A great value for money, travel friendly BCD. A simple design with few ‘bells and whistles’ but performs well in the water, and should take some reasonable wear and tear…
Manufacturer : | Oceanic |
Website : | www.oceanicworldwide.com |
Price : | ~US$470 |
Availability : | Now |
Rating : | 3/5 |
The
Islander is a small light weight travel friendly, back inflation BCD
from Oceanic; weighing in at only 6 pounds is light enough and packs
small enough for the frequent flying diver. Its design is focused on comfort and functionality, and as such is does not come with lots of ‘bells and whistles’. Its
notable features however are, a low profile air cell, weight integrated
pouches, 16 loops for attachment of caribina's/accessories, instrument
retractor mounting point and grommets for a BC knife.
The
min construction of the BCD is from 1600 denier (with the air cell
covered in 420 denier), this gives is a good quality hard wearing feel;
the exclusion of the usual stainless steel D-rings is presumably for
weight reasons. However it does include 2 aluminum caribina’s, with 16 different positions to put them it! The inside of the harness has a plush lining and good padding on the back for comfort. The inflator is the typical low profile Oceanic type, which can fully inflate the BCD within 10 seconds. There
is only 1 dump valve which is placed on the bottom right of the BCD,
but I did not have any problem releasing all the air from the BCD using
the inflator. Two medium sized pockets are provided around the waist belt, one on each side; they are fixed and not removable/adjustable.
The fit of the BCD is good, with plenty of adjustment on the shoulder straps, and cumber band. The single tank strap is adequate, but it would be nice to see two for
added security; but would add to the BCD’s overall weight. The pockets on the cumber band are just big enough to take an Oceanic Shadow mask, or a backup torch, etc. But with the 16 mounting points provided, you shouldn’t have much problem finding places to attach accessories.On the surface the Islander gives plenty of positive buoyancy with up to 30lbs of lift from the L/XL/XXL models. Even when carrying additional gear such as camera, etc; I was able to comfortably stay afloat on the surface. Underwater,
the BCD is streamlined and compact and as expected from a back
inflation BCD keeps you nicely positioned in the water. The Velcro weight pouches are easy to reach and drop from most positions while underwater.
