Backplate and Wing

[Selachimorpha]

Hi there,

I'm a recreational diving instructor looking to buy a backplate and wing system.
I currently use a Seac Sub traditional jacket-style BCD, but I really want to switch to back-inflation.
I decided that it would be better to jump right to a proper backplate and wing, rather than a hybrid back inflation BCD (eg Scubapro Knighthawk or Seaquest Black Diamond etc).
To me these BCDs simply have too many features, and are too bulky, something I am trying to get away from. I want to go for something minimalistic and streamlined, as I believe it will serve me better underwater.
In my job I dive about 6 days a week, 2 or 3 dives, both guiding and teaching.
My plan is to keep my old BCD for teaching (my students use traditional jacket-style BCDs, as this is what is available in terms of rental equipment, I believe that is is important for me to have the same gear as them for teaching them equipment removal and replacement etc)
However whenever I am guiding (which is quite a lot of the time), I would prefer something better. I say better because my old BCD starting to fall to pieces (literally), and that after only using it for about 400 dives.
Everything is breaking, plus the BCD is about a size to big for me (I see this a lot with divers, I dont know why people always manage to sell us these massive BCDs, when usually we could do with a size smaller).
Also I donŽ´t like the fact that it has too many useless bits and pieces that I thought I needed when I was a less experienced diver and which I now realise just get in the way. Its big and bulky and slides around. Although my position in the water is very good, it requires a lot of effort on my part because its nearly impossible to balance properly.
So what i'm saying is I want a change and I need your help and advice on what to choose.

I live in Sharm El Sheikh Egypt, and the selection here is limited to say the least, so I have been having a look online. Whatever I end up buying needs to be good qualiy and stand up to lots of wear and tear. It needs to last and not break just because its being used every day.
So I had a look and so far 2 brands have caught my eye, because they seem to be names associated with high quality. They are Dive Rite and Halcyon (please feel free to add to these).
Now here in Sharm we dont have any dive rite or halcyon dealers. There is one dive rite dealer listed across the other side of the red sea in Hurghada and an email to Halcyon confirmed that they are also planning to open a dealer in Hurghada in May. This would make life much easier with these 2 brands as I'm sure I would have to pay lost of import tax if ordering online.
So what do I want from my new dive system?
Well I want to use it with a single tank, but maybe in the future I will want to start diving with doubles. But for now its just for singles.
Halcyon makes that very simple by having one wing for singles and different types for doubles. But then there is the question of how much lift I want.
With Dive Rite in terms of single tank diving there is the Travel EXP wing, but then there is the Rec EXP wing which is a hybrid designed for singles or doubles. Anyone have any of these? How are they? Anyone use a Rec EXP mainly with singles?
In terms of harness I will go for the most basic they have.
Then there is the question of backplates, Alu VS Steel. Not sure about this yet, as Alu would be great for travel, but then Steel would elimante the need to wear much weight, I'm sure having it on my back is much better than having it anywhere else.
The things I carry with me on all dives are a DSMB and spool (where can I put these), slates (these also) and a spare mask (and this).

Both brands seem pretty decent, I just want some reviews and opinions (the blue H's all over the Halcyon harness look kind of annoying, but i'm prepared to live with them if it means having good equipment)

Many thanks, sorry if its a bit jumbled, feel free to ask questions back!

 

[Teamcasa]

Call Tobin at https://www.deepseasupply.com/

I'm sure he can work something out for you.

 

[PerroneFord]

If you want it durable, my money would be on (in no particular order):

Deep Sea Supply
Oxycheq
Golem Gear

I've owned or used BP/W from most major manufacturers and these stand out to me.

 

[TSandM]

Since what you have at hand is Dive Rite and Halcyon, I would imagine that's what you want to buy.

I would highly recommend against a hybrid wing. The problem with having more lift than you need is that the wing tends to "taco" up around the tank. The air in the wing goes to the top of the side arcs, and becomes difficult to access in order to vent. It is far better to spend the money to buy a good single tank wing, and if you dive doubles in the future, just invest in a doubles wing with the appropriate lift.

As far as lift goes, your wing has to do two things. It has to float your gear at the surface, and it has to compensate for the gas you are going to use and any compression of your exposure protection at depth. I don't know what exposure protection you use when you are guiding, but if it's a relatively thin wetsuit and you don't wear much weight, you may be able to get by with a fairly small single tank wing. In the tropics, I use Deep Sea Supply's 17 pound travel wing, which is lovely -- very streamlined, and very easy to vent.

I'm not very familiar with the Halcyon options, and know almost nothing about the Dive Rite possibilities, but hopefully this at least gave you some more information to work with in making a decision.

 

[MSilvia]

I own Oxycheq and Halcyon wings, and am very happy with both. I once owned a DiveRite RecWing, and didn't like the design (it's the sort of hybrid wing TS&M mentioned). I sold it very soon after I tried a different wing for the first time.

I believe OxyCheq is the best value for the money that I've seen, but availability might change that for you. Check out scubatoys.com... they have excellent customer service, and will ship internationally.

 

[ae3753]

RE Single now and Doubles later
If you're only diving singles now, best to optimize for single tank diving. Especially given the number of dives you're doing. It doesn't make sense to dive a sub-optimal set-up. This means a wing with the least amount of lift that you need.

For warm water single tank diving, the maximum size I'd use is 30#. However, I'd personally go smaller. The ideal would be the 17# wing or possibly a 20# wing. That's enough for me to offset the gas in the tank and float my gear on the surface.

