Life Vest
 

Who makes a good life vest you can drive in.....under $100 clams??

Lifeline is the best.
More than $100 clams. What is your life worth.

Looked at some of the lifeline stuff but man 400+ for a vest.

Waterslinger, I know you cant beat the lifeline but I have Bass Pro brand jacket with crotch starps that is designed for their competition bass tournaments with boats running in the 60's. Its around 80 or 90 dollars and is pretty comfortable. Again, its not going to be as rugged as a lifeline.

Here is a link, the price has dropped. They also have one that is simular without the leg straps that lists a 100MPH rating and USCG approved.

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shop...02751/-1591172

In my opinion, just get what works for you. I'm sure there are several local sporting good's stores that make a vest for you, at a reasonable price. If your just using it to float, ski, and just casual boating, I'm sure those will work just fine....

If I was an extreme boater, taking part in Poker Run's throughout the country, then ya, I'd probably invest alot more money in a vest, and go with the best , Lifeline.

Just my .02

Thanks the basspro shop vest looks great, and fits my needs.

This is what I carry on my boat. 100 MPH impact rating, but no leg straps.

http://www.machovec.com/catalog/mv4600.htm

Thanks for all the great info guys this is why i want to get new vest. This boat runs low 90's. The crash was well below that speed. Come to and was over 5 feet under did not think i was ever going to surface.

orginaly posted on screamand fly

Sunday was an entirely different experience. We went to the Glenn over in Lake George and on the way back flipped the boat and all 3 of us were ejected. Trying to beat the storm back to the ramp we were passing one boat at a time in an effort to get out of the washing machine effect of all the wakes coming together from the boats ahead of us. In the curve just north of South Moon fish camp we were running in what looked like clean water inside the wake of a boat. As we were sliding around the curve the boat got on top of one of the lead boats waves. Our boat got airborne and turned sideways then hit the water on the port side of the boat ejecting all of us. The people behind us said the boat did a complete flip over us before landing up right. We were very lucky to only get some cuts and beat up. I have had this boat for 20 years so this was not a green horn slip-up. The combination of rain drops on my glasses and dark over cast conditions factored in but ultimately it was me pushing to get back to the ramp that resulted in the wipeout. Thank goodness no one killed or seriously injured. Not one of us was wearing a PFD. Thankfully I had not drank one drop of beer or the FWC would have arrested me on the spot.
Lessons learned
My boat needs a dead man style kill switch. Fortunately the MSD box getting submerged is what killed the motor.
I need some Mustang style PFD’s for myself and passenger and only have one passenger.

Impact Rating Means Nothing
 

This is from the Coast Guard.

New rating standards are coming and will be performance based from ISO. LIFELINE is the only real choice.

http://www.uscgboating.org/assets/pd...C80.pdf#100mph

Us also, We have 10 on board !!!!!!

Dude,
Not sure what you call extreme boating but I would guess if you ask the Police, Coast Guard or any recreational boater anything over 70mph is extreme. Have you ever fallen off a jet ski at 60mph + my guess is not. Why play with your life. If you want to take the time to wear a life jacket to go fast wear one that is proven. We all spend ten times that on things that do nothing but add speed. Just part of the package.
Just my .02

I have 6 of the mustang mv-5600 search and rescue vests. These are impact rated at 100mph (not rated to help you survive the impact) and are very comfortable. They are similar to the mv4600, however the mv4600 is not coast guard approved (only approved by the Canadian Coast Guard) like the mv5600. I bought mine from Amazon.com because everybody else marketed them as in stock (Machovec) and after you buy them send you some BS with several week lead time. You can check my thread "StillCrazy Velocity...Resurrected" for pictures of the jackets.

FALSE. I have a 4600 and a 5600 and they both say US CG approved. (Thanks for making me climb under my sweltering boat cover to verify) :lolhit:

Every life vest thread on OSO goes the same way. Here's my .02

1. ANY vest is only good if you wear it. I personally don't see people wearing jackets often.

2. I don't doubt that Lifelines are great but many people have died while wearing them. And in a lot of cases they were wearing the race version, not the PR jackets. It just depends on the circustances. Just like a car wreck, sometimes people walk away and sometimes they don't.

3. I'm betting that even the guys with REAL expensive boats do not have a collection of lifelines fo all passengers aboard their boat.

4. I don't think for 1 second that the 100 MPH rating is any kind of guarantee. You fly out of a boat going 50+ MPH, you're likely to get injured.

5. CG and commercial wokers use them, that says something.