I'd like to buy a BC for my wife.

[liuk3]

She has been OW certified here in socal via LA County. She will likely be more of a vacation diver as she's not terribly fond of cold (compared to the tropics), but I would like to buy her equipment so try to get her to occasionally (maybe once a month) come out diving with me here in socal in order to maintain her skills. I'd like to get her a back-inflate BC. She is 5'3" and weighs 110-115 lbs. What do y'all recommend? We are also planning on going to Cozumel in December for our one year wedding anniversary, and I would like her to dive then as well.

[TxScubaBear]

Give ST a call.......

[liuk3]

Originally Posted by TxScubaBear

Give ST a call.......

yeah, i wuz hopin to get their input as well as others...

[TxScubaBear]

not trying to push them off on ya, I went there this weekend and they really want to help folks- whether you buy there or not, they're good people.
(Larry, ya can pay me later.... )

[liuk3]

I guess the other question is how much I should spend or should I just keep renting equipment for her.

Put it this way, my wife doesn't even want me to spend the money on her for equipment since she is happy staying home while I am out diving in socal. However, I thought it would be good to just get her something so that she can get used to one BC rather than having to always futz around getting used to a different piece of rental gear.

[thesmoothdome]

Depends on your wife. My wife is pretty easy going and doesn't really care about what she's diving in. I bought her a SeaQuest Latitude jacket BC and she's fine in it. It was less than $200.00.

If she wanted a top notch BC built for women, I think I'd push her towards the Zeagle Zena http://www.scubatoys.com/store/detai...RODUCT_ID=Zena .

[liuk3]

Originally Posted by thesmoothdome

Depends on your wife. My wife is pretty easy going and doesn't really care about what she's diving in. I bought her a SeaQuest Latitude jacket BC and she's fine in it. It was less than $200.00.

If she wanted a top notch BC built for women, I think I'd push her towards the Zeagle Zena http://www.scubatoys.com/store/detai...RODUCT_ID=Zena .

I think that my wife is more along the lines of your wife. In fact, I don't think that my wife knows the difference betweent the brand names. I just didn't want to get my wife a BC which would eventually malfunction since it is cheap. How long has your wife had hers, and how has it been working?

[thesmoothdome]

Originally Posted by liuk3

I think that my wife is more along the lines of your wife. In fact, I don't think that my wife knows the difference betweent the brand names. I just didn't want to get my wife a BC which would eventually malfunction since it is cheap. How long has your wife had hers, and how has it been working?

We bought hers back in November. She has about 15 dives on it since then, all in warm water. It works just as well as my more expensive one, just doesn't have all the bells and whistles, which she wouldn't use anyway. If you buy from a reputable source, you won't have to worry about malfunctions. Price pretty much changes based on the bells and whistles rather than brand to brand.

[nferra2]

Where did you find a Sub-$200 BCD for your wife. I have been looking around and it seems $250 is the minimum amount. I have a feeling I will be diving alot more than my wife, but she wants to dive too. She will probably only dive vacations, and weekend outings, I will try to find water every day off I can.

[ScubaToys Larry]

We have some BC's in the sub 200 range... if you give a shout and we get some sizing figured out, we can see what we can come up with for a budget bc. Some of the things you will be giving up will be extra dump valves, trim weight pockets, d-rings, and the thickness (durability) of the material. But if she is not going to dive much, and doesn't care about those features - there is no reason to spend the extra money.

Now most of the "womens" bc's run more - and they are cut a little better to fit female bodies, but women have been diving in unisex bc's for years - so that also is not a huge deal - especially if she is happy with the rental bc's you've been getting... those are almost always a unisex style bc.