Question for all the divers

Hi Guys

Just looking at buying some dive gear to get back into it. I am mostly interested in grabbing crays in water less than 20m nothing extreme and have been interested in the differences between weight intergrated BC's and standard or what they are calling slim line.

I am used to having a weight belt but this seems to be old technology although that depends on which dive shop you go into with most BCD's being weight intergrated now.
Trouble is for me I am all guts and no bum so the weight belts have to be tight and tend to annoy me a bit but will the bigger BCD limit me too much down the bottom in tight spots?

At the moment I have been looking at some gear from the shop in mount Hawthawn and their gear looks decent and apparently commercial grade with a resource dive computer
other shops have got some tusa and maybe sherwood gear in my price range

so wondering on peoples thoughts on how they might compare?

Havent sized any gear yet so I well also have to see how it feels on

Interested in anyones thoughts & recommendations

cheers
Rig


Brock O's picture

Posts: 3160

Date Joined: 11/01/08

I use a Intergrated

Sat, 2013-11-30 16:47

 

 unit for scuba, I have dived a few times off a hooker unit using a weight belt and must say the integrated units are a stand out for confort. My kit was ex rentle and came with a quality computor which is critical in my opinion.

As for brands i can't comment much but dont go cheap on the computor! 

 

Good luck hunting the roaches, youll love getting back into water.

Reefmonkey's picture

Posts: 711

Date Joined: 22/09/08

budget?

Sat, 2013-11-30 17:02

Whats your budget? Sherwood gear isn't fancy but its strong, the regs are a simple design and bulletproof so not much will go wrong with them.

find intergrated much more comfortable with less weight over your lower back, only thing i miss about my weight belt if ever squeezing under a tight ledge and get your kit off at depth you also become bouyant.

most slimline bcds these days are all intergrated, get a bcd thats comfortable and fits you well, if its weight intergrated and you decide you want a belt its only going to cost you another 10 or 20 bucks.

if you want sherwood and comfortable the ventura would be a good design, other than that a backplate and wing but it will cost you $$$. Just get something thats comfortable a weight belt is cheap if you change your mind

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 Dave J.

Posts: 2925

Date Joined: 27/12/06

Budget

Sun, 2013-12-01 10:22

 So far from what I have seen I will need to spend about $1600 including a tank and 5mm wetty 

Reefmonkey's picture

Posts: 711

Date Joined: 22/09/08

Osborne park

Sun, 2013-12-01 18:55

 Should get a sweet kit out from osborne park for that. You probably are already, but go a steel tank, dont go cheap and get the bright yellow ali's they sell. Only 207 bar tanks and hard to move on for resale.

If you get sherwood regs ask for the newer models, think they are roughly/if not the same price as the old, all the same 2nd stage regs but they come with a balanced piston first stage now that will perform better at depth. Sherwood build solid reg but were slow to compete and only just started manufacturing balanced first stages, all their 2nd stage regs last year and beyond came with in-line pistons. most stores will be trying to sell old stock first though for roughly the same RRP price as the new.

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 Dave J.

Posts: 315

Date Joined: 07/05/11

Integrated for sure!!

Sat, 2013-11-30 20:58

 The beer gut and no arse... Integrated for sure. I forget what bc I have but it's old and is fine for crays. My regs are old Sherwood too with a genius resource pro. Got the gear from Osborne park and it's not missed a beat 

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 Baron Sportsman

Just the depth that Varies

Posts: 694

Date Joined: 16/08/09

i have just switched from

Sat, 2013-11-30 22:20

i have just switched from integrated weights to a backplate and wing and would never go back now. The backplate is steel and just enough weight for me to sink without using any other lead if I dont want to (for cray dives i like to be a little bit heavier so use 2 x small weights in a belt). My regs (sherwood)were from dive warehouse in osb park and have been great - the service I have recieved from them has been really good. Had 2 x BC's crack on the backplate and they replaced them without any questions - actually gave me the option to change style of BC at no cost as well which is when I went from jacket style to integrated weights.

