Sopras Tek/Sub Compact Lite BC

[divinh]

I was looking for an inexpensive BC for travel, which meant something light. I stumbled upon this on Amazon, sold by Dixie Divers, who appear to be the only U.S. retailers, other than Sopras Sub themselves, also on Amazon. The price was only $200. There are a few other color variations for $300, so I figured maybe the red BC version wasn't as popular, thus the cheaper price. I actually like the red color, so it was a score for me.

My other travel BC considerations were the Cressi Travelight and AquaLung Zuma, both of which have integrated weights, which meant small pocket space. What I wanted were pockets for my GoPro backup gear. (My main camera is a Canon G12.) Since this BC is BP/W-style, I could swap in bigger pockets.

There was very little info on this BC online, which was concerning. (There was only one mention of Sopras Sub on scubaboard itself!) The only info I found was Sopras Sub's main website, which included some product catalogs in PDF, and their YouTube channel, which had two videos on this BC.

For the price and configurability, I went for it! (I haven't dove with this yet, as I am still configuring, but hopefully soon!)

Here are a set of photos...

1. Sopras Tek/Sub Compact Lite BC with included inflator hose. The harness is more like a jacket BC than a normal BP/W setup. It has two lightly padded shoulder straps with clips for easy on/off. There's a chest strap. The waist belt is 2" thick, like standard BP/W, and has a buckle and crotch strap. There are seven large D-rings (two on the shoulder, two chest-level, two toward the front of the waist belt, and one "butt"). The crotch strap has two smaller plastic D-rings. The harness is adjustable and the D-rings can be adjusted as well.

2. It's a soft backplate with both Sopras Tek and Sopras Sub logos, which makes it a bit confusing to figure out which company it's made by, as Sopras Sub is the main company and Sopras Tek is their "tech" branding.

3. Inflator. Since I haven't used it yet, I don't know how smooth or not it is.

4. Shoulder harness with bungy system to prevent the harness from completely separating. The bungy provides enough slack to quickly pull out of the harness, but on the downside, doesn't allow complete unclipping to slide in more components, like more D-rings, easily. However, the bungy can be untied if desired, with more effort.

5. Buckle and side pockets, left and right (top and bottom). The buckle I've seen online is silver. The one on mine is black, which I think is just as nice. The pockets are really slim, definitely not big enough to handle my GoPro backup camera. I will be replacing these with DiveRite pockets, made for BP/W setups.

6. Purge valve opposite the inflator valve, i.e. at the base of the wing.

7. Crotch strap. Unlike other BP/W, this one is only 1" wide instead 2" wide. There's a clip to disconnect the loop separately, but I would probably not use it as once the waist belt is unbuckled, the loop can fall off the waist belt completely and lost. There are two clips to adjust the length of the crotch strap. Each has a small plastic D-ring for hanging things between your legs, which I'm not sure how useful that would be yet? There's a large D-ring at the base of the soft backplate, usually called the "butt" D-ring.

8. The waist belt opened up to show the soft backplate with large "butt" D-ring, "compact lite" model name and purge valve. The chest strap is clipped and lowered in this photo.

9. Donut-shaped wing with single tank strap and smaller tank neck strap. It doesn't look possible to add another tank strap, but if you watch the YouTube video from Sopras Sub, you can see it's quite secure with the single tank strap. (Not pictured is the rubber grip on the inside of the strap.)

10. Side weight trim pockets on the left and right side of the tank. These can hold only small weights and are non-ditchable. The weight goes into the pocket, which has a bottom, and then securely clipped in.

Continued...

 

[divinh]

11. Trim weight pocket open.

12. Single tank buckle. There's a rubber grip attachment on the inside to prevent slips. The buckle is a metal ring with plastic. There's the standard velcro to hold down the strap.

13. Inflator to wing attachment point.

14. Hidden zipper to separate the outer covering from the bladder, which to me, means it's possible to do repairs.

15. Drain holes at the bottom of the wing.

 

[rwe]

I have been considering this BCD or the tech version also. Please provide an update as soon as you use it in the water. Thanks,

 

[melloyello]

What's the material composition and thickness of the bladder?

