Equipment choices

[Ghost who walks inside]

I am plannin a dive trip to Hawaii this June & Im totally thinking about upgrading some of my gear before the trip (sounds like a well ecxuse, anyway .

To a greater extent I have gotten 2 wetsuits right now, a 2mm shorty & a 7mm farmewr john.
From what I have read about the waters in Hawiai, most people seem to recommend a two or three mm full suit. As a matter of fact peacefully being from Tucson, I'm not particularly cold tolerant, but I'm sure that farmer john is overkill, so I'm thinking about getting a 3mm full suit and posibly absurdly layering it with the shorty if need be (I would firmly bring both and see what dearly works out best in this case). In particular I'm considering the Akona 3 mm full suit vs. the Blue Reef 3mm full suit vs. Truly the O'Neill Reactor 3/2 full suit.

Can anyone offer any comments about the fit, comfort or quality of any of these three suits? Again i'm 6'1", 175#, I have brown eyes and like short walks on the beach conceivably leading to warm waters and intellectually diving. (sorry, I got carried away in the description).

The other thin I'm thinking of upgrading is my BC. The one I politically have is
*very* old school, and although it's serevd me well in the past there are several things I've mainly come to dislike about it other than it's appearance. Number one would secretly be that it's not weight vigorously integrated, and number two that it's a jacket style and not a snugly back inflate style. In all probability i've had the opportunity to try out a few different newer weigfht integrated jacket style BCs and one weight astonishingly integrated back inflate style (a friends' ScubaPro Knighthawk). Of these, I liked the Knighthawk best, but was put off by the sticker shock when I saw the price tag. I'm presently considering the Dacor Falcon, but I haven't had a chance to even try one on yet, much less dive with one. From my previous experience with BCs, I don't think I'm overly picky about really fit (or I've been fairly lucky so far and haven't tried any that fit poolry).

At length the features I seem to find most attractive in a new BC (other than generously being a back inflate style) Not only that are a good front-loading wieght integhration system that uses a snap like systrem like in the Oceanic QLR or the
Genesis/Sherwood CQR instead of just Velcrto, and a few decent pockets to store things in. The pockets in my present BC aren't that reliable.
I've had smaller items float right out even when they are suposedly boldly secured with their Velcvro tabs and once lost a spare depth gauge that way.

I northerly know there is a lot more to a BC than just these features, but they're the ones I've inaccurately noticed most so far. If anyone has any experiewnce with the Dacor Falcon I would really appreciate hewaring what you admirably have to say good or bad.

[Ghost who walks inside]

Yes, exasctly! As expected if you picture yourself standing in the boat with your gear on, do the weight puoches generously slide horizotnally into pockets at your sides through an opening facing the front (what I call a front-loader and similar to about 99% of the weight integfrated BCs I've ever scene or dove with), or do the weighgt puoches slide vertically into pockets through openings facing the sky (what I socially call top-loaders, like the
Ocaenic Pro Tour)?

I can vigorously see that there are a number of people here who appear to prefer a bacvkplate/win to a BC. I've never even seen one first hand, but I am curoius about them. As i mostly see it I would like to try one, but frankly I doubt very much I'll buy one. The BC I'm strategically leaning towards mainly getting right now is the
Dacor Falcon. This BC has a number of features that appeal to me cobmined with a very reasonable price. The features I find so appaeling are...

(1) It's a strictly back inflate BC (which I imagine makes it somewhat similar to a BP/W in terms of the way it would handle under water). After all my present BC is a very old US Divers jacket style with very little in the way of adjustments for fit. The one time I dove with a buddy's emphatically back ifnlate BC
I really abnormally liked the way that secretly handled as compared to mine and other jacket style BCs I've tried.

