BARE Blackjack

BARE Blackjack

Features

The Blackjack is the quintessential full-featured jacket-style BC. It's made of rugged 1000 denier Cordura nylon and includes a fully padded hard backpack with molded carry handle, making it easy to heft on land and stable in the water. The range of adjustment is huge, with lengthy waist and shoulder straps and an easily adjustable cummerbund. A two-position sternum strap with double pulls allows you to fit it over or under a dry suit valve. You'll have no trouble finding a place to put all your goodies with two large cargo pockets, a couple small accessory compartments that are perfect for a light or signal tube, and a mini zip pouch on the cummerbund. On top of all this, just about anywhere you look you'll find stainless steel D-rings or mounting grommets for attaching additional gear.

Performance

Wide-cut padded shoulders bear the weight of a fully-loaded rig nicely. At depth, where the bulkiness of the jacket-style design is barely noticeable, the Blackjack creates a comfortable swimming attitude. Ascents and descents are efficiently controlled with a somewhat clunky power inflator. This is one of only two BCs reviewed where all three heads-up methods of deflation were able to keep pace with a stuck inflate button. The weight pouches are a bit difficult to load while wearing the BC because the buckles are located slightly back, and while they are hidden beneath the cargo pocket the base of the pocket opens with Velcro to reveal the buckle. However, large handles located well-forward make ditching the pouches a snap. Cargo pockets are also positioned forward, offering good access and plenty of storage capacity.

Bottom Line

The Blackjack was our favorite BC of the BARE line. It offers a snug and stable fit, excellent valve performance and generous cargo carrying capability.