Aqua Lung Dimension i3

[tac747]

I just got to try one out on wednesday and I have to say I loved it. The i3 lever position felt completely natural to me (but I tuck my thumbs in the waist strap when i dive) Tons of room, more freedom of movement and Adjustments for buoyancy were instant and when dumping air I did not have to think about my body positioning and look for the right dump valve because they all open when you hit the deflate lever. One thing that took some getting used to is if you push the deflate lever all the way every bit of air in the BC will be gone in 2-3 seconds. I am going to pick mine up in a couple of weeks.

 

[The Chairman]

I finally tried mine yesterday and was pretty amazed. The fit was nice and the use was pretty intuitive. I could hold any position pretty effortlessly too. The only thing I didn't like are missing butt D-rings where I clip off a lot of my gear like sausages and spools. Clipping it to the front ones make me look quite the dangly mess. Adding a spot in the rear for a crotch strap would solve that problem easily.

 

[LimBo3500]

I just bought one myself yesterday.
I tried a lot of brands of jackets, but this one fitted perfectly.
But since I dive the most with random buddys at my dive club, I've also bought an extra inflator hose which goes at the manual
inflator connection (left shoulder), and turns the vest in a 'regular' BCD.
So I loose the 'clutterfree' but at least my buddys know how to get me to the surface ;-)

 

[bbarnett51]

The more I dive with mine the more I love it. I find the i3 to be SO easy to use and clutter free. The quality is good and design excellent IMO. The location of the lever is very intuative. However, I also thought about the safety issue of divers not knowing how the system works in an emergency situation. I don't think its a real concern as long as you prep your dive buddy on it.

Can't wait to get it wet in the morning!

 

[The Chairman]

I dove it again yesterday and loved it more as well. I plan on taking it to the Venice Beach Bash this Saturday.

 

[dewmercer]

I got one because, frankly, I thought it was pretty cool and sexy. I dove it about 15 times and liked it. I ended up switching to a backplate and wing but that's another long story.

Don't get fooled by Aqualung's assertion that it is "so much more streamlined". Unless you are one hell of a diver, you will never even notice. When I originally got mine I rigged it up with inflation through the i3. The problem was that my lack of a traditional inflator/dump valve kind of freaked my buddies out. Think about it: Pretty much all BCs are the same. If you start to cork and your buddy needs to hold you down and help you dump gas, do you really want him confused by the fact that what you are using is radically different from the norm? You might explain it to him at the outset but, under stress, he will revert to what he knows (i.e. his rig).

This became such an issue for me that I purchased the traditional inflater hose for it, thus negating why I bought it in the first place.

Just my experience though.

 

[The Chairman]

If you start to cork

If you start to "cork"... you're doing it wrong. Don't blame the tool for your mistakes.

The lever is not an elevator switch. I touch it once or twice on a dive. I never have to grasp around looking for my inflater/deflater controls like I do when I have to find the end of a hose. I reach down and they are always right there. None of my buddies has gotten confused or alarmed by this BCD so far. In fact, all of the comments have been pretty positive. Sure, there will be some people who abhor any innovation and have the "If I don't sell/teach/dive it, it must be crap" mentality, but its good to see options out there and options that actually work well.

 

[Insta-Gator]

If you start to "cork"... you're doing it wrong. Don't blame the tool for your mistakes.

The lever is not an elevator switch. I touch it once or twice on a dive. I never have to grasp around looking for my inflater/deflater controls like I do when I have to find the end of a hose. I reach down and they are always right there. None of my buddies has gotten confused or alarmed by this BCD so far. In fact, all of the comments have been pretty positive. Sure, there will be some people who abhor any innovation and have the "If I don't sell/teach/dive it, it must be crap" mentality, but its good to see options out there and options that actually work well.

Pete, I'm thinking of getting an i3 BCD for my wife (personally I think more diving and skills practice would be a better option but that's another story.) As I understand the function, the deflate switch releases air from all ports. From a user perspective, can you tell if there is any danger of this being a common point of failure? If a control wire or whatever it uses to activate the dumps fails, will the others continue to work properly? How many dump ports does the BCD have?

 

[The Chairman]

Pete, I'm thinking of getting an i3 BCD for my wife (personally I think more diving and skills practice would be a better option but that's another story.) As I understand the function, the deflate switch releases air from all ports. From a user perspective, can you tell if there is any danger of this being a common point of failure? If a control wire or whatever it uses to activate the dumps fails, will the others continue to work properly? How many dump ports does the BCD have?

They include a manual right shoulder dump for venting and a flexible tube that is tucked under a flap on the left shoulder strap for inflation. I think they have their redundancy down here.

 

[BKP]

Pete, I have the Dimension a couple of months now, and I'm a believer... I still use my Zeagle to travel, simply because it packs down tighter, due to the smaller wing -- which brings me to my question... how do you feel about the 50lb. wing? I have yet to find fault with the Dimension i3, as it performs exactly as advertised, and I love the simultaneous port dump (gives you that jet-pack feeling on your initial feet-first descent, not having to hold any power inflator over your head).
I'm still struggling just a bit with the idea of the 50lb. wing... the most single tank lift (being a warm and "relatively" warm water diver) that I need is 30#, and even that's pushing it on most dives...

Otherwise, I can't find fault at all with the i3... it's ergonomics, it's trim, it's design, it's streamlining, and of course it's buoyancy control.