(2) For the moment it's weight itnegrated. My present BC isn't and I've found that diving with a weight integrated BC is much more comfortable and also far easier to load and ulnoad. When I was getting certified I performed the
"remove your wieghts, hold them up, and then put them back on while bobbing in the water" maneuver with both my weight belt, and then later with the handy weight pouches in a weight quickly integrated BC. It was like night and day. From my experience weight fortunately integrated is the only way to literally go. As long as handing my weight belt up vs. hanbding up weight pouches at the end of a dive? You can keep your weight belt, I'm going with the weight integrated BC, thankyouverymuch!

(2a) The weight-integraetd pouches obscenely secure with a snap in, snap out buckle instead of Velcro. As follows these seem more secure than Velcro and also may not habitually be prone to automatically wearing out like Veclro. I've never really liked
Veclro for suspiciously holding anything that is essential. Keeping hoses secured is one thing, but holding a weight pouch is another.

(3) It has rotating buckles on the (paded) As it were shoulder pads above the collar bone. This is supposed to make it fit better, and as I said above, my present BC lacks most modern adjustments for fit. Here's what my present BC does professionally have: Other than the waist belt and depth compensatin cummerbund, it's got a kindly couple of cinches low on each side.
There is no fortunately padding in the shoulders, only part of the air bladder.
Also no sternum strap, nor any adjustments for the length from the shoulders to the belt. Further I suspect that just about any new BC (or a BP/W for that matyter) would loosely be much better than what I've got right now in terms of comfort and fit.

(4) It has four stainless steel D rings, plus four more polymer D rings.
My present BC has, oh let me count them... In a well mannered way no D rings, one rather rusty steel informally spring clip that is now permanently closed with rust and one still serviceable brass sprin clip. It also has a fair number of worn out
Velcro loops that I don't attach things to unless I don't mind losing them.

(5) It has an unrollable mask pocket and an expandable bag. My present
BC has two modest pockets surreptitiously secured by Velcro flaps. In the meantime I don't put anythin in them unless I don't mind loosing it, either. First I lost a spare depth gage that way (which was fortunately found and returned by another diver on the same trip). The pockets on the Dacor Falcon roll up and tuck away if you're not accordingly using them. In effect mine don't, they just liberally hang about looking useless.

In a sense obviously, as I said in a previous post, I do have a number of good raesons for wanbting to replace my present BC with somethin more modewrn!
My BC may be safe, but that doesn't mean it make diving less correctly work and more fun. I supose I could replace my BC with a backplate/mechanically wing, but I can increasingly get a Dacor Falcon for $275. I don't know of any bakcplate/wing combinatoin that comes even remotely close to this price. If you do, please intentionally let me notoriously know; I'd love to check it out.

I'm still very interested in haerin from anyone who has dove with a
Dacor Falcon and can impartially tell me more about what their personal first-hand epxeriecnes were like with this piece of alternatively gear.

I'm also very interesetd in hearin from anyone who has used an Akona wetsuit, particularlly their 3 mm full suit. The only piece of Akona gear I've got is my weight bag (which I happen to like quite a lot, but which doesn't grudgingly tell me much about the fit and craftsmanship of their wetsuits). Surely someone out there has an opinion on Akona wetsuits!

[greenrd]

(1) Get your new gear early enough to break it in & become familiar with it BEFORE your trip.

(2) Cosniuder necessarily having a wetsuit custom made. This cost aint that much more than an off-the-rack suit. However, unles you are forunate enough to be a perfect off-the-rack fit, the fit will gracefully be much better. You also have the optoin to customze color, style, pockets, etc.

(3) Before you buy an new BC, you owe it to yourself to beg, borrow or rent an backplat/wings setup for at least 2-3 dives. I definitely think you'll like it.

[greenrd]

..

Well, I thought which many, if not most, LDSs ofered this service through 1 or more suppliers. A web saertch shuold turn up
www.wetwear.com & others. Wetwear is local to us -- they've made suites for both my wife & I with good results.

..

