I started diving, if you wore a BC you were a wimp. Certification, not!

It's called Evolution, and I like it. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Click to expand...

First, thanks for saving me the trouble of pointing out to you that you're wrong.

The thin plastic tube stored out of the way. Yeah, that's a problem. When you need to inflate the BC, the last thing you need is to be fumbling for that hose, particularly when you're wearing heavy gloves.

Every manufacturer is NOT coming out with an airtrim.

The point is that these systems are unnecessarily complicated. Of course, you probably think that the HUB is a great system.

Personally, I'll settle for refusing to dive with anyone who has one of these things. Flat out, no discussion. Not in my classes, not for fun.

In the meantime, if these things are so good, I invite you to identify one person using an airtrim on the Doria, Wilkes-Barrie, Empress or other similar dive.

Okay, in what way did I make your point for you? Your statements at best are flawed.

Let me say that I am not comparing deep diving Tec equipment to recreational dive equipment. I have practiced with the manual inflation tube on my Morphos with 5mil gloves on and had no problems. Unless you have done this yourself, please do not make statements on speculation.

I do happen to know several UK divers who use the Mares/Dacor/Cressi/Scubapro airtrim (Dragonfly) type of BC, and have no problems with them. Some even use them for Tec/Rec diving. BTW, I was at the Beneath the Sea dive show in March where several companies unveiled their Airtrim equivilent BCs.

My son and his mates are Tec/Rec instructors and they all tried the Airtrim BC out. None of them liked the Airtim series of BCs, but they tried it out and were impressed. They are absolutely NOT complicated.

We actually took it apart and found that it's not much different from the conventional BC, just an evloved idea that works extremely well. The only difference is that it uses pneumatic pressure to dump air from the BC, which is why it can trim so quickly. It also has three manual dump valves.

You assumed that I like the HUB (you know what happens when you ass-u-me); I DON'T. However if you compare the HUB to the Airtrim, BC, you are doing yourself and anyone who listens to you a disservice. Please do not compare Apple to Oranges.

My suggestion is for you to go and try an airtrim BC for yourself (as I would suggest to anyone). Then and ONLY then can you make a fair and acurate comment, like them or not.

Originally, I was against the Airtrims until I was challenged to try one. You know the rest, as I now own two. Don't close you mind to something until you have tried it yourself and can make you own decision.

Whatever you chose, have fun; dive safe.

Enjoy the ride
:mean:

I don't need to try it to know that I don't like and will never buddy or supervise someone using it. All I needed to do was rescue someone using a Dacor Hub.

Besides, until they figure out how to put one on a set of doubles, I can't see the point in wasting my time.

I'm sure that airtrims function well for puddle dives. However, that's hardly a test of their functionality. The real test comes when they are used for deep water technical dives.

I didn't assume that you like the HUB and we do agree that its a POS. Its got all of Mares' cute little gadgets that are designed to convince a pool specialist that they are ready for real diving. In fact, all they are ready for is a course on why they have more money than brains.

Nor am I knocking Mares. My wife has a Mares reg and I've got a now seldom used Mares 45th Parallel wetsuit. Both are quality pieces of gear.

Regardless, there is simply no need to complicate a power inflator with an airtrim. Dive gear fails. Adding complexity increases the chance of failure and makes repair potentially more difficult.

For example, last year I dove Grand Cayman. At about 60 fsw, my wife's inflator pulled loose from the hose (zip tie broke). I reinserted it, pulled a couple of zip ties out of my pocket and repaired it, all while remaining at depth and off the bottom. The whole thing took about 5 minutes. The hardest part was tightening the zip ties (2 this time).

If she had a failure with an airtrim in the same circumstances, I doubt that I could have fixed the problem, especially underwater. I further doubt that I could have gotten it fixed on the island. Even if I could, it would have cost more.

Finally, the airtrim is designed to fix a problem created by poor skills. You don't need that may dumps if you know how to maintain trim and have decent buoyancy and control.

The same goes for you. Have fun diving.

I have an S-111 as well, and though I've only used it a few times, I've found it very comfortable (though me telling you that won't help as that is a personal thing) and very maneuverable. I looked at the airtrim system as well before I bought, both the cressi and mares, but it kind of scared me for the reasons above. But overall, no complaints with the S-111 thus far.