opinions, SP x tek form, pure or litehawk, Zeagle xpress tek

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faster7581

Contributor
Messages
70
Reaction score
5
Location
bradenton, fl
# of dives
25 - 49
Im looking for a more compact bc, Im using the SP glide pro now, so Im partial to SP, but not for 775-995 price range of the tek units, the lite hawk price is closer to the zeagle, but still up there.. I live in FL, so other than a few months a year at 60-65 degrees, i'll be in nice warm water.. Im not planning on any crazy tek diving, mostly reef and some wrecks, with minimal penetration. Im 6ft 190lbs. If anyone has a used SC tec m/l I would be interested in that if the price is right. Any feed back on any of these bc's would be helpful, I did read most of the 20 something pages about the zeagle, most people love it, didnt see too many reviews on the SP gear tho.. what would you buy and why?
Thanks
mike b
 
Get the Cressi Travel Light BCD, it folds up and only weights 6 pounds. Cressi make great produces and is inexpensive. The BCD only cost $475 you can go wrong with that. We have them in stock.
 
SP Tek range seems a little 'over-priced'. I just bought a new Oxycheq Mach V 18lb travel wing for $272. It goes onto an ali backplate that I got second-hand for $50 (Ebay and Craigslist... you can't go wrong for backplates). Made my own hog-harness for $25. Total weight is ~5lb. Could reduce that further if I used an Oxycheq fabric backplate - but it's light enough already for me and I like the solidity of a metal BP. It will last virtually forever and gives excellent performance in the water. Disassembles for travel and fits in my hand luggage with reg, mask, force fins and rashguard/boardies for tropical/holiday diving.

At 6lbs, the Cressi Travel 'Lite' isn't really pushing the envelop for creative minimalism. The 'jacket BCD approach' to lightweight systems tends to favour simply replacing the construction material with a thinner, less robust, fabric - whilst still retaining a lot of unnecessary and overly-complicated design elements. Replace metal clips with plastic... replace heavy-gauge cordura with lightweight nylon... but still adds copious amounts of superfluous strapping, padding and other gimmicks.

Oh... and I'm not trying to sell you something... so please count my advice as impartial and unbiased :wink:
 

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