"Transpac" Style BC Question

[Rock2r]

Progressed from rental BC's three years ago to a Scubapro Knighthawk which I bought extremely reasonable through e-bay. The BC has served me well on vacations to tropical locations, but, as others on this board have done in similar situations, it is time to move on.

Noticing very aggressive deals these days on "Transpac" (or equivalent) style BP (if you can call them that) units.

For those that have walked this road before me, is upgrading to a "soft" but comfortable BP/W even an upgrade from my current Knighthawk? Should I just go "hard" BP/W and be done with it?

I never plan on diving doubles, cold water or Mexican caves. Mainly looking to have less bulk for traveling, packing and wearing.

Last question : Keep the Knighthawk (w/Air-2) and start building a fleet or sell it?

 

[BKP]

Progressed from rental BC's three years ago to a Scubapro Knighthawk which I bought extremely reasonable through e-bay. The BC has served me well on vacations to tropical locations, but, as others on this board have done in similar situations, it is time to move on.

Noticing very aggressive deals these days on "Transpac" (or equivalent) style BP (if you can call them that) units.

For those that have walked this road before me, is upgrading to a "soft" but comfortable BP/W even an upgrade from my current Knighthawk? Should I just go "hard" BP/W and be done with it?

I never plan on diving doubles, cold water or Mexican caves. Mainly looking to have less bulk for traveling, packing and wearing.

Last question : Keep the Knighthawk (w/Air-2) and start building a fleet or sell it?

I went a similar route, and have no regrets. I have a Transpac, with a travel wing, and it lives up to all the reasons I switched. It presents more comfort than the standard BP/W (which I *have* used), however, it also offers the advantages of a low profile, doughnut wing, which allows you to get all the air out on descent, and as spartan a setup as you care to go.

I dove the Atomic integrated Octo for a while as well, and still have it, although I use a separate Atomic B2 primary/Apeks xtx 50 Octo combination now (and prefer it). While the integrated breathed almost as well as the primary at depth, a separate octo offers multiple advantages (not the least of which is not rendering your rig useless if you're traveling and have an issue with just that in-line octo).

If you *do* plan on diving doubles, I'd jump in now, and go with the BP/W immediately. There are *many* on here that'll tell you to just go with the BP/W now regardless...

 

[RJP]

Noticing very aggressive deals these days on "Transpac" (or equivalent) style BP (if you can call them that) units.

Transpac is the b@stard child of a BP/W and a traditional BCD - with the upshot being that it lacks most of the benefits of a BP/W while maintaining most of the drawbacks of a traditional BCD.

I dive BP/W whether steel doubles here in NJ wrecks, double AL80s in Florida caves, or a single AL80 in Bonaire or the Cayman Islands.

Keep the Knighthawk or go all the way to BP/W.

 

[cgvmer]

It's really a question of comfort for you. I dive a bp/w with a tranplate harness, my son dives bp/w with a hog harness, my other son and daughter dive transpacs.... for simple warm water diving either will do fine. I rented a transpac and loved it, but bought a bp/w with hog harness, but went to the transplate harness when I saw one of those deals you mentioned.

 

[fnfalman]

The Transpac is a versatile unit that is adaptable to a multitude of configuration. Yes, it's not as rigid as a hard plate, but it still offers the freedom of a BPW setup.

The Transpac is my travel rig and the hard plate is my SoCal only dive rig. I'd take my BPW if I were to know that my dive destination offers the same condition as SoCal diving. Otherwise, I'd take my Transpac and a bunch of soft weights and that will handle any dive in any condition.

 

[Splash-X]

If the solid backplate is what worries you then a lumbar support pad or a similar padding for other BCs may be an option for you.

Dive Rite Backplate Lumbar Pad at Divers-Supply.com

and one for OMS BCD's

Oms Back Pad Bca-Bpp at Divers-Supply.com

 

[deepseafalcon]

The BC has served me well on vacations to tropical locations, but, as others on this board have done in similar situations, it is time to move on.
...
is upgrading to a "soft" but comfortable BP/W even an upgrade from my current Knighthawk? Should I just go "hard" BP/W and be done with it?

I never plan on diving doubles, cold water or Mexican caves. Mainly looking to have less bulk for traveling, packing and wearing.

Last question : Keep the Knighthawk (w/Air-2) and start building a fleet or sell it?

my opinion:
get an aluminum or Kydex rigid plate, and a small (18...30lbs) wing
my choice would be the small DSS Torus or the small Mach V

while sounding counter-intuitive, rigid plates are normally not less but more comfortable as they give the best support for the tank while diving
(that's where I need the comfort, not for the few steps into the water)

to your last question:
I sold my BCD the moment I tested positively my BP/W
but this is more a question of personal preference - are you a gear hog, do you have the space, do you need the money?

Reg. Air 2 or not:
I prefer having an identical second stage as an octopus. In case of a failure, this makes a "save your trip" redundancy.
In most of my dives an octopus is notcritical, and for many years of diving I even thought that's an animal not a piece of equipment

 

[scubafanatic]

Last question : Keep the Knighthawk (w/Air-2) and start building a fleet or sell it?

......nothing wrong with a 'fleet', assuming, as it appears, that your 'old' BC is reasonably sufficient to go diving with.....it's good to have backup/spare gear in the event something gets stolen/damaged.....also depends on how badly you need the extra $ from the sale of the old unit, and also, given the weak economy, how much $ you'd get for it anyway...to me it would be worth way more as a passable spare BC than if I were only able to sell it for $ 50 or $ 100....however, if you were able to get $ 300 - $ 400 for it, then I might be tempted to sell it and spend that $ on other needed gear....like another (spare) BP/wing system for example. I've still got my 'still in excellent condition circa 2001 Zeagle Ranger' that was my very 1st BC that I have 'in reserve'....as it's worth more to me to have it as a decent spare BC than the low amount of $ I'd likely get selling it.

 

[rjack321]

Progressed from rental BC's three years ago to a Scubapro Knighthawk which I bought extremely reasonable through e-bay. The BC has served me well on vacations to tropical locations, but, as others on this board have done in similar situations, it is time to move on.

Why do you want to get rid of it?

Not enough lift?
Too much lift?
Worn fabric?
Worn stitching?
Doesn't fit anymore?
Other?

Fyi I had a transpac for ~year and sold it. BP/W is more comfortable to me.

 

[Splash-X]

My first BC was a Knighthawk. I had it maybe 6 months before I moved on to a BP/W. I found that my Knighthawk fit rather sloppy at the waist as I had lost some weight.

At nearly the same time my wife had lost some weight as well and the cumberbun no longer stayed fastened. We both moved to a BP/W because it was similar to what we were already diving and the fact that we could easily adjust the size to meet our needs far better than the other BCs we looked at.

I sold my Knighthawk to a friend who took scuba classes. I sold my wifes Ladyhawk on eBay and got a decent price for it.


Now that we are dive leaders, when we're with students in class I use a Scubapro Classic Plus and my wife uses the Bella.