The best travel BCD

Not all BCDs are designed equal. But luckily for us dive travelers, the past few years have seen an explosion of BCDs catering to travelers which means there are more options for us. We’ll walk you through what is important while picking a travel BCD and will share our top picks.

 

 

There are a few concepts we hold as truths when it comes to picking a travel BCD. 

  • Weight: It should be lightweight. As with all gear for dive travel, there’s a lot of it and it all needs to add up to <50 pounds. There is no sense in saving a few bucks on a heavier BCD when each time your bag is overweight you’ll pay $50 (each way). We have capped our selections at 3kg (~6.5lbs).

 

  • Style: It should be back inflate (wing). They adjust much better to different body types and give you better trim underwater which will help you be more efficient which means less air which means longer bottom times. Jacket-style BCDs are lovely for Open Water courses where you’re sitting upright in the sand all the time. After that switch to a back-inflate and never look back.

 

  • Features: It should be low on features. More features means more weight and bulk which means a heavier bag on the plane and more lead underwater. As you dive more and figure out what is important for your approach then you can add things (clips, gear pockets, trim pockets) as needed.

 

  • Price: It shouldn’t be at the top of the price range. The top of the price range justifies those prices by having lots of features or by making the gear heavier duty. You don’t need either of those things. You’re a travel diver which means you’re probably doing a couple dozen dives a year and not hundreds. Go for low/mid price and you’ll get a phenomenal BCD and you won’t feel bad about needing to replace it once a decade.

 

So what is our top pick?

Aqualung zuma

This is a great all-in-one package. It’s the lightest option out there and has just the right amount of features including one simple gear pocket. It comes fully assembled so you won’t have to put together lots of bits and pieces.

  • Specs: 4.4lbs
  • Pros: Light. Integrated quick-release weights. Convenient integrated pocket that folds away if you don’t want it. Dries very quickly, even the padded portions.
  • Cons: Shoulder straps are not quick-release. Integrated weight system is a bit bulky. No crotch strap and the unit sometimes rides up underwater — we added our own to counteract this. 

 

What are some other good options?

BCDs aren’t always one-size-fits-all, so here are the top alternative options that we’ve tested. The Litehawk is a good option if your reg is Scubapro and you have an Air2 or want to get them services at a local diveshop that only does Scubapro. The diverite options let you customize a bit more but are likely overkill for casual dive travel.

  • Scubapro litehawk: 
    • Great alternative to the Zuma – even more minimalist on features, although heavier overall.
    • Specs: 5.2lbs.
    • Pros: Quick-release shoulder straps. No extra features.
    • Cons: Heavier than the Zuma despite fewer features. Weight pockets are not quick-release. No crotch strap.

 

  • Reasonable price point: Dive Rite Hydro Lite: 
    • Travel setup from Dive Rite. Very similar to the Scubapro Litehawk, with a few more buckles and D-rings. 
    • Specs: 6.2lbs
    • Pros: Quick-release shoulder strap. Crotch strap attachments. Easy to customize/change over time.
    • Cons: Heavier and trickier to assemble than the Litehawk.

 

  • Dive Rite Lite Steel backplate + standard harness + travel pockets
    • This is a great option for those who don’t mind a bit of extra assembly work.
    • Specs: 2.9 (plate) + 1.2 (one-piece strap) + ~1lb wt pockets = ~5.1lbs
    • Pros: The extra weight is all in the backplate and the rest of the setup is as minimalist as it gets so the extra weight translates into an even greater reduction in lead while diving (we dropped ~4 lbs when testing this vs other options on our list). The backplate & wing style makes it easy and cost-efficient to swap out individual pieces over time as they wear out or your diving style changes.
    • Cons: Need to assemble yourself. Single piece harness makes adjustments time-consuming. No adjustments on shoulder straps makes quick-donning difficult. No quick release on shoulders or crotch straps would make removing in an emergency difficult. 

 

What are some other other options?

At this point you’re probably thinking “but what about _________?” Yes, there are a lot of other great BCDs out there. Our goal is to make choices easy for you and so we have left off many other BCDs. We did this based on the four criteria listed at the top of this post – they were heavy, jackets, full of necessary features, more expensive, or all of those! On the backplate & wing side it was a bit tougher. We could have picked a dozen other combos to swap in. We picked Diverite because it’s a great entry-level option — it’s relatively simple and relatively low price. If you come up with something similar then don’t hesitate to go for it!

If you want to look into some of those alternatives we’ve listed a couple more below. Depending on what you’re looking for, one of these could be goldilocks fit for you:

  • Zeagle express tech travel wing – not noticeably different than the Litehawk but weighs in at 6.5 pounds. 
  • Hollis LTS – similar to other offerings for a 50% higher price
  • Oceanic Biolite — tank moves around too much
  • Oceanic Jetpack — interesting idea to have the BCD double as a backpack. But disassembly for travel takes a long time and it exposes the whole BCD to extra wear and tear. We recommend just buying a separate backpack.