BCD- Jacket/vest style vs back inflation

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Tiburon77

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Location
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I recently just got back into diving. By the end of the summer I will have my advanced open water certification but I consider myself a very novice diver being that I haven't been diving for so long.

I wanted to purchase a new bcd and really want a less bulky bc so I was looking at the back inflation style as opposed to the vest.

I know vests are better for beginners where back inflation bc's are for more semi-experienced divers. Any suggestions?

One quesion i have is that when completely inflatated and at the surface how does a back bc differ from a vest?
 
Vests are not better for beginners. Back inflate is, IMO, the absolute only way to go (for newbies and more experienced divers alike).

I strongly recommend a bp/wing setup, but that's a choice you have to make yourself, especially if you want to stay in the good graces of your local shops/instructors and they don't advocate that themselves...
 
Just be aware that there is a semi-silent group of people even here on ScubaBoard who are not beginners; who happily, effectively, and relatively efficiently dive with vest/jacket BCs; and who do not necessarily agree with the premise that "vests are [just] better for beginners." :D
 
The primary complaints people have about back-inflate BCs is that they press them face forward whilst on the surface and make it slightly more difficult to ascend and descend in the vertical position. Both are valid criticisms up to a point, but are also somewhat misleading. On your OW and AOW courses (particularly the former) you spend a large amount of time bobbing about on the surface of a pool or in open water. As such a jacket BC makes some sense. But this is not something you do much of in actual diving. Generally you're either diving (back inflate better) or surface swimming (back inflate ok). You'll maybe spend a minute or two at the start and end of your dive just hanging about on the surface waiting to descend or get back on the boat but apart from that a back inflate is the way to go.

Having said that as one of the other posters mentions you can still dive with a jacket BC and have a great time so it's not necessarily something I would agonise over.
 
I'm a relatively (by Scubaboard standards) inexperienced diver who dived with a traditional jacket style for a number of years and just recently bought a back-inflate to use as a "travel BC" because of the lesser bulk and weight. It's less bulky all right, but it is simply not as comfortable or intuitive to use as my jacket-style BC. There's less padding, for one thing. Moreover, I kind of liked the secure feeling of being surrounded by the jacket; I never felt squeezed, as some people say they do by jacket-style BCs. The "wing" of my new back-inflate BC feels like there is a big, weird pillow behind my head/body, which is something I am not used to yet and am not sure I ever will be. I also liked the D-rings, pockets and other bells and whistles that came factory installed on the jacket and didn't have to customize. I believe one of the advantages that many people perceive in the BP/W style is that it's easily customized and configured by the user, but not all of us care about that or even want to spend time customizing and tweaking. Granted, I've only dived with the new BC for a few weeks (about 20 dives), but I suspect I will never grow to like it as much as my old jacket-style BC. By the way, my jacket-style BC is billed as a "hybrid," which has some inflation on the sides but most in the back--but it's nevertheless a jacket/vest and not a backplate/wing. My jacket-style BC performs well underwater as well as when completely inflated at the surface. While the back-inflate might have a slight edge on helping me keep horizontally trimmed underwater, it is indeed slightly annoying for long floats at the surface while waiting for dive buddies to enter from the boat; floating on my back with minimal air in the wing, the BC seems to work best at keeping me in position, but that takes more effort than with the old jacket-style BC, which floated me upright no matter what amount of inflation.

I realize that as a fan of the jacket-style BC I may be in the minority here on SB. Maybe the difference between a back-inflate (or BP/W) and a jacket-style is like the difference between a bare-bones 1960s Ferrari and a fully loaded old Cadillac. The BP/W has everything you need for high performance and nothing you don't and, like the Ferrari, is fun for the enthusiast to drive and tinker with. In contrast, the jacket-style lets you lumber along in a carefree cocoon of comfort. I'm not interested in tech diving or configuring my BC to carry double tanks or anything special. I just want a comfortable, carefree Cadillac ride. I'm going to keep using my back-inflate for a travel BC, but prefer my old jacket-style BC for all-around use.
 
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My first BC was back inflate & now I use a BP/W but that is only a matter of personal preference. I have dive buddies who are more comfortable in a jacket style BC - if that's what you prefer then that's what you dive with.
 
I know vests are better for beginners where back inflation bc's are for more semi-experienced divers.

Faulty Premise

You say you want less bulky?

Jacket:
BCD.jpg


Back Inflate:
bcd_balance.jpg


BP/W:
Eclipse-harness_detail.jpg


Where in NJ are you located? The Scuba Connection in Hillsborough has a pool in the shop, and will happily let you try out all of the different types of rigs you want.

Diving with each of the different styles is really the only way to tell which one is right for you.

Ray
 
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I realize that as a fan of the jacket-style BC I may be in the minority here on SB. Maybe the difference between a back-inflate and a jacket-style is like the difference between a bare-bones 1960s Ferrari and a fully loaded old Cadillac. The back-inflate has everything you need for high performance and nothing you don't and, like the Ferrari, is fun for the enthusiast to drive and tinker with. In contrast, the jacket-style lets you lumber along in a carefree cocoon of comfort. I'm not interested in tech diving or configuring my BC to carry double tanks or anything special. I just want a comfortable, carefree Cadillac ride. I'm going to keep using my back-inflate for a travel BC, but prefer my old jacket-style BC for all-around use.

This entire post is, IMO, an excellent explanation for why some divers, in spite of knowing all the pros/cons etc, still choose jacket BCs...and why that's perfectly fine.

There are many divers who are passionate about their BP/W or back-inflation rig, and I feel that sometimes they are unwilling to accept that jacket-style BCs are just as valid a choice for some divers, in spite of their downsides. Too often, those who choose to dive jackets are assumed to be ill-informed, stubborn, or just plain foolish. I disagree.

I dive a back-inflaction BC. Not a BP/W - it's a BC, but it has an inflatable wing on the back of it, and that's all that inflates. I love it - I feel much more comfortable in it, and have no problems on the surface. I trained in a jacket, and the back-inflation BC took a little getting used to on the surface at first, but I had it down within a dive or two. I definitely am better able to maintain a horizontal position underwater, and I MUCH prefer the freedom in the front, which partly has to do with the fact that my boobs are left completely unfettered, as opposed to being squarshed in the jacket. (I realize this doesn't mean anything to the dudes, but I know plenty of female divers who feel the same way!)

My husband, on the other hand, has a traditional jacket BC - and it's a full-on jacket, with inflation completely surrounding him. He loves it, and has no interest in changing. He has no issues getting and staying horizontal. If he were to write up his reasons for sticking with it, they would probably sound much like Lorenzoid's.

So there you have it. Unless you have an intent to go in more of a tech direction (in which there are strong reasons to go with a BP/W rig), then I feel it's just personal preference. Try both, and see how they feel to you.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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