For surviving, a swim belt is not as good as a pfd, but is much much better than no flotation. After treading water for ten minutes in 65-degree water you will definitely wish you had either a swim belt or a pfd.
Swim belts keep you horizontally balanced, good for swimming, while a pfd keeps you floating vertically, good for surviving.
The foam $15 pfd from Walmart actually does a better job of keeping you warm in the water than a $100 SOS-pender inflated pfd.
One reason why boaters do not like to wear foam pfd's is because they become too warm to wear on the boat.
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 .... Banned for life from local thrift store!
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