RE Rec EXP Wing
While you can definitely dive a Rec wing for singles, it's not ideal. It's too large and the 50# lift is unnecessary. As the result, it'll be more drag in the water and require more active management of the gas in the wing.

I dove a old Rec wing for about 4 dives to see what it was like. While I could do all the things I wanted to do, the active management of the wing was irritating to me. Especially since I knew something else was better.

Dual purpose wings can manage both purposes. But they won't outperform a specialized wing. At least I haven't found one.

RE Carrying DSMB and spool, slates, and spare mask.
You have a lot of options. I prefer thigh pockets, so my warm water dives I have X-shorts. Others glue pockets on their wetsuits. In addition, there are thigh pockets, ala gun slingers, that velcros around the leg. I find these a little unstable.

In addition to thigh pockets, BP/Wing can accept pouches for slates and spare mask on the waist. If you're skinny, this might not be an option, but I know a few divers how carry pouches this way.

For spools and DSMB, these can also be carried on the hip or butt D-rings. The problem is if your spool comes undone. As the result, I prefer pockets.

RE Blue H's
You can always buy a new 2" webbing.

RE Other brands
As TeamCasa and PerroneFord wrote, I'd look at Deep Sea Supply, OxyCheq and Golem Gear.

 

[DeNomad]

How to determine weighting size:
The Deco Stop

Tobin runs deep sea supply. I definitely recommend his set-up, quite slick and durable.

I got a singles wing for cold water diving, got 35 lbs of lift. I intend to use it for a bunch of warm water diving. While having the minimum lift required is optimal I don't expect any issues diving with an extra 10-15 lbs of lift in warm water.

As everyone else said: Deep Sea Supply, OxyCheq, Golem Gear.

 

[NorthWoodsDiver]

any of the products from these manufactures should be considered quality:

in no order

Deep Sea Supply
OMS
Oxycheq
Halcyon
Dive Rite
Golem Gear
FredT (board member)
Etc.

For simplicity you can order a whole package from most of the brands, DSS has a package building feature right on the website for example. Though I am partial to mixing brands around when necessary to get the features I want.

For example I wanted to remove lead from my waist so I got a 9lb stainless plate from FredT and a wing from OMS, STA from FredT, straps are scubapro, harness is hog style made from parts from reefscuba.

Dss offers some features not found on other systems, like no need for an STA and special bolt on plate weights

Oxycheq makes a great little SS travel plate and the smallest wing available I think.

Dive rite and Dss make plates from plastics also for weight reduction too.

If your into streamlining then a hog harness is simple to put together and if you have a dive shop or good hardware store around you wont need to order anything to make a harness. that means you just have to get a plate, wing(s), and STA. if your diving singles and doubles get wings specified to the tank configuration you intend to dive, changing wings takes seconds.

 

[halocline]

The dive rite travel exp wing is probably the best single tank wing that dive rite has made. So, that would work fine, although it's likely that you would want to use a STA with it. I'm not that familiar with Halcyon as it's pretty expensive, but I think it's worth looking into whether the wing needs a STA. For tropical diving with little weight the STA might not be what you want. It's good to determine that (yes or no on the STA) first.

The two wings that I know work great with no STA are deep sea supply and the oxycheq mach V. Both are extremely well designed and built, although they are different.

Anyhow, if you decide on a DSS wing you might as well get the whole DSS single tank rig, with the hog harness. If you want the oxycheq, try this place caveadventurers.com. They have excellent deals on oxycheq (and dive rite) set ups and I'm sure they'd be able to ship to the mideast. Unless the import duty is outrageous either will still be substantially cheaper than Halcyon stuff.

If your current weighting is 8lbs or more (roughly) it's really likely that you'd prefer diving with a steel plate, especially if you dive with AL tanks. If, however, you currently use less weight, or are thinking you'll use the plate with double steel tanks, an AL plate might be better. Like most divers who get going on BP/W set ups, I have one of each.

Actually, there is another very cool single tank only plate out there; it's called the "freedom plate" and it's made by hand by a SB member named Eric...I can't quite remember his username but you can search for freedom plate and you'll find it. That plate you would order directly from him, then get the oxycheq mach V wing and a harness kit from somewhere. It's a great warm water/travel set up, but it won't work at all for doubles. I use mine with my doublehose reg and I really like it.

If you're thinking of doubles at some point, and this kind of gear is hard to come by there, you might go completely nuts and get a steel and AL plate, 2 harness kits, and 2 wings; one for single, (oxycheq) one for doubles, (dive rite rec wing, old style) all at the same time. You could do that at caveadventurers for less than the retail price of one halcyon set up.

Come to think of it, if import duty is that high, you need someone to bring you the stuff and do some diving in the red sea.

 

[rstofer]

It's going to be tough to beat these prices for a complete BP/W

Aluminum Backplate Version $300
Stainless Steel Backplate Version $400

You can choose between 32#, 38# and 52# wing

HOG Custom BC Package

AFAICT, a Single Tank Adapter isn't necessary because the wing has tank stabilizing ridges. At least, that's the way I use it. No STA... I have the HOG 32# wing on an OxyCheq SS Travel Plate.

This rig is for my double hose regulator adventures.

I also have a DSS BP/W with a LCD-30 wing. It is very nice. An equivalent DSS rig is $470 but it is a lot higher quality and an STA is definitely not required. Unfortunately, the inflator hose on the DSS wing is in the middle and this just won't work with a double hose regulator.

Richard