Put on the pfd of your choice and jump into the water feet first with your arms over your head. Not only is this something that might be done by a person abandoning a vessel but it is a compressed-time test of what can happen after many hours of floating around in your pfd.

Many pfds ride up: choking the user, eventually covering the mouth and face while impairing sight, hearing, and the ability to breath; and eventually slipping off or causing the user to "escape" the pfd to feel safe.

Does your pfd have crotch straps? Do you use them whenever you put on your pfd?

After jumping in, go limp for at least 30 seconds. An unconscious person, a sleeping person, an inured person, a hypothermic person, a person disabled by heart-attack or stroke, or a just-plain-tired person will not be able to swim or scull to offset the natural buoyancy position of the pfd. Does your pfd keep your face out of water so you can breath? Many do not.

Have your loved ones do this with their pfds. Have your loved ones do this about once a year because their size and weight may change significantly. Each time send the pfds back to the manufacturer with a nice check so they can be tested and repacked - and keep everyone away from the water while you wait to get them back.

Are you a person who religiously maintains all your gear? never misses an oil or filter change? changes the smoke alarm batteries every year without fail? never forgets a loved ones' birthday and anniversary? Good for you, you will probably do the annual maintenance and buy the annual actuater replacement required by manufacturers of inflatable pfds.

You don't trust lives to chemical or mechanical devices when lives are on the line? Good for you, and you can save money, too, get the pfd's you only inflate with a breath tube. All you have to trust is the one-way valve - and that whoever is using the pfd in time of need will be conscious, won't panic, and will be in good enough condition to stay above water long enough to remember how to inflate the pfd. Just keep drilling your loved ones over and over : don't fall overboard if you faint, have a heart-attack or stroke, or are knocked unconscious, don't panic, etc. [Because inflatable pfds all have the "manual" infalte tubes as a backup this applies to them in case the auto-inflate device fails.]

Yep, inflatables have an initial comfort advantage for some, they are getting better and more reliable all the time, and if they are fitted and deploy properly, do not leak and are not punctured, they usually have more buoyancy than floatation filled pfds. I would definitely take one - over nothing.

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Mr. Ritter's aviators jacket is a highly specialized bit of kit for use in an environment where space is a challenge. Like the military aviator usage, you gotta do what you can do. My general comments are directed to recreational pfd use.