 

I dont think you will go wrong with the dive warehouse. Go and ask one of the blokes there they will point you in the right direction adn have always been happy to help when i have been there. Tell them what type of diving you want to do and they will advise you of the best kit to suit in your price range.

Shark B8's picture

Posts: 152

Date Joined: 10/01/13

 If I was to buy my gear

Sun, 2013-12-01 05:27

 If I was to buy my gear again I would go for something like he traveler bc and stick with a weight belt. But that's just me, never really liked the intergrated.

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 Go big or go home..

Posts: 2925

Date Joined: 27/12/06

Intergrated

Sun, 2013-12-01 10:24

 Thanks for your comments there guys.  The guys at the shop reckon those slimlines non integrated are the most popular for cray divers.  Think I will go try one on today

Vinesh87's picture

Posts: 2751

Date Joined: 02/04/11

I keep losing my integrated

Sun, 2013-12-01 20:50

I keep losing my integrated weights. Keep catching reefs and not actually needing weight i dont realise untill i get back to the boat !

 

Pain in the ass!

 

Will be changing to BPW setup soon.

Posts: 2925

Date Joined: 27/12/06

BPW

Thu, 2013-12-05 10:17

Hey Vinesh what does the BPW stand for?

I have heard rubber weight belts work better as the dont slide as much, I actually havent seen any of these for sale anywhere

Vinesh87's picture

Posts: 2751

Date Joined: 02/04/11

 Sorry just BackPlate and

Thu, 2013-12-05 10:48

 Sorry just BackPlate and Wing the technical diving stuff. Can still get integrated and none integrated I would probably go for. look up Diverite tranpac.

Posts: 2925

Date Joined: 27/12/06

ok

Thu, 2013-12-05 12:06

Oh yeah I see looks pretty streamlined

Posts: 34

Date Joined: 13/11/12

+1 ..... lost both weight

Thu, 2013-12-05 08:57

+1 ..... lost both weight pockets... so I just carry two in the back pockets and one in each zipper and happy days.. poor design on the weight pockets if you ask me.. shouldn't come off as easy as they do.

crasny1's picture

Posts: 6985

Date Joined: 16/10/08

Pinching the post

Thu, 2013-12-05 12:05

But when I did dive for crays I used wt belts and BC. If it was a tight spot used to take off the BC, and crawl in, then loop the cray and put the BC back on. How do you do that with a BPW or integrated?

Sorry Rig but this may help you aswell

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"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk

Posts: 2925

Date Joined: 27/12/06

all good

Thu, 2013-12-05 12:08

I was watching a video Timmbo posted on here last year where he and his buddy do that in 30odd metres, looks pretty hardcore.

 

After you have gone to that effort you would want to hope it isnt berried lol

crasny1's picture

Posts: 6985

Date Joined: 16/10/08

Wasnt realy hardcore

Thu, 2013-12-05 12:26

I have to admit that it made you "bite" on the mouthpiece a little harder.

But I also had a wrist strap with velcro that if it was hairy I strapped the buddy reg to, so had access to another reg should the first on get pulled out. But it never happened. I NEVER took the reg out of my mouth though and have seen guys totally "freedive" after dropping the BCV. I like O2 to much to let go!!!

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"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk

Vinesh87's picture

Posts: 2751

Date Joined: 02/04/11

 Yeh you can take a bpw off

Thu, 2013-12-05 17:01

 Yeh you can take a bpw off and back on under water no worries but don't go integrated otherwise youll become too buoyant when you take it off!

Posts: 74

Date Joined: 31/03/13

Go the Backplate and wing

Mon, 2013-12-09 10:15

Its very comfortable to dive once you get used to it, and you wont have the issue of losing the integrated weight pockets, which cost around $80 to replace......most of my mates with integrated have lost a pocket at least once.