BC's with "Elevator" Lever

[markrovner]

I've been diving a ProQD i3 for almost a year now and i adore it. It dumps air faster than lightning, fits great, and has huge pockets.

Two things:

1) I did my rescue diver with it and my instructor persuaded me to add a normal inflator in addition to the lever -- that's because if YOU need to be rescued, a rescuer may not know hoe to work the lever.

2) The ads are stupid and dangerous -- you need to use it like any BCD -- so you'll need to dump air as you ascend, as opposed to pulling up the lever (inflating).

But i still LURVE it!

 

[ssturges]

This thead my be a troll, but I am diving with a ProQD I3 and I love this BC. It dumps air fast. I am always spend about a minuite waiting at about 15' down when everyone else is on the still up doing the hose over head game. It makes is easy to touch up your buoyancy without having to the physical interruption of getting in the right position to dump. I approach the bottom I can make a few quick adjustments to get perfectly neutral again with out the physical gymnastics.

It reduces the complexity of managing your buoyancy. Things like no more reach up to find the rear dump value when heads down. The lever is always in the same place. I do not have to distract myself with the thought; did I really just dump air or do I need stick my butt, shoulder head, back…. up just a bit more.

Also on the complexity front, when dry suit diving I put a bit of air in my suit to beat the squeeze and give me some warmth but touch up using the vest. This allows me to rapidly touch my buoyancy, especially if I am inverted or a physical constrained space in the dry suit without even having to think about it and take complexity hit of the standard BC Ask any experienced person who now uses this BC, it reduces complexity. I would rather have the complexity management integrated into the equipment that me having to manage it. Given that Buoyancy control is one of the hardest things for new divers, I thing that is a good thing.

But that said:

This BC is easily abused by new divers that try to turn it into an elevator. It should not be substitute for good buoyancy habits.

I also do not like the stock configuration were you do not have the standard hose inflator for many of the reasons already mentioned, plus I like the redundancy.

What I want now is tech wing rig with this feature.

 

[evil_xander]

What I want now is tech wing rig with this feature.

Oh I'm pretty sure as soon as the number of wings sold annually increases (goes mainstream), somebody is bound to make one.

Buoyancy, when learned properly, is not a difficult skill. I believe that with using i3, not much will improve for the beginner diver in the long run, especially if they decide to pursue technical diving (it does add one new skill at that point that has to be learned from scratch, and a critical skill while we're at it). I'd rather learn something properly then substitute it with gear. Not to mention I have a general bone to pick with any classic BC when we include dry suits in the picture...

It will be interesting to read your opinion on this when you have more experience in the time to come. If you're comfortable with it, have fun and keep diving it.

For vacation divers I think it's perfect though (no offense intended to anybody, just a fact).

 

[AbyssalPlains]

So when you move the lever to the "go up" position what actually happens with the BCD that causes the diver to ascend? I hope it doesn't add air to the vest.

From what I understand, that's exactly what it does.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Oh I'm pretty sure as soon as the number of wings sold annually increases (goes mainstream), somebody is bound to make one.

Buoyancy, when learned properly, is not a difficult skill. I believe that with using i3, not much will improve for the beginner diver in the long run, especially if they decide to pursue technical diving (it does add one new skill at that point that has to be learned from scratch, and a critical skill while we're at it). I'd rather learn something properly then substitute it with gear. Not to mention I have a general bone to pick with any classic BC when we include dry suits in the picture...

It will be interesting to read your opinion on this when you have more experience in the time to come. If you're comfortable with it, have fun and keep diving it.

For vacation divers I think it's perfect though (no offense intended to anybody, just a fact).

I cannot agree any more with Xander's opinion. The i3 is an incredible piece of technology that makes diving easy and innovative. When you reach down to the lever it is in the exact spot no matter what. The air hose sometimes shifts and you sometimes take longer to locate it, seconds really but for the novice diver that can spell fear.

I was an i3 user for all my dives about 45 until I sold it and got a WTX harness. One of the things I'd like to see on the newer wings are dump valves that have check valves on them.

The i3 is superior to any wing setup I have dove when it comes to water back flowing into the bladder. Maybe I'm doing something wrong with my lower dump but on many of my dives the bladder has gained a lot of water some dives more than others.

The i3 never got any water in it and that's one of the features that they brag about and I'm for it.

I hate having to tip my wing upside down and drain all that water, am I doing something wrong?

I like to use the lower dump valve when I descending and have to dump air so perhaps another technique might be used?

Thanks,

MG

 

[PerroneFord]

Maybe I'm doing something wrong with my lower dump but on many of my dives the bladder has gained a lot of water some dives more than others.

