Brigade vs. Stiletto

[frkjerm]

Got certified last year and I am now looking to buy some equipment. I live and dive in ma. I am about 220 lbs and am trying to decide between the zeagle brigade or the stiletto.

Does anyone know the main differences between the two and can anyone suggest witch one would be better for me?

Thanks in advance,
Jeremy

[TAH 73]

The Brigade is actually a Ranger with a smaller wing, the Stilletto is a travel BC.
If you ever see yourself goin towards the "techy" side of things the Brigade/Ranger is the way to go, if you see yourself doing alot of travelling (by air) the Stiletto is smaller lighter and packs well.
The Brigade/Ranger, expecially the Ranger LTD. has quite a few accessories as well. Some of it depends on where you see yorself diving, warm water I would go with the Stiletto, various conditions I would look towards the Ranger/Brigade line.

[creggur]

The Brigade pack pretty nicely too. You get the benefit of the heavier duty straps, but with a travel size wing. I think it's the best of both worlds, and It costs less than the Stiletto..

[Zenagirl]

My husband tried on both the Ranger and Stilleto. For him it came down to comfort, he didn't like the Stilleto, so went with the Ranger LTD (he wanted the bigger wing, which is why he didn't buy a Brigade).

You know if you can't try them on locally, Larry and Joe have been known to send out 2 items for people to try and return the one they don't want.

[mpd525]

They sure will, i started a post a week or so ago, because i was debating between the Aeris Atmos LX, and the Zeagle Brigade, and Larry posted a reply saying that he would send both to me, let me kick the tires, and then send the one i don't want back.(not trying to speak for the store, so if this is rude, I apologize) But you can't beat customer service like that. Especially when their shipping 400 and 500 dollar BC's to let you try on.

[ScubaToys Larry]

No problem stating that... it's the way we do business!

And here is another thread that had some more input you may want to check out on the differences: Time for new BC - Brigade vs Stilleto?

[namabiru]

Yep, and something else which was pointed in another thread is that the Brigade and Ranger have identically-sized harnesses.

The Brigade, though, has a smaller bladder (I do believe 35# was the number), while the Ranger has a 44# bladder and is appropriate for doubles use. So, if you bought a Brigade, it would be a good travel BCD and good for singles. Someone on here, in fact, is talking about switching to a Brigade bladder for his Ranger harness in order to travel. You'll find the thread in here.

And, if you decided to go to doubles, you could pick up a Ranger bladder and switch them out. I don't know how much the Ranger bladders run, but the Brigade was close to $200 with ST Forum discount, etc. So you'd essentially have 2 BCDs. They said it takes maybe 10 minutes to switch the bladders out. I looked, and it doesn't look too terribly complicated.

[deepdiver47]

don't look now you are being attacked by the Zeagle crowd

Seriously, unless you are going to do doubles, think seriously of the Brigade. It is an awesome vest.

[creggur]

Originally Posted by deepdiver47

don't look now you are being attacked by the Zeagle crowd

Seriously, unless you are going to do doubles, think seriously of the Brigade. It is an awesome vest.

I think I contained myself nicely on this thread..

He's already settled on Zeagle, so it didn't require the full court press to bring him into the cult.......errrrrrr, uuhhhhhhhh, ahem, to convince him that Zeagle would be the way to go, ahem....

Faces Zephyrhills and begs forgivness for almost disclosing the "Skull and Z Society"

[MxDiver]

When I was trying to decide between those two I went with the Brigade, I didn't really considered diving doubles at the time, now I got a set sitting at home. [IMHO] the Brigade doesn't really give up that much vs. stiletto when it comes to packing. So for me the added versatility was a plus with no minuses.