Sherwood Avid or Oceanic Oceanpro Fx

[74fencer]

Kind of on the fence between the two. I tried the oceanic on at the lds fit really comfortable, I am trying to find a place local that stocks the avid so I can try it. They are both right at the same price so whats you guys opinion on these? oh and I dont dive enough to really need bp/w or anything real fancy,all my dives will be in warm water. TIA

 

[spectrum]

Kind of on the fence between the two. I tried the oceanic on at the lds fit really comfortable, I am trying to find a place local that stocks the avid so I can try it. They are both right at the same price so whats you guys opinion on these? oh and I dont dive enough to really need bp/w or anything real fancy,all my dives will be in warm water. TIA

Well my Avid experince is limited, 1 dive so far, more to follow soon. I can share what I liked compared to others...
6 D rings, 2 on each side of upper chest and 2 at the bottom
Sternum strap
Waist strap that is wider than many.
Cummerbund is depth compensating, pretty standard stuff.
Decent sized (plastic) pull rings on shoulder and waist strap
Pockets (2) are zippered, not velco closure. They are big enough to be useful but not huge.
Integrated weight carriers are clipped in, have not used these yet.
The trim pockets out back are nestled into the back pack, not hanging on or in the way of the tank strap.
You get 2 tank straps, they's not SS cam bands but they have nice gripper pads that seem better than some others and again you have 2 of them. I don't have any trouble getting them to lock over with a nice snap.
4 Air dumps: Inflator,L shoulder/inflator pull, Right shoulder with the pull string guided to a nice spot with a pull pendant, bottom pull dump.
The inflator seems to have a nice natural feel, certainly better than some I've used.
For a jacket style the chest is relatively uncluttered.
Some padding in the lumbar area, seems not so much as to make it squishy.
All in all it locked onto me nice and I forgot it was there during my final checkout freeswim dive.
I had a Pressed steel E7_80 riding on it.
Cost was reasonable enough that if I decide to move on I won't have too much heartburn.
Dealer is 1/2 mile from home.
It comes ready for an Acona accesory pack with a number of attachment points. Clips are just unique enough so you can't hang just anything on them.
General construction seems sturdy compared do some others I looked at.
Size L has 32 LB of lift.

By the way in my case it was going to be the AVID or a BP/W. I wanted to get into my own gear ASAP and I've had lousy luck (YMMV) getting mailorder things together. We don't have much for shops around here that are in to BP/W nor many that dive them to act as mentors, there are some however. I knew without a doubt I'd be content for a good while in the Avid, I was 90% sure about the BP/W and again I was impatient. So far no regrets but it was a hard one to call. For now I favored the "creature comforts". My point in bringing up the BP/W is that they are not fancy and only a little bit more money to start with if you stay with the basic configuration. The cost does escalate if you pile on pockets, weight integration and padding. I decided I wanted to have time to dive and learn about "my" diving before I put a system together.

By it's nature my post is 1 sided but I hope it helps you zero in on some features and do a compare and contrast.


Pete

 

[scubatoys]

Both are pretty nice BC's at the $300 price range, but I'd say go with the Oceanic. The weight system is a bit better, it has more padding, and I like the way the rear dump is remoted to the front. They only thing you're giving up is 2 d-rings on the shoulders... and I've never had a need for 2...

Oceanic FX Pro gets the nod from me.

 

[Heffey]

Kind of on the fence between the two. I tried the oceanic on at the lds fit really comfortable, I am trying to find a place local that stocks the avid so I can try it. They are both right at the same price so whats you guys opinion on these? oh and I dont dive enough to really need bp/w or anything real fancy,all my dives will be in warm water. TIA

I did 4 dives this weekend with the Avid and was very happy with it.
It was my first time using integrated weights but the Avid seemed to perform well.
One thing to keep in mind is that it was the look of the Avid that first caught my attention but it was the fit that sold me.
Go for the one that feels the best to you.
Jeffrey

 

[fsudiver]

I agree with spectrum on this. I tried on a dozen or so BCs before I chose the Sherwood Avid over the Oceanic. I have had it for less than 2 months, but I am really pleased with it.

Kind of on the fence between the two. I tried the oceanic on at the lds fit really comfortable, I am trying to find a place local that stocks the avid so I can try it. They are both right at the same price so whats you guys opinion on these? oh and I dont dive enough to really need bp/w or anything real fancy,all my dives will be in warm water. TIA

 

[spectrum]

FWIW after 16 dives I'm still very pleased with my Sherwood Avid. This is an extension to my prior post after only one dive.

Pete