I recall that another argument against them was the rapid loss of air in the event of a puncture (i.e. air being forced out of the wing by the compressing effect of the bungees).
That's the only case I've ever seen against them that makes any sense, even then it should be a minor problem and not a cause of death. You should be able to swim your rig up with a totally deflated BC. If you can't, you need an alternate source of buoyancy.
I've dived them, they worked quite well (the ones I dived had bungies all the way around the wing, not just on the bottom), but the bungies didn't add anything to my dive. Opting for simplicity, I see no compelling reason to use them.
Nick_W:Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist here. But I kind of get the feeling that gear companies, when their not busy inventing gimmicks like fins shaped like whale tails or BCs with elevator buttons, invent ideas like you'll die if you have bungees, some shoulder padding creates drag that will most likely kill you, or using a snorkel to drink beer is a bad idea. Ok, I made the snorkel/beer one up, that actually sounds like a pretty good idea. But seriously, does anyone else ever get the feeling these ideas are kind of created by the people making the gear that is supposed to solve these "problems"?
I doubt it. I think they are legitimate concerns from real divers who point out potential problems with "features." Those concerns are often blown out of proportion by others, usually those who are ridiculing them. For example, the issue with drag and BC padding has never been presented as you did in your post, "some shoulder padding creates drag that will most likely kill you." Shoulder padding doesn't cause drag, any shoulder padding is under the shoulder portion of the BC and therefore in a protected area causing no drag. Padded BCs generally have very little padding in the shoulder, but lots of padding along the back where it is both useless and does create drag. Will this drag kill you? Of course not. It will make you work harder and reduce your enjoyment of the dive. Thanks for the example.