I used scott 4.5s in the Navy and were a huge increase in comfort from the old closed circuit breathing air systems the Navy used. Here at my volunteer dept we have a hodgepodge of stuff: scott 2.2s, old MSAs, ISI and a couple of draegers. I like using the scott because it's what I'm familiar with, but the ISI packs we have are much lighter than the old wire frame scott. I haven't worn or used the new scott packs so can't offer an opinion. We will probably make a full transition to ISI over the coming years as most of the surrounding depts use them and it's handy to have packs common across the county for mutual aid calls. As far as turn out geat, I've got a morning pride set about 5 years old and have no complaints.
Having worn Globe, Janesville and Morning Pride, the new Janesville is by far the most comfortable. I am not at all happy with the Advantage that MP is producing. I also don't like the plastic zipper on the bunker coat. It doesn't hold up. We will see how it holds up, but so far, with 8 months in, I am not impressed.
Permalink Reply by Rob on February 21, 2009 at 4:42pm
On the SCBA thing, Scott AP50! I have used Scott since the days of the old wire frame 4500's and actually went through the class to do repair work. As opposed to ISI (can't speak for MSA as I have never used them) the Scott has much fewer parts that could go bad on you in a fire and are fairly easy to work on.
On the gear, I have never used Globe but can tell you Morning Pride makes good stuff and I have used it since I started as a cadet in 1990. Of course I might be a little bias toward Morning Pride since I live about 15 minutes away from their factory and service center.
Well to be honest with you, my dept ran Scott Air packs for as long as i can remember. Ive been in the dept for 8 years and they had them for a good 5 years before i joined if not longer, we recently just received a fema grant to get air packs with the new 2007 standards and bunker gear and what not. Well after having dealer after dealer down at the fire dept, for at least 4 hours every tuesday and 4 hours weekend. We looked at packs from Scott, MSA, ISI, Sperian and a couple of others, well yes they all are good packs, but you got to look at the whole picture. Scott Air Packs
Well with scott they havent done anything to the Air Pack 50 which is now the Air Pack 75 other than the new pass device, and RIT connections, and Scott is the only pack to have something like a DRD drag strap on their air pack, but Scott's research went into their new NxG7 air pack, which has a quick connect bottle, which is nice but it has a good chance to freeze, and that your only able to use air bottles with that quick connect cylinder valve, it also has the engage and dis-engage cylinder lights and the new Pass device, a drag rescue loop, and lights when the pass device is on or in alarm. But Scott really didnt make any upgrades the to pack that most scott users have. MSA Air Packs
With MSA they have added a new face peice with out a slider, and they still have the mask that has the slider, they also have the stanard bottle connector that the current MSA users have. Also with MSA every air pack is a RIT pack unlike the rest of the air pack makers, Each MSA air pack and do both receive and or give air, which makes it really nice, MSA owns that and no other Air pack can do that. REST OF THE PACKS
Im not going to really talk about the other air packs because most people use either scott or msa and they both are the leaders, and we didnt care for the rest of the packs. OUR PICK
In closing my dept had a meeting and broke down the air packs. After a long meeting we decided to go with MSA for multiple reasons. Our big reasons with going with MSA were: that with MSA every bottle is a RIT pack which in our eyes is really nice, the MSA also brakes down with you current breathing after 3 minutes to how much Air you have left on your current breathing, which is a great feature. Also with MSA your dept can still have people in house able to work on the pack.
If you have any other questions feel free to message me or ask.
I've been involved with 2 depts...1 career for 22 yrs and 1 volunteer for 28 yrs. Both depts have used Scott exclusively during those yrs. Never once had a failure that was not attributable to the previous user not putting it away properly. Lesson learned always check your SCBA yourself. Great packs. Have also worn MSA, Draegers, Survairs and North. None compare to Scott in my book. Turnouts= Globe or Morning Pride. Both great companies and both offer pretty much the same shells, thermal and moisture barriers. Quality seems very compareble as does delivery time. Take your time and do your homework...talk it up on the forums like this, talk to other depts that have recently done the same and really listen to what your salesman is saying...truth or just honey for the ears. Make sure whoever you deal with will be there for the long haul for service
Well my dept bought the Scott NXG's, nothing but problems. The bottles leak, the electronics are horribly un trustworthy. Batteries drain constantly and some of the electronics wont work at all. even after sending them back in for repair and upgrade. The comfort is also severly lacking, i would rather go back to our old 2.2's.
As for turnout gear, my dept issues Morning Pride, and just so you know im trying to get myself a pair of globe gear if that tells you anything. I have had the oppertunity to try globe and its like night and day compared to my morning pride gear. just the flexability you get with globe is outstanding. My MP's are heavy and bulky, and are actually coming apart, not from fighting fire but the thread at the seams is unraveling.
There are certain manufacturer standards that all of the companies must abide to, so it is almost an even playing field for the basics. Now each company has its' own bells and whistles that they say make them better than the competition, but my advice would be to have both gear manufacturers and both SCBA manufacturers come to your FD for a demonstration and they will give you a loaner to try out before you purchase. It will have a lot to do with personal preference and budget, but do not sell yourselves short. SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT!