I’m sure this has been asked before. I am looking for a new inflatable life jacket and was wondering, what do you look for? What should I be careful of? I don’t know if this makes a difference or not but I’m 6’2 and we about 275 lbs. anyway, thanks for your input. Especially @A-Jay

I went with @A-Jay suggestion, Mustang Survival PFD with HIT (auto hydrostatic). 

 

Also got four manual inflate Mustang Survival PFD's to keep in boat as backup, and for guests. 

58 minutes ago, Justbass11 said:

I’m sure this has been asked before. I am looking for a new inflatable life jacket and was wondering, what do you look for? What should I be careful of? I don’t know if this makes a difference or not but I’m 6’2 and we about 275 lbs. anyway, thanks for your input. Especially @A-Jay

 

I wear Mustang Elite 120 Inflatable PFD

https://mustangsurvival.com/collections/inflatable-pfds/products/elite-120-inflatable-pfd

 

Also, I'm going to drop this one here . . . 

 

A large portion of my career revolved around Training & Instructing Professional, Commercial & Civilian mariners on the proper & effective use of Survival Equipment. My Perspective on Personal Floatation Devices goes like this;

The device has to be reasonably comfortable.  I say this first because regardless of the type, if you don’t wear it it’s useless.  However, there is a tradeoff between “Comfortable” and effectiveness.  Generally the lighter, less bulky types / designs are more comfortable but provide less buoyancy which is what the PFD is all about.  Learning which types are required by law and how each performs allows one to make an educated decision.

Going overboard unexpectedly is always a life-threatening event and a shock, regardless of the circumstances.  There are several factors that can & will complicate and magnify this emergency.

They include, but are not limited to Cold ~ both Air & Water temps (regardless of the survival equipment worn), Rough water, meaning wind & waves, operating in current, (like rivers and tidal water), being ALONE, fishing from a smaller craft, being injured on the way over the side, not being able to swim and obviously not wearing a Life Jacket.

Other things to think about: going overboard fully dressed is not like swimming at the beach.  A cotton hoodie & denim jeans make moving at all in the water very difficult – PFD really helps here.

  Getting back on board one's vessel in waterlogged clothes is very difficult; especially when fishing alone. On boats large enough to have one, a boarding ladder is a must.  On smaller boats, (canoes, kayaks & smaller john boats) these boats often capsize as part of the event.  Depending on a long list of factors, re-righting the boat may or may not be an option.  But getting out of cold water ASAP is not an option and needs to happen sooner rather than later. Climbing up onto a capsized hull is even good just to get out of cold water. Your Life Jacket will assist a conscious victim to stay afloat until help arrives (hopefully). Hyperthermia Kills people.

Years of searching for victims has proven that it is best to Stay With Your Boat.  Whether it is capsized or if it’s up right and you just can’t board it. The craft offers two important benefits; first it makes a much better locating target.  A persons head bobbing around in waves in really hard to see & find.  Second, your boat provides something to hang on to. 

 The vast majority of the time I’m alone, and there’s NO One else on the water with me.  In the warmer months, I fish at night. I carry two type III PFD’s in the boat that are laid on the deck up on the bow so that if the canoe capsizes, they will float free.  I wear an inflatable Mustang HIT type PFD.

 In my mind the two most important factors that I can control every trip I make are; that my wife knows exactly where I’m going and when I’ll be back; and I’m wearing that life jacket while I’m out there.

Stay Safe

A-Jay

 

 

@A-Jay thank you for that information, I’m sure that I’m not the only one to appreciate your knowledge on this topic. Again thanks for sharing. 

Excellent information from @A-Jay !!

I had looked into the Mustang Survival Elite 120 -- it is the best of the best, yet it is a bit pricey (and well worth it if it saves your life !) -- so I began to search around and I found that my local fire department (they have a water safety rescue unit to save people if they go thru the ice in the winter or get in trouble in open water season) were selling their "old" life jackets and upgrading to the one A-Jay has (the ones they were selling were the prior generation of Mustang Survival life jacket, as you can see in the picture they were new, but they had either come close to or had date expired inflation kits so I also bought a newer re-arm kit from them as well) -- so I was able to purchase it for 50% of what a new one would cost (pure luck for me that they were selling them and I was able to get one and if it is works for a water rescue team it will work for me).

I just wanted to share this as you may want to research and see if anything like this was available near you. Safety first !

Went with AJs recommendation as well. Picked up a Mustang HIT life jacket. didn't do the elite but the MD3183 model. I think it's the Pilot?

fit and function.

I have one. mine isn't HIT, since I rarely wear it. I reserve it for the occasional moments I find myself on a friends boat (or party boat). I wear a regular vest on my kayak. personal choice based on my thoughts.

I did however test both. I jumped in. fit and function.

my regular vest initially floated up over my neck. I learned things and adjusted the thing, and jumped back in. it stayed put. I now know how to wear it. my inflatable, inflated, and even though I fully expected it to..it still kinda surprised me. it fit fine and stayed where it should. I dried it, re-armed it and I feel I now know what to expect.

I worry about a friend. he has quite the belly, and his vest seems like it will float right over his head and he falls out the bottom. but personal choices are personal. I offered my advice and left it at that.

@Justbass11 I'm 5'9" 255 and went with the Mustang HIT. It's a decision I didn't want to regret in my last few minutes.

I have a cpl of the basspro shop inflatables. I jump in the water at the beginning of every summer just to test them out. ($24 and 10mins to re-arm) Im 6'4 and weigh 245 and they hold me up fine. I wiould say that if you ar fishing from a Kayak, you definitely want a hydrostatic model. The ones with the little pill like basspro's will go off if even splashed with water. Seen a friends go off while he was reeling in a fish and his vest was splashed. Not really a big deal but then he had no PFD for the rest of the trip.. If i was fishing from a kayak, I'd def go with the Mustang brand.

A-Jay's post is spot on. One area I'd like to expand on: "On boats large enough to have one, a boarding ladder is a must."

All boarding ladders are not equal. This is an image of my current boat's boarding ladder. Looks like it would work fine. Well, for my 78 year old, 6'4", 250lbs body, it didn't. Even with the drop down step, it was too short and I had no hand hold to allow me to pull up. I had to use my remote control to move the boat to shore and drag me along.

The point is, jump off your boat in water over your head, and see if your ladder allow you to re-board. You might be surprised.

I could in my youth get back onto my brothers bass boat. I vaguely recall using the motor?