auto inflate pfd's
 

Thinking of getting a couple of these for Christmas presents. Anyone have any pros/cons about them? Just curious too, if its water that makes them inflate, how do they do if you are wearing them in the rain?

Its water pressure that causes them to inflate.

Some have a hydrostatic release some have salt tabs and some are manual you'll know once you see the prices. You are also required to wear it the entire time while underway I prefer Mustang.

I have a friend of mine that tells a great story about 3 pfd's he had stored in his anchor locker. It was the tablet type and there was enough moisture to set them off..... He worked for hours but managed to get them out unharmed.

Just something to think about if you use the tablet type.

I have a Mustang with HIT (hydrostatic inflation technology) These don't inflate unless submerged in water. They are also the most expensive

Also if you take it off while fishing, it does not count as a PFD if you're checked. So make sure you have enough cheap orange ones to cover everyone or wear it all the time.

When I fish with my neighbor he lets me wear one of his...... i never notice it on.

So if I can't swim is it a bad idea to wear one ?

No, not at all.

An even better idea is to learn how to swim! If I couldn't swim, I'd never be in the water without one, under way or not.

4 years in the Army and water survival course every year and still never got the hang of it :eek:, Maybe it was all that gear and weight I had on 50Lb.:rotfl:

PRO- once you wear one for a little while you almost forget that it's there.
CON-it is a mechanical device and can fail, they cost a lot more than a standard panel vest.

I have some Onyx self inflating ones and they inflated in my rod box. I guess after a while they deflate because I found them that way. You have to buy recharge kits ($25) to use it again which are available in local stores that sell the vests.

im late to the party but IMHO its not a good idea for someone who cant swim to depend on a device to activate in order to give life saving floatation.

im not saying anything bad about inflatables but anything mechanical can and will have a failure to deploy rate so if you cant swim I suggest you only wear 100% perminently ready to provide floatation life jackets so it doesn't need to do anything before its ready to save your life.

inflatables are all about comfort when you are wearing them but you are still dependent on something to fill it with air before it can save you and you may need to be able to tread water a few seconds or longer before that happens. there have even been rare test cases where the wearer had to manually inflate it while treading water when the cartridge failed to deploy.