just wondering who uses the sospenders or simular brand vest....was thinking of buying some do you recomend the automatic or manual.....are they worth the money

I love mine!  I not only can wear them comfortably when I'm using my kick boat, but also can wear them during tournaments, saving a few seconds (getting a quick cast in before someone who has to take their jacket off).  If you are just fishing for fun, in bass boat, and you don't wear your jacket while you're fishing, then you really don't need them.

As to manual or automatic, I've heard some people in the past complain of their automatic getting wet in the boat and inflating, but I haven't heard that about any of the newer models, and I've never had that problem, even when I've been pretty wet on my kick boat.  I prefer the automatic, because what if you are knocked unconscious when knocked out of the boat, then who is going to inflate it for you?

thats what i was thinking.....i can swim just fine but if you hit your head your out of luck.....i dont fish tourneys as of yet but planing on it in the future.....and another concern of mine is fishing in cold water....i fish late in the season and early....if i fall in 40 degree water  i wont have long to get back in the boat.....ive just been concerned about false inflations but you have told me what i wanted to hear ....thanks for the info

I have a pair of sospenders, They are great for comfort and when you DO need to wear your life jacket, When fishing a main lake point in 4-5 foot white caps and 40 mile an hour wind, You can easily fish.

If I had a boat I would have a regular life jacket as well as sospenders. Some lakes, states, and tournaments require that you wear sospenders at all times so the regular life jacket would be beneficial. Also during heavy rains I would rather just have a life jacket so I wouldn't have to worry about the sospenders exploding.

I use sospenders (manual inflation only )for all My tournaments, providing we aren't having bad, rough weather and specially when water temps are frigidly cold.  It don't take long for hyperthermia to set in making it harder to find and pull when thrown into the water.  

COMMON SENSE SHOULD PREVAIL ON WHEN TO USE AND NOT TO.