The USCG-approved O’Neill Reactor Life Vest may be a relatively expensive choice, but its clever design makes up for its high price tag. Not suitable for extreme offshore conditions Coast Guard or an equivalent agency to meet legal requirements and for your peace of mind. Whatever your requirements, here are the best life vests for every on- and in-water situation. The latter is intended for accidental overboard situations and will “turn a casualty onto their back and maintain their airway above the water-even if they’re unconscious,” Dann points out. The former type is ideal for when you expect to be in the water (when stand-up paddling or wakeboarding, for example). Life vests typically feature inherently buoyant, padded foam, and they include lifejackets, which are inflated by a gas cylinder once in the water. Samantha Hughes, a water safety partner with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, sums them up as “buoyancy aids or fixed foam life vests, waist belts, and manually or automatically inflating lifejackets.” Each option varies in how it provides flotation, its level of flotation, and the activities for which it’s most suited.Īccording to Matt Dann of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, choices come in two main categories: buoyancy aids or life vests. There are many different kinds of PFD from which to choose. According to him, “the single greatest cause of death while boating is drowning, and nearly all victims are not wearing a lifejacket-between 83 and 86 percent in each of the last ten years.” Coast Guard’s Boating Safety Division, points out. Wearing one can save your life, as Verne Gifford, chief of the U.S. If you’re planning a fun day out on the water, a personal flotation device (also known as a PFD, buoyancy aid, lifejacket, or life vest) is a legal requirement in many states. Below, we detail our top picks in a few categories to help you choose the life vest that’s right for you and your activities on the water, as well as what to look for in terms of fit, comfort, and inflation method. While you should still have basic water-survival skills, such as swimming and water-treading capabilities, a PFD can keep you afloat in an emergency and make it easier to stay above water until you can get safely to a boat or land. Kevin Foley has been guiding whitewater rafting trips on Colorado’s Arkansas River for over 35 years with Performance Tours Rafting and says, “Cold water immersion is a very serious situation, so you want a PFD that will perform and function the way it’s supposed to.” Warm, calm waters call for one type of vest, while cold, turbid waters require another. The type of water may dictate your type of PFD. We also took other professional recommendations and customer reviews into account, and only included products from reputable companies that were highly rated.Not only are life vests, or PFDs, vital safety equipment on the water, they’re often legally required,p depending on where you are and the type of water you’re on. We reviewed hundreds of life jackets in order to create a selection of the safest life vests around, but also ones that will suit a number of different purposes and budgets. Storage: Do you love and need pockets to stash all of your water sport accessories? Some vests have them, some do not. Another way to guarantee flexibility is to select a vest with a lot of adjustable straps. Type I are offshore life jackets Type II are near-shore vests Type IV are throwable devices and Type V are special-use devices.įit: No fit will be perfect, but the chances of being comfortable will rise considerably if you follow each vest-maker’s sizing guidelines. There are five different types of personal flotation devices (PFDs), and most of those we cover are “USCG Type III” (flotation aids). We included a few universal options below, and several that are best suited for specific sports and activities.Ĭoast Guard-Approved: Every single vest we cover is approved by the U.S. sailing, for example-the amount of flexibility your vest should have will vary considerably. Use: Depending on the type of activity you have planned-water skiing vs. Keep these few parameters in mind for happy and safe days on the water this summer. When purchasing a life jacket, safety is the top consideration, but other factors should come into play as well.
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