Internal or External Bladder?

[NewDaScuba13]

I recently got into scuba diving and I've seen the BC's that inflate the whole BC (like the Riptide) and I've also seen some that have an external bladder attached to it (Zeagles). Which one is better and what's the difference besides one is internal and one is external?

[ertechsg]

I have a riptide zone 2and love it. Plus it was on sell at ST.

[CompuDude]

You may be referring to the difference between regular/traditional-style BCs and rear-inflate BCs.

The advantage to rear-inflate BCs is the air cell is behind you, where it should be, while you're diving and in a good horizontally trim position. It also won't squeeze you to the point where you have a hard time breathing, like some jacket-style BCs can.

And as it happens, Larry and Joe wrote up a little piece on this very question. See: http://www.scubatoys.com/store/joelarry/backfloatation.asp

[jacewindu]

while i trained using a couple different (rental) jacket style BCs I'll never depart from a rear-inflate now. everything is out of the way, and i don't get squeezed, which lets me control my breathing much better.

[frankc420]

CompuDude hit the nail on the head.