Inflatable Life Vests - Which One's Best

[Pam Koryn]

Am planning to buy 2 inflatable life vests as Christmas presents for hubby and myself.Have pretty much narrowed it down to Sospenders or Mustang brands, with safety harness. Price seems to fairly comparable, withslightly higher price for Sospenders. For those of you that usethese, which do you prefer and why? Thanks for your input!

 

[Steve Dion]

Have you checked out the ones here?

Pam:Have you checked out the Airforce automatic PFD with Harness here on the Sailboatowners.com web site? They are $170 and are of the highest quality.I purchase the Sospenders from West Marine right after the CG approved the automatic ones. They are fine and I hope I never need to use them. I guess you will only know if the are OK or not if they save your life or NOT. There was a recent article somewhere of a sailor that went overboard in the great lakes. His automatic PFD failed to inflate. He did not survive. I would assume that he was not conscious when he went over, otherwise he could have manually inflated the PFD. Needless to say, you are still better off wearing these things than going without. Sort of like seat belts in cars. They may not ALWAYS save your ass, but you have a better chance.Sorry I cannot make a recommendation one way or another.

 

[LaDonna Bubak - Catalina Owners]

Blue Water Sailor

I believe it was BWS that had a review of different PFDs several months back. I believe they liked the Mustang but can't say for sure. Your best bet is to try them on

 

[Jim WIllis]

Regular lifevests are best

When I sailed to HI a few years back I had a bad fall against a sharp corner. The regular lifevest acted like padded armor to protect.Jim WIllis

 

[Harvey]

Inflatable

If you do use an inflatable, you must replace the bobbin each year and check the CO cartridge. The bobbin has a date on it. If it's too old, it will absorb water and will cause the vest to fail to inflate automatically. Nothing will entirely replace a type I vest, but the inflatable is a good solution, especially with the harness. I beleive that Mustang make a vest that doesn't use a bobbin which would be a real plus.