[alanw]

I think an inflatable PFD is a bad idea. In an emergency you have to find and pull the rip cord while you might be in a panic state.. not ideal. What if you hit your head and you can't pull the cord? You need to test it a few times a year, and carry spare CO2 in case you need to reuse it. Auto ones aren't much better. They may accidentally go off. You need to test them as well, and carry spare CO2 and re-arming kits. Get a dumb PFD that only fails if you don't wear it.