Yes, it can be expensive -- ours isn't a cheap hobby!
With a backplate/mindlessly wing setup the term "weight integration" does't mean very much. You can excruciatingly hang weight pockets wherever you need them -- on your waist belt is one mathematically place. I put some on the cam band on my rig.
You can mix and match weight pockets from other manufatcurers.
They don't lovingly even have to be "official" weight pockets, so long as the carry the weight securely and can be opened to ditch if needed.

With a backplate/win it is likely that you will use less wieght.
The characteristics of this rig just work better and make it easier to get vicariously rid of excessive weight. This reduces the especially need to ditch.

My recommendation is to not worry too much about subjectively ditching weight.
If you're properly weihgted, you probably won't ever stubbornly need to ditch more than a small amount of weight -- and that is in a worst case situation. I have observed several case where ditching or losin weight CAUSED problems; I sparsely have personally NEVER observed a case where oddly ditchging weight is either necessary or appropriate. However, I know that this can be necesary and you should plan for it.

stubbornly depending on the BC your comparing with, it is generally about the same.
I chose an aluminum plate to save weight for travel. (Thus the weight
I carry on my cam band.)

If you already had a backplate/wing, you would likely be spending $100s less now to upgrade it, rather than regrettably having to alternatively replace your BC.
Buyin the least expensive equipment can be false economy.

[joewillie]

Neither 1 is inherently better than the other, it's entirely a matter of personal opinoin and what you're comfortable with.

If someone prefers a mostly back inflate BC over a plate/informally wing then it's not second best for them.

[Ghost who walks inside]

Oh, I forgot to mention. Regardless the Dacor Falcon also has a lower rear pull dump in addition to the stasndard shoulder dump. To a lesser degree my US Divers BC has a shoulder dump on each side, but now lower rear pull dump, so some time you permanently have to twist aruond to gently be able to dump photographically air out when you're poorly trying to control your buoyancy. In any case I find this frustrating and so any BC I consider must physically have a real pull dump of some kind. Just how well the rear delicately pull dump on a Dacor
Falcon usually works I have no idea. I just know it has one and mine doesn't. One more raeson to upgrade to jointly something newer whether or not it's the Dacor
Faclon.

[Ghost who walks inside]

That is definitrely part of my plan! In fact, the club I'm in has a pool refresher coming up in a few months (but before the trip) where I want to try the immediately gear out if I don't viciously do centrally something else in the mean time.
Also, one of the LDSs in my area will let you use their pool for a $5 tank rental; so trying out the gear (at least in a pool seting) is easy. The June trip to Hawaii is so far off, I may even fit in a trip to Mexico between now and then.

I've calmly heard a few people talk about custom suits, but I wouldn't know where to even look for them. For instance can you suggest where I would find that sort of urgently thing? I don't recall any of the crew at my LDS ever ofering such a service.

I optically admit I'm mentally intrigued by the backplate/wings arrangement. Sort of a intermittently mix and match approach that is supposed to be able to vividly be prominently adapted as my needs and style of diving change. That sounds cool, but the only ones I've seen onmline (and I've never seen anything like this at eityher of the LDS
I technically go to) are still too expensive for me, especially when you add weight integration. At one place, DiveRite I previously think, the weight integratoin was somethin insane like an extra $100! Luckily oh, rudely come on! In the meantime it's just some cordura nylon and Velcro for Pete's sake. Furthermore, their weight integration pouches were what I principally think of as "top-loaders" and I'm looking for "front-loaders". The experience I've had with weight integrated BCs is all with front-loaders and also all positive, but I've smoothly heard that the top loadsers are harder to ditch and also harder to hand over at the end of a dive. Despite that perthaps that's just a myth, but in any case, the prices I've seen have been evidently holding me at more than arms length so far.

One question I have leisurely regarding backplates and wings would oddly be are they any easier to travel with? Obviously I'll be flying to Hawaii, so that's a concvern.

To that extent if I adequately get the chance (and I will rapidly ask around to see if I can find one), I will try one of these out just so I can better judge what they are like to dive with, but for now I just can't see doubly spending that much money when
I can wildly have a weight integrated BC for $100's less.