BC Tusa BC0102 Soverin Alpha

STEVE WARREN joins MIKE WARD this month for our new-look twoman divEr Tests. Steve has some fresh ideas for testing BCs, while Mike tries out a versatile suit and some unusual picture-editing software

- Steve Warren & Mike Ward

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO MASTER precision buoyancy control and enjoy safer diving, it helps to own your own BC. The reasons have less to do with the BCs themselves than with the human factor.

While some BCs are, as successive DIVER Tests have revealed over the decades, better than others, it’s discomfort and unfamiliarity with rental BCs that can prove most problematic.

We don’t dive as well as we could or enjoy our dives as much as we should when we’re distracted by an uncomfortable BC. Unfamiliarity with controls can make us slow to react to emerging problems, such as failing to stop a descent beyond our safe depth with nitrox or preventing a runaway ascent, allowing problems to become emergencies.

So how do you choose a good BC for yourself? It needs only to be comfortable, provide stability and have trustworthy safety features.

TUSA’s description of its BC0102 Soverin Alpha piles superlatives on top of jargon. Everything it says promises a superb BC, and every feature seems to have a hi-tec slogan to prove it. The “Advanced Weight Loading System” is outdone only by the “Ultimate Stabilising Harness”.

But how does this BC, aimed at single-cylinder recreational divers, measure up to TUSA’s claims? As DIVER’s new Technical Editor, I’m a little embarrassed. A fault-free review looks bad and smacks of foul play and partiality. So let me start by saying that I didn’t much care for the manual.

We won’t be diving with the manual, however, so let’s quickly move on to see how the BC fared.