Since they have already answered most of your questions above, I’ll touch on the BC portion. Try the different BC type before you make that purchase. Since there is jacket, back inflate, bp/w and hybrid, you’ll want to know which is going to work for you the best with your diving style and the type of diving you do. I got my O/W in a jacket, but when I got my "advanced" just a few short weeks later, I used a back inflate and felt much better in that at depth. My first BC purchase ended up being a back inflate and I’ve since had a few BP/W setups. All I’m saying is, don’
t be in a rush to make that purchase and try each type before you decide to buy so you’ll know what you truly want (at this point in time, anyway) :)