Rarely is there such a hotly debated topic in the scuba community as the subject of gear choice.
Gear choice is rarely hotly debated. It is usually only hotly debated when one person tells another they are wrong.
it can't be argued that the most passionately debated piece of gear is the lowly buoyancy compensator.
Of course it can be argued. Im much more passionate about my fins than any other part of my gear. My fins always go in my carry on when I travel.
This comes as no surprise, as the "BC" is the very heart of a diver's life support system.
It is not. BCs have made diving easier and somewhat safer, but properly trained divers were making safe dives long before BCs were invented.
diver's choice of BC can immediately identify that diver as one who dives primarily salt or freshwater, deep or shallow, and open water or wrecks and caves.
How do you figure?
So often, divers can quickly estimate (with some accuracy) each other's experience simply by looking at the gear that they've chosen.
Looking at the age of the gear might give you an idea of the divers experience. Looking at the style or brand will not.
If you were taught to dive any time in the past decade, then you probably learned to dive in a jacket-style BC.
Did vest BCs become popular around 1993? I think not. Theyve been popular since the early 80s.
they resemble a common winter jacket or life vest
They do not resemble a winter jacket.
most experienced divers tend to shy away from jacket-style BC's, as they are notoriously bulky and cumbersome because of their "wraparound" air bladder.
Most experienced divers use a vest BC. Many experienced divers use other BCs, but most do use a vest. Some vests are bulky and cumbersome, others are well designed and are not bulky and cumbersome.
In the worst cases, divers claim that a fully inflated jacket-style BC "squeezes" them and prevents them from taking a full breath.
This comes from attaching the chest strap and over inflating the vest. Properly trained divers do neither.
jacket-style BC's do not allow a diver to easily stay in this position without constantly swimming or "sculling" with the hands and feet.
True for dead weight. Not true for a healthy person. I easily stay in any position I choose wearing any BC.
Reduced efficiency means that the diver has to work harder to stay correctly positioned, and therefore uses up his air or gas supply much faster than he would otherwise.
Air consumption is influenced by many factors. Ill wear a jacket, you wear wings, well make the same dive and compare air consumption.
a diver who is constantly forced into a vertical position has the tendency to have his fins pointed downward, stirring up a soft muddy bottom and reducing visibility. In the worst cases, unskilled divers wearing jacket-style BC's can do quite a bit of damage to the surrounding marine life, especially when over a delicate coral reef.
This is a factor of poor training, not gear choice.
Back-inflate style BC's are a departure from the "norm" and are largely marketed as "more streamlined" or "more comfortable" because they remove the air cell from the chest of the diver.
They are not more streamlined than vests. They are more streamlined than vests which have cummerbunds and back padding. Single bladder vests without these creature comforts are as streamlined as any other BC design.
there is more room to put more useful gear, such as lights and cameras.
There is no more room on one than the other.
Not all divers, however, are big fans of back-inflate style BC's. These are notorious for pushing the diver "face
forward" at the surface, and therefore are not favored by many divers who spend a lot of time at the surface, such as instructors, students, or boat divers.
Any healthy diver can rest comfortably in a supine position while on the surface in a back inflate BC.
To counteract this problem in both of these styles of BC, many of today's manufacturers are selling their BC's with "trim pockets" placed behind the diver and on either side of the tank.
This is another example of trying to change gear to compensate for poor training.
Divers from decades ago will remember that there was a time when a BC consisted of a simple metal plate attached to a scuba tank, which was simply strapped to the body of the diver.
This was not a BC, it is a back plate. I still have one; it is not a BC by any definition.
Sometimes a diver had an air cell attached, and sometimes he did not (in order to achieve simplicity, a diver would sometimes forgo a bulky air cell, which was most commonly worn on the FRONT of the diver, in a "horse collar" style).
No. The horse collar BC was developed years later. Horse Collars work very well and are still an excellent choice.
It is argued by those divers who are opposed to bp/wings that they will "miss" the padding of a jacket-style or back-inflate style BC.
Padding merely adds drag.
While this may initially seem logical (especially if you simply try one on in a dive shop somewhere), almost always a diver dives with enough neoprene or insulation that it really is a non-issue above the water. Under the water, the lack of thick padding means that the rig feels stable and solid, and makes for a very enjoyable dive.
I agree with the padding issue. Padding is a relatively new addition to the design of some vest BCs. It is not part of them all. Exposure suits are not necessary to make a BC with no padding comfortable.
A bp/wing also allows for a very easy switch between single tanks and double tanks.
I do the same with my vest.
Lastly, since bp/wings are of such simple and rugged design (most of them consisting primarily of a stainless steel plate), the bp/wing can outlast any other BC on the market.
Im still using my 1st vest BC.
Vest, horsecollar and back inflation (including wings) are all valid choices for BC's. Choose which ever style that makes you feel most comfortable.
