What to look for in a weight belt?

[medic001918]

Originally Posted by NitroWill

Or you can just twist the belt each time you go thru the weight and they wont budge

That's what Kristen does with her's. Fortunately, I end up not needing a weight belt when I dive due to my rig. But if I were using one, it'd be with the twist.

Shane

[scubaguy4409]

I prefer the pocket weight belts as I just unzip pull or add what I want and gop on about my way. Also my belt unzip from one end (as I'm sure they all do) so I use the last (small) pocket for nic naks. Can't use while diving but extra pencils are there when I need one!

[MxDiver]

Originally Posted by NitroWill

Or you can just twist the belt each time you go thru the weight and they wont budge

Simple and cost effective, not only the weights won’t come off but also they won’t shift, yet I have never seen anybody do it. My wife is going to love this, no more arranging the weights before she puts her belt on. Thanks for the idea.

[Scout]

Thanks so much for the valuable opinions! There's so many things to spend a lot of money on, and I'd prefer to keep costs and complexity low, when possible.

I'm going to start shopping for the belts with the mesh pockets.

[wxboy911]

I have a pocket weight belt I use hard weights in...or used to. I have a weight integrated BC now with two dumpable and two non dumpable pockets so the belt stays in the bag unless I want to snorkel. When choosing a belt I bought one I was sure I would not miss to much if it ended up on the bottom.

[Splitlip]

People gave you good suggestions.
I would suggest, which ever belt, you put a depth compensating buckle on it. Worth every penny.
http://www.xsscuba.com/weight_access.html

[thesmoothdome]

Originally Posted by Splitlip

People gave you good suggestions.
I would suggest, which ever belt, you put a depth compensating buckle on it. Worth every penny.
http://www.xsscuba.com/weight_access.html

I agree with splitlip, especially if you'll be diving cold water. a depth compensating buckle makes a belt a lot less of a hassle.

[MxDiver]

Never considered cold water, the thickest suit I have ever needed is a 5 mil. and over 90% of my diving is done with a 3/2. Never dove with a dry suit so I didn't see much use for a compensating buckle.

[thesmoothdome]

depth compensating actually works well on 7 mil wet suits, and I'd assume 5 mil wet suits too. As you go down, the wet suit compresses. At 4 ATM, it's roughly 1/4 of the thickness it is at the surface, causing the belt to losen up. Depth compensating buckle fixes this. So would a rubber belt.

[Ross]

I'd been used to a webbing belt, SS buckle [plastic gives way too easily], hard weights each with clips to retain them where they were put ... but I've a different BC to play with that has integrated weights, advice was to buy a pouch belt [cheap on ebay], so trip in 2 weeks will be to try it out. Like most SCUBA things, it'll be a personal preference. My suggestion - do just that, borrow different belts, try them ......