Do you trust it?

An auto inflatable PFD. Would you put your kid in one?

Yes I would. But, my kid is 23 and as a former college baseball player he is in excellent shape.

NO !

Older kids (teens) who can swim yes, with their option of wearing a regular vest if they want. Preteen & younger, no, regular vest.

No. If you are knocked unconscious and the auto inflate doesn't inflate, you're dead whether you're in good shape or a strong swimmer.

I have a friend who was ejected from a boat doing 70+ due to a nose hook. His passenger was wearing an auto inflate and my buddy was wearing a full vest that will withstand 100mph impact. My friend never went beneath the surface but his passenger did. About four feet under before his vest inflated and brought him back to the surface. He was conscious but even with the auto inflate he was having a hard time keeping his head above the water. I've not worn nor carried my inflatables since.

No, one of the benefits of traditional wrap around life jackets is padding, I cannot tell you how many times my ribs have been saved by having one on, from slipping on the boat, a couple of times falling out too, also if an accident happens while on plane a full life vest will protect your torso from all kinds of ugliness and allow you to recover while in the water quicker... my .02

+1

Great question,..Safety,cost,age of child,frequency of use,type of fishing,lake,river, off shore,..?
I wear one at age 66, and wear it all day that I'm in the boat, never had to use it,...yet.
I know when I wore the full vests I would take them off as soon as I got out of the seat,,too hot and cumberson,
then I fell in a few years ago and bought an auto-inflate. Make me feel safer and I actually wear it all day..

With my son he wears a full life jacket running around the lake but when we stop and fish down a bank he puts on a inflatable, specially in the summer months he will swap them out.

In my boat I wear a full life jacket. I have been nearly thrown out at high speed and just think a traditional life jacket is more dependable and less chance of getting ripped off of you in a high speed crash. I had a auto inflate but never felt comfortable so I went back to the old school jacket.

wow... I have never worn an inflatable.

Sorry, I keep life jackets in my boat because the state makes me but I've never worn them. I made all my kids wear them. I get pretty tired of hearing how dangerous not wearing one is.

If I wanted complete safety I'd stay home and hide in the closet.

I admit to not wearing a PFD as much as a I should, hardly ever actually. My kid wears her conventional PFD any time she's on a boat though. Aside from the hazards involved in whatever event leading up to her needing the PFD to save her life, youngsters in general just don't possess the quick thinking skills and instinctive actions necessary to do the best thing for themselves in an emergency situation. I've seen plenty of adults that you could say the same about too. Not to mention the prospect that one might be unconscious and unable to do anything. Couple that with the prospect that in such a situation I might be incapacitated and unable to assist her, I want her to have every chance at survival should something occur.

She compalins about the PFD at times, it's hot, it's uncomfortable, bla, bla, bla. Yet she will not turn down an opportunity to go to the lake. Oddly enough, when we are catching fish or swimming, the PFD is that last thing she's thinking about. I even bought one of the cheap orange PFD's and put that on her one day to show her what I grew up having to wear. Those things were pure torture to wear all day on the water, but I never remember refusing a trip to the lake over it either.

No inflatables on my boat at all. I have nothing negative to say about them or anyone who chooses to use one, but my boat has conventional PFD's, and a throwable, on it.

Putting a kid in an inflatable with their record of late is like putting the child in the backyard with the "family pet" pit bull and then acting shocked when they get mauled.

I guess what I was asking is, do you trust an inflatable PFD to save your life so much that you would be willing to put your child in one? The responses I see are pretty much "no". I've read so many stories of them not inflating when needed that I can't really trust one either. I'll just keep wearing my vest and for those that opt not to wear a PFD at all, well that's a personal choice that might affect your family for the rest of their lives. I had a fishing buddy years ago that opted out for the life jacket. I still miss em.

It's a culture thing I guess.

For those of you who go out in the big bays at the coast count how many adults you see wearing them. Just isn't very common.

I wear an auto inflate all the time

I didn't think that they were approved for anyone under 16. Can anyone verify this?

I have an inflatable Mustang vest and have worn it for about three years, and like it. BUT, when I went to the boat this week to go out, I opened the storage compartment under the seats and it had self inflated. I have read the stories of them not inflating, but not self inflating.

I'll be looking for a conventional, comfortable fishing vest this week. I won't trust inflatables in the future.

[quote I made all my kids wear them. I get pretty tired of hearing how dangerous not wearing one is.

[/quote]

That's a good idea. Thanks

moving parts can/will fail, only time kids are allowed to drop PFDs on my boat are if were on a beach or bank and getting off to swim. I don't even really like having kids on the boat for the most part unless it is before 10am before folks start drinking. running a low sided flats boat on eagle mountain with kids is nerve racking enough.

OK inflatables are not something you can throw in a box and take out after a year and expect them to be perfect 100% dependable. A traditional jacket is , but you can die from heat stroke wearing one in these parts.

proper maintenance is required and Its your life don't go cheap. You only get what you pay for. I have a couple of them and I replace the cartridge every year. A person has to do their part or I would say NO don't use one.

One thing you can do is put one on and jump in and test it every year, then replace the cartridge.

It is you or your loved ones lives we are talking about here, if in doubt don't use self-inflatable one but use a pfd regardless.

This for me as well.

Always wore a standard life vest, and never even considered one of the inflatables.
Just the name "auto-inflate is enough to turn me off, because it's mechanical and anything mechanical is never 100%.
You may never need it, but when you do it needs to work 100% in any situation or in any kind of weather.

no.

No way would I put my kid in one. I'm reckless with my life but not with his. I hate wearing them and feel his pain when he complains. The wife even makes him wear one in the back yard that buts up to the river.

I wear my traditional vest anytime the boat is under way. Never owned an auto inflate pfd.

On another note someone mentioned the cheap orange horse shoe pfd's. Actually they are a better PFD than just about all of the vest types. This is because they will turn an unconscious person face up and keep them face up. If you read the fine print most vest will not do this at all and others say they will "sometimes" or "most" of the time.

But yes they are soooooo uncomfortable to wear.