Morlan
Registered
My girlfriend and I just completed our OW course and are looking into our first BCDs. She’s petite; 5’2” and 95 lbs.
Using the rental jacket BCDs, she used 4 lbs. in tropical conditions (rash guard) at Turks and Caicos and used 20 lbs in California (full 7mm wetsuit, hood, gloves, boots) during the OW course.
After researching women’s BCDs, I narrowed the list down to the Aqua Lung Soul i3 in a size XXS with 22 lbs. lift capacity. Using the optimal buoyancy calculator, she might still need to wear a weight belt in addition to the integrated weights on the Soul i3 due to lift capacity.
I’m also looking into my first BCD and was initially interested in the ScubaPro Hydros Pro but now looking into a BPW setup and narrowed it down to Dive Rite Transplate or Deluxe with Travel XT and Voyager XT wings to cover local and travel dives. I was also considering Xdeep Zen or Zeos systems and Halcyon Eclipse or Infinity systems.
During my research, I found that Dive Rite offers smaller sizes for the TransPac which can be used with the same wings so was thinking maybe girlfriend can use a TransPac Travel XT. I haven’t found many smaller metal backplate options and would love to hear more suggestions.
Thanks in advance for your feedback and suggestions!
~Mor
Using the rental jacket BCDs, she used 4 lbs. in tropical conditions (rash guard) at Turks and Caicos and used 20 lbs in California (full 7mm wetsuit, hood, gloves, boots) during the OW course.
After researching women’s BCDs, I narrowed the list down to the Aqua Lung Soul i3 in a size XXS with 22 lbs. lift capacity. Using the optimal buoyancy calculator, she might still need to wear a weight belt in addition to the integrated weights on the Soul i3 due to lift capacity.
I’m also looking into my first BCD and was initially interested in the ScubaPro Hydros Pro but now looking into a BPW setup and narrowed it down to Dive Rite Transplate or Deluxe with Travel XT and Voyager XT wings to cover local and travel dives. I was also considering Xdeep Zen or Zeos systems and Halcyon Eclipse or Infinity systems.
During my research, I found that Dive Rite offers smaller sizes for the TransPac which can be used with the same wings so was thinking maybe girlfriend can use a TransPac Travel XT. I haven’t found many smaller metal backplate options and would love to hear more suggestions.
Thanks in advance for your feedback and suggestions!
~Mor