Choosing The Right Life Jacket: Automatic v Manual

Life jackets are essential safety equipment for anyone venturing out on the water. Whether you are a professional sailor, a recreational kayaker, or a casual sailor, a life jacket can potentially be the difference between life and death in an emergency. The two most popular types of kids life jackets and adult life jackets are automatic and manual - and in this blog post, we will compare the two to help you decide which is best for you.

Automatic Life Jackets

Automatic life jackets are designed to inflate automatically when they come into contact with water. These life jackets use a CO2 cylinder to inflate an air bladder, which provides buoyancy to keep the wearer afloat. Automatic life jackets are more convenient to use since they do not require any action from the wearer to activate them. This is particularly useful in situations where the wearer may be unconscious or unable to inflate the jacket manually, such as if they have fallen overboard. 

How do automatic life jackets work?

Automatic life jackets use a CO2 cylinder to inflate an air bladder, which provides buoyancy to keep the wearer afloat. The inflation mechanism is activated by a small tablet that dissolves in water, triggering a mechanism that punctures the CO2 cylinder and inflates the bladder. All automatic life jackets have a manual back-up pull cord.

Popular uses of automatic life jackets:

• Boaters and sailors, especially when travelling in open waters.
• Fishermen - particularly those who are fishing alone in areas with strong currents or choppy waters.
• Commercial use - those working in offshore industries such as oil rig workers and shipping crews.

Manual Life Jackets

Manual life jackets are the less expensive than their automatic counterparts and provide the user with more control over their life jacket, as it will only inflate when they manually pull a cord that activates a CO2 cylinder, which then inflates the air bladder. As a result, a manual life jacketwill not inflate if a casualty is unconscious.

How do manual life jackets work?

Like automatic life jackets, manual life jackets use a CO2 cylinder to inflate an air bladder, which provides buoyancy to keep the wearer afloat. The inflation mechanism is activated by a small tablet that dissolves in water, triggering a mechanism that punctures the CO2 cylinder and inflates the bladder. 

Popular uses of manual life jackets:

• Those operating in confined spaces where activation of a life jacket may hinder their attempt to escape.
• Paddleboarders and kayakers who may fall into the water, but will only need to activate the life jacket in an emergency (we still recommend a buoyancy aid or foam life jacket in this case, depending on where you are).

Pro Sensor & Hammar Life Jackets:

The easiest way to describe a pro sensor or hammar life jacket to someone new to sailing, is that they are like a mid-way point between an automatic life jacket and a manual life jacket.

Pro Sensor Life Jackets:

Pro sensor life jackets use a water-activated system where a compressed paper capsule is contained within the firing head. The paper capsule dissolves when wet, which then releases a spring to puncture the CO2 cylinder and activate the life jacket. The mechanism is designed to ensure that only water flowing upwards through the unit will cause it to activate. Any water, spray and rain running down the life jacket will not inflate the life jacket.

Hammar Hydrostatic Life Jackets:

The hammar inflation system works differently to that of a pro sensor. Hammar life jackets are activated by water pressure and will not inflate until the cap is submerged approximately 10 centimetres underwater, making them perfect for use in extreme conditions and offshore sailing where you are more likely to experience rain and sea spray. 

Life Jackets For Sale

Since our founding in 1991, we've been selling a leading range of life jackets from the industry's most trusted brands, including Crewsaver Life Jackets, Seago Life Jackets and Spinlock Life Jackets. If you want to come and see our life jackets for sale for yourself, why not visit one of our two stores? We have a 6,000 square ft Rochester store which is one of the largest chandleries in the UK, and an additional outlet store located within Gillingham Marina - visit us today!

In addition, we also supply a wide range of life jacket accessories - so if you do activate your life jacket, we'll be able to supply the correct life jacket re-arming kit for it.

If you're shopping online, there's no long, arduous wait for your order to arrive - all our orders are shipped out on a fully tracked next working day service with one hour timeslot (subject to stock availability). If your order is urgent, please contact us to confirm stock availability and lead times. If you wish to learn more about life jackets, we highly recommend reading our ultimate life jacket guide, where we look at everything life jacket related - from life jacket sizing, to life jacket buoyancy, to ISO approval and much, much more.