Hi,
I had this BC purchased about a month ago and I have don about 25-30 dives with it. I love it and this is mainly because there is a place to put almost everything you need (except if you are doing tech diving or being used to carry a lot of stuff).
Pros:
- stable and streamlined
- routing the hoses through the BC
- additional pockets onto the back of the wing which I am using for adding extra weight (usually I dive with 4.5 or 5 kg at the Black Sea, but need extra weight for saltier Red Sea)
- I3 works well and it is intuitive
- Octo pocket is a nice addition and keeps my secondary in position
- I love the trident that holds to neck of the tank (valve) - easier to use than the regular Scubapro strap
- comfortable
- well built with diver comfort and accessibility in mind!
Cons:
- if leaving the full equipped rig onto the deck/shore, make sure you leave it directly onto the tank or on the side without the I3 lever. If not, chances are your BC will get accidentally get inflated (even so, it is my understanding there is an overpressure dump valve built into the BC (?))
- since both valves are on the right side of the BC for dumping air in some instances (even though both valves work simultaneously) I need to enter in a right sided position
- I've done some dives where I went thorough narrow places (in shore caves). In one instance there was enough space to squeeze myself in between the rocks and for a brief moment I heard the I3 pumping air into the wing.... not nice.... luckily I dumped all the air before I went into the crack and there were no problems. However... the thought of accidentally run into a celling stresses me (both because of the speed with which I am going up and for bumping into rocks....)
-even though there is a system to prevent water going in, some of it slips in (as we all expect probably). Not having the "normal" inflator, makes it harder to get the water out of it. I need to pump it up with air, put it upside down , squeeze it and pull de lever in the same time. It might piss somebody off (like me,)because it is not easy at all....
- if diving/trying with another regulator if I want to fell ok I need to take the LP inflator from my own and put it onto the new one, due to the increased hose lengths (otherwise it can bug one like a grain of sand into a condom)
What I would like to have on it:
- I'd like to have a third air dump valve
-I wish I could slip my octo easier through the back opening ... I am considering buying regulator QD, although I have my concerns about restricted air flow and the cold waters behavior....
- I wish there was a I3 protection around it to minimize the accidental activation (protection in general and in tight places like caves and why not ...wrecks)
- the Aqualung ABS octopus fits really wel into the the octo pocket... the problem is that this octo is not balanced therefore in cold waters is useless (I am considering here thermoclines under 10 Celsius) ... if this octo could be balanced and come up with a 120 cm lenghts (optional or not) it would be excellent for usng it onto the Dimension I3
Bottom line... I have it and I will not change it because I really feel good with it.
There are some things (like the ones described above) that you might wanna consider when buying this BCD, but then again it depends what are you doing with it and if you can live with some things...
