A catchy title to fuel the debate just a little more, no this won’t solve the question for everyone, but it sure will help provide an option to consider for the newer diver’s and/or for the high adventure diver/traveler who prepares for every dive by having all the safety features that they can comfortably pack into a diving system. After all, being prepared is one of the best tools I have had in the last 32 years to make every dive safe and comfortable.
We just finished up our 2nd test dive weekend testing the New D2 "Hybrid" BC by DeepOutdoors.
This BCD has solved one of the big questions in diving for us, and has definitely filled in a big gap in the debate between BPW and Jacket style BCD’s.
The question has always been do I go for comfort underwater during the dive (which BPW has) or comfort on the surface (which a jacket style has). During our testing we found that the D2 gave us the best of both worlds in one well performing, tough, good-looking BCD packed with lots of features.
Performance Test 9-21-06
The DeepOutdoors D2 dual inflation BCD gave us the best of both worlds. It utilized two different air-cells, one in the back like in a BPW’s and a second cell system on the front/sides like in a Jacket Style BCD. The D2 BCD allowed us to use the rear inflation, (in the wing mode just like a BPW) while submerged on the dive, which made us incredibly comfortable. Then when we were at the surface we activated the unique valve system and air flowed from the rear wings of the BCD to the front air-cell system, incredible! By shifting the air from the rear to the front/side cells we were in total control of our vertical positioning while on the surface (like a Jacket Style BCD). With the D2 we got the “fun-tech” advantages of the back mount BCD while underwater, with the huge safety advantages of the vertical floatation of the jacket style while on the surface. And we got to control the volume of air to each of the air-cell systems, thus controlling the performance of the BCD as well as our comfort level. We found the lift of the Dri-Fusion rear air-cells have about 30lbs of positive buoyancy and the front/side system to have about 25lbs of lift. This proved to be a very comfortable amount of lift on our bigger test divers getting them well out of the water in the vertical position at the surface.
Conclusion
The D2 is a nice option to consider if you are on the fence or if you are a little more interested in your personal comfort while at the surface in your BCD.
On the next round of testing with the D2 I’ll tell you about our test dives on some of the other features like the weighting systems, hardware and adjustability as we go from warm water to cold water suits.
Britt
Check it out CrazyScuba.com! Authorized Dealer, Full Warranty 1-866-696-6090, 214-696-6090 
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