I hate having to tip my wing upside down and drain all that water, am I doing something wrong?

Yes, you are doing something wrong. The more proficient you get, the less you will have water in the wing. When I've been out of the water for a few months, I typically end up with a cup or so of water. When I'm on my game, it's essentially dry.

 

[ssturges]

Oh I'm pretty sure as soon as the number of wings sold
It will be interesting to read your opinion on this when you have more experience in the time to come. If you're comfortable with it, have fun and keep diving it.

For vacation divers I think it's perfect though (no offense intended to anybody, just a fact).

I started with an Apex WTX BC, I did just fine in it, but reading some of the critical reviews of here on SB others had the same issues I had with it. Like when you pull on the dumps the air is forced way from the dumps. With the hose the only way I could dump was to stop go almost vertical or totally roll over on my side reach for the sky with the hose. I was also not too thrilled to have to pull on the hose for the upper dump which again compressed the wing near the dump forcing the air way from it. I was always worried that I would pull to hard and something bad would happen. I thought that was just the way it was or just my lack of skill until I read the same things here from experienced people pointing out same shortfalls. Again I could dive with it but it was not sweet like the i3 . Maybe the WTX was a bad ref to compare against.

 

[Dtaine]

I like to use the lower dump valve when I descending and have to dump air so perhaps another technique might be used?

emphasis added

So you're releasing air from your bc while descending?

Please tell me you mean when you're at the surface and beginning your descent, not while you're on the way down.

 

[mikeguerrero]

emphasis added

So you're releasing air from your bc while descending?

Please tell me you mean when you're at the surface and beginning your descent, not while you're on the way down.

Sorry for not being clear, I'll try to simplify it...

On the surface I have the BC pretty much with air, I'd say about 75 percent full. Once I get to our drop location I commence with the airhose out of the water with my left hand and begin releasing a good amount of air.

I dive a Worthington 100 cf steel tank and 18 lbs of lead weight; 12 lbs are ditchable. As I begin my descent I don't drop like a rock but gradually go down, I dive wet and have a good amount of neoprene.

Once I get close to the bottom I sometimes have to add air since I got too trigger happy letting most of the air out in the first place, I'm working on that.

During my dive of exploring all around, mind you that I'm not a lobster man I don't like to touch the bottom so I fiddle a lot with adding air or taking air out and this is where the problem probably starts.

As I move from deeper to shalllow or vice versa I feel my body want to ascend and so I move myself from a horizontal position to 45 degrees facing towards the sea bed.

At this time I reach over to my lower dump valve which is on the left side and pull it. I sometimes hear the bubbles rush out as I time it with not letting my regulator bubbles conteract the sound.

Sometimes when I don't hear it I continue to hold onto the cord and I think that's were the problem is occuring; with so little pressure in the bladder maybe the water pushes forward as I hold open the cord.

Do you recommend that when I pull the cord I do it in quick spurts?

Thanks,

MG

 

[Dtaine]

Sorry for not being clear, I'll try to simplify it...

On the surface I have the BC pretty much with air, I'd say about 75 percent full. Once I get to our drop location I commence with the airhose out of the water with my left hand and begin releasing a good amount of air.

I dive a Worthington 100 cf steel tank and 18 lbs of lead weight; 12 lbs are ditchable. As I begin my descent I don't drop like a rock but gradually go down, I dive wet and have a good amount of neoprene.

Once I get close to the bottom I sometimes have to add air since I got too trigger happy letting most of the air out in the first place, I'm working on that.

Try adding air more gradually on descent - once I started doing this I stopped having problems sinking too fast and hitting the bottom.

During my dive of exploring all around, mind you that I'm not a lobster man I don't like to touch the bottom so I fiddle a lot with adding air or taking air out and this is where the problem probably starts.

As I move from deeper to shalllow or vice versa I feel my body want to ascend and so I move myself from a horizontal position to 45 degrees facing towards the sea bed.

At this time I reach over to my lower dump valve which is on the left side and pull it. I sometimes hear the bubbles rush out as I time it with not letting my regulator bubbles conteract the sound.

Sometimes when I don't hear it I continue to hold onto the cord and I think that's were the problem is occuring; with so little pressure in the bladder maybe the water pushes forward as I hold open the cord.

Do you recommend that when I pull the cord I do it in quick spurts?

Thanks,

MG

It sounds too me like you're just waiting too long to adjust your buoyancy on ascent and descent. I'd recommend adding/releasing air in smaller increments. That's the advice I got from all my instructors and it's helped immensely.