When I started, I bought a bunch of equipment at once. Cash was low, so I started with a hand me down wetsuit, my brother's old regulator (he upgraded) and a used SeaQuest Spectrum jacket-style BC that I picked up for $85. It was used in pool sessions, and the dive shop liked to get all new stuff every year. Given the price of rentals, I bought teh cheap BC, figuring that the money I saved on rentals for the first year would go towards buying a Zeagle Ranger or maybe even the Tech, both weight integrated back flotation BC's. Three years later, I'm still using that SeaQuest Spectrum BC. My dive buddy loads 36 pounds of lead into her weight integrated BC, and cannot lift the thing. She ties a line to it, dumps it overboard, adn then jumps in and dons it in the water. I put on my weightbelt, slide on my BC, and then jump in. Even with cold hands and heavy gloves, I can still unbuckle my weight belt and put it on the swim platform when I'm getting out of the water. Also, her Zeagle tends to make want to float leaning forward with her face near the water. I'm not saying that my cheaper non integrated, jacket style BC is better, but it works better for me, and now that I can upgrade, I've decided that I like the old one better. I guess I'll have to spend the money on a better reg, maybe upgrade to HP100 tanks, all kinds of good stuff.....