I have the SOSuspenders from West Marine. Very comfortable and mine is the manual inflate model.

My father-in-law had the same in auto-inflate and it too went off in storage due to high humidity (boat hull)

If you do buy them for the kids, I'd recommend having them try it out in the lake or pool before they really need it. Especially if they have a manual inflatable.

I too am always a little concerned about hitting the water unconscious. Seems about once every couple of years Whidbey has a boat wash up on the beach w/ the owner tied off to it, w/o a pfd. usually sailboats, but it could happen to anyone.


Kayaking shops also sell very comfortable PFD's