Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | Greetings,
My mother has mentioned getting my wife and I a good set of pfd's for Christmas. I have been researching the inflatables and see quite a variety. Cabelas has a heck of a sale going on right now for the Guardian 3500's. I see that Bass Pro carries the Sospenders and the Mustand brand. Now, my question is, does anyone have alot of experience with the Guardian or Sospender type that have the 'pill' inside that dissolves to activate the unit? I will be using this primarily in spring and fall, when it tends to be quite rainy and wonder if I'd be better off with a Mustand type unit, with the Hydrostatic activation, only inflating when pressure senses submersion in 4+" of water.
That said, the Mustangs cost about twice as much as the Cabelas models. While I realize one cannot put a price on safety, I'd go with a less expensive model if told that they are as comfortable as the Mustang, and one does not have to worry about false inflations. Oh, also, does anyone know how often one needs to maintain or change the CO2 cartridge in the Mustang models?? This could also weigh into the purchase if it doesn't need the yearly $15-$20 recharge like some of the others.
Thanks in advance for any and all tips!!
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Posts: 1764
Location: Ogden, Ut | I use a Sospenders manual-inflating (pull the ripcord) model. We tried a variety of the manual vs. auto-inflate types at work and we would experienced occasional 'accidental discharges' while working in rainy and/or extremely rough weather; we didn't try the Mustangs. That was enough for me to decide that I would go with the one that you had to manually activate. I'm not sure about the life span of the CO2 cartridges and I suppose that's something that I should look into. Needless to say, I haven't had to use it yet.
I know at least here in Utah, the auto-inflate models need to be worn to be counted as a PFD in your boat. If they're laying on the floor or clipped around the seat, they don't count.
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