 

[divinh]

What's the material composition and thickness of the bladder?

I'm not familiar with bladder materials. It feels smooth and very much like a nylon. It's very thin.

 

[divinh]

I finally got around to testing the Sopras BC in a pool yesterday...

My first test was to use the inflator to over-inflate the bladder to make sure the lower purge valve released excess air to prevent the bladder from exploding. It worked as expect. After deflating, I tested the sensitivity of the inflate button. I was able to inflate fast with a full press and in small amounts with a light touch. Basically, the inflation worked as expected and well.

For the fit, I found the BC to still be a bit too loose. I'm only 5'3", so definitely on the smaller size of the intended adjustments. I also discovered during my time in the pool that the waist belt was becoming loose. It seems that the buckle was designed to work with webbing that is thicker. To solve these two problems, I've since readjusted the waist belt by about an inch on both sides and made a loop to double the thickness of the waist belt portion that goes through the buckle (see image). The BC fits very snug around me now.

I'm new to BP/W designs and new to weighting myself (usually take the advice of instructors/DM's). I put 2 lbs in each of the trim weight pockets, then added weights to a weight belt until I was able to sink easily. I found that I had a hard time reaching neutral buoyancy. I bounced up and down as I added air into the bladder - too much weight? Also, my legs were always underneath me and it was hard to go horizontal. I definitely had trouble with the weight distribution. I normally dive in warm water with just a rash guard and shorts, which meant minimal to no weights. I was in a 3/2mm full wetsuit for my test, so it was very different from what I'm used to. Anyway, with the BC being loose and weighting not quite right, I struggled with neutral buoyancy. I will need to go again to test with my BC adjustments and any weighting advice I might get on scubaboard.

Floating on the surface, there was a tendency for the BC to push my face forward into the water, unlike jacket BC's I'm used to. I've read that this is something common for BP/W user new to using BP/W, so I'll need to read up on what I need to do to compensate.

And a final note, the outer material doesn't seem to absorb/soak up water very easily, which meant that the BC dried pretty fast. I didn't time it but for sure, less than 10 hours for full dry, if not faster.

 

[divinh]

This will be my setup for my next diving trips. (I've run out of time to prep!)

On the right shoulder (screen left), I mounted a holder for a DGX Sharp Cut w/Sheath. (Only the Sheath is pictured. The line cutter will go into checked baggage.)

Below that are two different octo holders, Aqua-Web Octo Holder (yellow) and Dive Rite Octo Holder. (I've yet to see which one will hold when doing a giant stride from a boat.)

Finally, a DGX Gears Horizontal Expandable Zipper Pocket. I plan to put my GoPro backup cam and a few accessories in it.

For the left side pocket, I put a Dive Rite DC Bellows Pocket, Horizontal. The reason for this is to have pockets that open from front-to-back on both sides. Another DGX pocket, like the above, would make the zipping the direction back-to-front. This pocket will contain mostly safety related equipment, like whistle, mirror, light beacon, etc.

 

[Takimbe]

was interested in their wings. I am building a BP/W setup and their wings are at least 100 dollars cheaper than the nearest competitor. Was wondering about the quality. Might have to give them a try!

 

[divinh]

I have been considering this BCD or the tech version also. Please provide an update as soon as you use it in the water. Thanks,

The harness in this BC is sewn into the wing so it's not as configurable as having a separate backplate and wing setup.

Hopefully you've seen my first pool report. Since then, I've done two more pool sessions. The most recent went pretty well with a steel tank. I just need to replicate the experience with an aluminum tank.

 

[divinh]

was interested in their wings. I am building a BP/W setup and their wings are at least 100 dollars cheaper than the nearest competitor. Was wondering about the quality. Might have to give them a try!

Mine hasn't touch salt water yet, but will toward the end of June... I'll know more about quality then.