Well, I use a local dive shop here in Savannah. Although in order to make
arrangements with the owner, I had to find out when he would be going to be
at the pool for a class, and make arrangements for him to bring a couple of
BC's for me to try, and I actually rented them and tanks from him in order
to run my 'tests', just to be fair and not take advantage of him. So all in
all, the tests went over a span of six weeks.

As an update to the dive gear portion, I am now the proud owner of a Genesis
recon (Back flotation) , which suited my needs since it's adjustable from
Xlarge to XXlarge just by changing out a few screws (almost like the Zeagle
Ranger which I also recommend for larger divers). I did however make other
arrangements for a thigh pocket with a Dive Rite thigh rig since the recon
doesn't have much in the way of storage. Both of these were purchased from
Leisure Pro.com since none of the LDS carry that brand. Leisurepro is fairly
easy to navigate, and it's easy to determine if they carry the larger sizes
on a single glance at each BC page.

JoeDiverAmerica.com seemed to have an outage of their site when I was
planning on ordering, so I never bothered with them, since the recon suited
my needs better, and would fit out of the box, with no "bastardizing" as it
was put earlier.

You might also concider looking on scubaboard.com for some conversations on
larger divers. Be mindful, several were started by 'newbs' to diving and a
wannabe DM, and their posts tend to reflect that, however more veteran
divers began to contribute, and the posts took on a more educational tone,
rather than sheer uneducated opinion.

Hope al lworks well for you in your quest, if I can be any further help,
look me up at savannahbadgeguy@yahooREMOVE.com
Tao

If you got to a plate you can be as big as you want.
ask Jammer.

T