BP/W’s finally make it to the big time!

[Eric Sedletzky]

I was just reading my Fall 2018 copy of Alert Diver and saw on page 108 they have a two page gear article entitled “Breaking Into Backplates”.
It’s pretty complete with a lot of the same information which can be found here on scubaboard. Text by Reilly Fogarty and photos by Stephen Frink. I wonder if any of the info was sourced through here?
A lot of people read this magazine so I’m hoping that this article will help raise awareness that such a thing really does exsist. Maybe it will help dive shops take notice too when all if a sudden people will be coming in asking if they carry these newfangled plate thingies that are supposed to be the all new rage.
There might be hope afterall to mainstream this stuff.

 

[Marie13]

I had a good chuckle over the article.

 

[rongoodman]

I have their insurance but cancelled the magazine years ago. (They couldn't even find two divers in trim for the picture in the article.)

 

[Doc]

It’s pretty complete with a lot of the same information which can be found here on scubaboard.....I wonder if any of the info was sourced through here?.

A whole lot is lifted wholesale from Scuba Board and appears in dive mags and newsletters.

I have their insurance but cancelled the magazine years ago. (They couldn't even find two divers in trim for the picture in the article.)

Alert Diver improved dramatically about 2013 or so. Give it another chance.

 

[LakeCountyDiver]

I have their insurance but cancelled the magazine years ago. (They couldn't even find two divers in trim for the picture in the article.)

I started to think they were doing that magazine as a joke or "what not to look like" because every issue was of divers in poor trim, poorly arranged gear, nothing streamlined, and over all cringy. Then you go on a dive boat or some open water tourest place and realize that the people in those magazines are the better makeup of 90% of the world's certified divers.

 

[kelemvor]

There's usually some nice nature photos on/in alert diver. I generally use it to adorn my cofvefe table.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

It’s one of the very few magazines left. I’m not concerned about what divers look like in the magazine, that just seems to be the industry standard now. I just thought it was kinda cool that BP/W got a two page spread when just prior to that there was total denial that they even exsisted or were being used by anyone besides tech or DIR divers by the general dive industry.

 

[kmarks]

I bought my BP/W from VDH last summer. I had decided long ago that I didn't like jacket BCs, but my LDS doesn't carry anything related to BP/Ws, so I had to look online (I'm pretty happy with what I got). It's rare to see them mentioned even in the gear reviews of magazines like Scuba Diving.

I guess we'll see who the hipster divers are when they start bragging about having a BP/W before it was cool, complaining that BP/Ws have gone "mainstream," or switch back to diving with a jacket BC ironically.

@Eric Sedletzky, are you ready for the influx of orders?

 

[kelemvor]

I guess you guys are unlucky. I am pretty sure every shop in my area sells some kind of bp/w. Some of those are the funky scubapro bp/w but others are selling things like diverite plates/wings/harnesses.

 

[kmarks]

I guess you guys are unlucky. I am pretty sure every shop in my area sells some kind of bp/w. Some of those are the funky scubapro bp/w but others are selling things like diverite plates/wings/harnesses.

The shop I trained with sold Halcyon. The owner and all of his buddies are huge Halcyon fans. He retired and closed the shop in 2015 (then failed miserably at retirement and opened a new one in the Philippines), and a new shop opened in early 2017. I like that the new one is much closer to me - all of 5 minutes away - but they are more corporate and really like to push the moneymakers. They love the ScubaPro Hydros Pro and have a couple of other back inflates, but I didn't find anything I liked. They told me they could order a BP/W if it was something that was in their catalog, but they don't carry anything in stock.