Tribord BA500 70N buoyancy vest

The Tribord BA500 70N buoyancy vest is my new best friend.

Our party of 6 were off to Scotland and we had planned to do some canoeing / kayaking on Loch Lomond and hopefully Loch Ness. We didn’t have enough buoyancy vests for everyone so I had to get some in a hurry and I didn’t want to pay a fortune.

Our local Decathlon store came to the rescue. I had looked on their website, found this and another vest for one of the younger members of our crew then ordered them online and went to collect them the next day.

I’ve tried a few Buoyancy vests now, and for the money this one is my favourite. I have a YAK vest and have also tried on some others (Osprey) but this one is by far the most comfortable. It has a couple of very handy pockets which I am often putting to good use by storing my action camera in there whilst I am rowing. I like that this vest zips up the front so that I don’t have to pull it over my head. The material and stitching seem very well made and durable. It’s been on a few paddling trips now and there are no signs of wear or damage.

I also like that there are sections on both the front and back that have white reflective panels on them, ideal for getting noticed if you are oot in low light or darkness. Perfect for when you bob about on your boat on Loch Lomond with a bottle of beer whilst looking at the moon overhead – wonderful.

For a low cost vest, (I paid £32.99) I would certainly recommend it. I found it very comfortable to wear, having worning it continuously for a couple of hours on a few occasions. It’s not restrictive when paddling and I have even left it on when removing the canoe from the water and putting it onto the roof of the van – no small feat as it is 17 foot long.

Now since the Scotland trip has been and gone, I have an abundance of buoyancy vests but still find myself favouring this one so that must say a lot about it.

The pockets aren’t waterproof, that is my only gripe – but as I said this is a £30 vest and not a £100 one. I’ve used it on our long camping trip to Scotland on Loch Lomond (a few times) and also at Llyn Padarn in Wales, got to see some great views and have made some great memories.

At the time of writing, this vest wasn’t available to purchase online and was only available in store. This may have now changed so check out the decathlon website. You can check store availability here.