Auto inflate life vest question

Hi Ray! No it will not inflate in the rain. There is a disk inside and that disk has to get wet and dissolve to inflate the vest. Bought one for my wife and it's great.

There have been posts on here before about the puck.The puck has a shelf life and will need to be replace in ? years,but from what I've seen they are very popular . . .I see plenty of them on folks at the lakes I fish.As to the weight limits,I'm sure that there are clear numbers on the package or the unit itself.This is one time that ya got's to go to BPS and do some homework to find out.Maybe a phone call?

I've been out on some pretty nasty water where we are getting swamped on the boat and they still didn't inflate and we were pretty wet

Along those lines, If my Fishing jacket and bibs float, I have rope a spud bar and picks, do any of you still do a PFD as well?

That would depend on the ice conditions for me. If you’re one of the crazy guys out on 1-4” I’d have it all.

If you’re on 8” of clear ice... probably overkill.

I won’t go on anything less than 5-6” of clear.

I'm way to old and heavy for the thin ice anymore. Thank for the feedback. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

I had the same questions thanks AWB for the answer.

Not trying to be a downer, but I read some stuff like on the link below while trying to decide if I wanted to switch to an inflatable PFD. The part saying "The failure to auto-inflate happens more frequently than you would think." got my attention. Bottom line appears to be to plan on having to manually inflate and if it auto-inflates as intended, consider it a good surprise, plus practice getting to and using the oral inflation tube so you can use that quickly if necessary (e.g., the gas cylinder doesn't work for some reason). Anyway, hope this helps.

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For ice fishing I actually don't use the automatic vest. I have one that has the pull string. I don't worry about it going off prematurely. Often times when you fall through its on the edge where it's only a few feet deep and you can just stand up.

Ray, if you haven't got one yet. Spend a little more money and get one that's coast guard approved\certified

AWB
I already ordered a couple and they should be here this week. Is there a problem with the ones I ordered?

I do not know if anything is wrong with them, nor am I suggesting there is. My only point about the coast guard approved ones is peace of mind.

a few good things to think about..
some ..MUST use... a manual inflate pull system.
Some are inflated by water, so be VERY careful which system they include.
There are multiple companies making these.. i suggest spending more on a better brand, like MUSTANG!. NOT SPONSORED...! :)

Also some of the newer models have a depth so you can get it all kinds of..wet and it wont inflate... but 4 inches deep will inflate.
My point is ... take the time and spend wisely. It IS your life your talking about.

I just bought the newest Mustang Elite vest.. its incredible and does both manual inflate and auto.. just incase.