Cressi Durable Start Jacket Style BCD for Scuba Diving: Designed in Italy since 1946

I buy everything I review. To receive FIVE stars, a product must meet >90% of the manufacturer’s claims. I don’t subtract because I don’ t like the color or appearance (too subjective and personal). I review form, function, ease of use, and construction quality. Please forgive typos: I’m an evidence-based scientist, NOT a typist. If you find my review helpful, please click “YES”. This helps me improve future evaluations (which I do for free to help people make more informed decisions).Their Claim: A jacket-style BCD (versus back-inflate) with all the features you need for recreational divingMy Verdict (details below): 100% trueThis is a beast of a BCD. It is EXTREMLY durable.Here’s my story. I was diving and became entangled in vegetation. My dive buddy (paired up at a resort by the dive master, so I didn’t know him) went to cut me free (he didn’t see I was in the process of taking the vest off to do it myself). He unknowingly cut too far and dragged his knife across the side of the BCD. When we surfaced, there was not a scratch. It took it in stride with no issues whatsoever. The denier outer shell is one tough material.This BCD has four nylon D-rings, plus the four pull-rings for the shoulder and waist straps. I can attach my light, safety tube, camera, and hose clamps for my safe second stage and gauge cluster with no problems.It has 33.7 lbs of lift, MORE than enough for cold-water dives. It kept me upright on the surface, and the trim is excellent underwater because, let’s face it, you use very little air to provide neutral buoyancy, so the sides don’t hold much air. While not a back-inflate, which provides the best underwater trim, who cares? Further, if you're a newbie, good luck keeping your body upright on the surface with a back inflate BCD. You’ll find very quickly that it WANTS to bury your face in the water by tilting you forward. I tried it on one dive and almost drowned. That sealed the deal: a jacket style is what I need. If I dove 100 times a year, I don’t think even then I’d get used to a true back-inflate BCD.It also lacks integrated weight (IW), which I consider a BONUS. When in trouble, I want ONE buckle to release my weights. My weight belt does that. With IW systems, you have two or more pouches with weights to release. When in an emergency, SIMPLE is better. So I’m not paying for features like IW that I don’t want OR need. I only use 6# of lead, so IW is entirely unnecessary. If you believe you need IW, then this is not the BCD for you. I don’t so why pay for them?The tank holds securely to the back plate (has a rubber interface), which has a sturdy carry handle to make it easy to lug around. The BCD is lightweight and easy to pack in a regular sized suitcase. With all my gear packed, it still came in under the airline’s 50# limit before an upcharge is applied.The two side pockets are plenty large. I can hold my torch and other stuff there, easily accessible. They close with Velcro, meaning no zipper to get stuck, care for, wax, etc.The back padding is very comfortable and taking four dives over two days didn’t cause any issues.It has three purge valves, all easily accessible. The low-pressure inflator is easy to use by mouth as well.Best of all? At $184, this is >$200 cheaper than similar models that offer no discernible advantages for my diving style. I am in love with this BCD. There’s a reason dive shops use this as a preferred training BCD. It’s tough, functional, and more than meets the needs of most recreational divers. If you're a tech diver, then you may need to spend $500 on a Zeagle, Mares, or other brand.But for me, diving only on vacations, I am delighted I found this BCD.

I’m very pleased with the quality and overall workmanship of this BC. In 45 years of diving, it’s my 1st Cressi product. Very complete user booklet will be very useful to beginning divers to familiarize themselves with the many adjustments and customization options available to them. It’s rather lightweight, no sharp edges, Also useful is the heavy-duty strap that holds the tank; it's pre-wrapped properly, and the corrugated inflater on the wearer’s left shoulder is delivered with the low-pressure inflator hose attached, ready to be carefully mated with the low-pressure port on one’s first stage regulator (with a little smear of appropriate silicone grease on the ‘O’ ring & threads).I’m not one to use or favor BCD-contained weight systems so I’m glad this model is not so designed.To reduce or minimize confusion on a crowded dive boat, the BCD is marked prominently on the upper right shoulder with the appropriate “S M L XL” letters so you can more readily identify your tank and BC for change-over to next tank. Small but helpful in a crowd.All in all a very serviceable comfortable BC and seriously good value.

Good quality for a great price !!

Fits perfectly as advertised

So far I am happy with the product after the first immersions, just what you would expect from a BCD

So I was going on a last-minute set of dives in the Caribbean this summer and my 15+ year old vest-style BCD needed replacing. I want to eventually change to a backplate/wing style BCD, but didn't want to "change" that much gear without a chance to "learn on it" -- so I bought a Cressi Start rather than buying some other $400-600 jacket-style BCD.Long story short, I've added a few things to make it more user-friendly ( a couple "wide" stainless D-rings - the stock plastic ones are almost impossible to find in the water with one hand, and a "top" cam strap to hang trim-weights), but it's a solid "beginners" BCD, and I'm still diving it for now.There are a couple of features that would have made it nicer: bigger D-rings, bigger pockets, adjustable chest-strap height, adjustable length on shoulder-strap tops. I still dive with a weight belt, so lack of an integrated weight system was not a major factor here, but if you are new to diving this does *not* have an integrated weight system.

I bought this for the price and based on the positive reviews. I'm impressed. This thing is solid as a rock and as comfortable as you can hope for. As a long time diver I've come to believe that the less complexity the better. If you haven't been diving long you might not realize that in an emergency you don't have much time to think and the more complexity you have to deal with the less likely you're going to make it through. Which is one reason I don't like integrated weight systems. I know there the buckle of my weight belt is and even with diminished cognitive capacity that's what I'm reaching for. I also like that the deflator button being at the tip of the hose where it's not easily confused with the inflator button. Great pockets, great cummerbund. The only question I have about it is how it's going to hold up after five years of diving. Strongly recommended. I don't think you can find a better BCD for the price and why spend another $400 for a few bells and whistles? Oh and on a final note, I just bought one for my spouse.

I’m a retired dive instructor And purchased to get back into diving! This thing is nice and the purge valve setup is high quality in upper and lower. The whole thing is setup nice. I’m typically a large but went for an XL and buckles adjusted way down with no problems.

Je ne l'ai pas encore essayé mais j'ai une plongée Dimanche 9/10 /22 sur Propriano Corse et je pense être satisfait de ce produit .Le plus ; les poches latérales où on peut mettre Octopus et mano , super pratique !

Pas encore testé en situation mais gilet de qualité et taille correctement en se fiant aux indications du tableau des tailles.

Disappointed by this Cressi model, the material looks low quality and I wouldn’t risk diving with this BCD eventhough I trust Cressi but it seems margins are squeezed by competition and Italy is not a cheap manufacturing country.. the XL Size is also too small / short for a 6ft6’’ ... had to return it and will be buying a better model in store

Ayant perdu 20 kilos en 2 ans ma stab précédente L était trop grande. Je suis passé en S, et je suis très à l'aise y compris avec ma combi étanche. Velcros de qualité, attaches suffisantes. Poches. Très bon rapport qualité/prix

je parle pour moi, j'ai acheté le gilet CRESSI taille L, je suis niveau 2, 1m80, 88 kg, 60 plongées, je le trouve de bonne qualité, belle finition, fonctionne bien, prix correct. Il manque quelques anneaux pour attacher la torche, carte, ou autres accessoires. Je suis très satisfait.