BP/Wing Throwing your head forward???

[jonnythan]

Ok guys, I've admited before that for wreck penetration I won't use my bungied bladder, but I recently bought a non banded bladder from OMS too and it works great, I got this new bladder 'cause I plan on some wreck diving.

If someone doesn't like or want to use a bungied wing, thats OK with me.

What I don't like is trashing a Brand gear for one product that some may not like, if you like non banded wings, you may find some bullet proof wings from OMS that are non banded.

If manufacturing banded wings was a crime, Dive Rite is guilty of this crime too since they have the gusset control system on some of their wings and I don't see no one trashing DR or steering away posible buyers from them.

We do all the time. Dive Rite makes a bunch of wings that are worthless.

 

[caveseeker7]

I am just starting out and my DM instructed me against the BP/Wing saying that when you surface it wil constantly throw me face first into the water and I'll be fighting it. Is this true? I noticed he didn't sell them so that got me thinking hmm ....

Good thinking!

The way you're balanced above and below the surface depends entirely on how you distribute weight and bouyancy.
Any BCD with a rear mounted bladder can be balanced to keep you horizontal UW and vertical on the surface.
When OC, I'm been diving a Zeagle Ranger for years, with a steel 72 cf Scubapro shorty.
That's a very negative tank, in the neighborhood of -5 lbs empty. Never had a problem balancing it.
Been using a DiveRite backplates (ss and alu) mostly for the past two years, with an Oxycheq 45 lbs donut wing.
Excellent bouyancy once I figured out that the alu bp works with steel tanks and the steel bp with alu tanks.
On my first try with the ss bp I used the steel tank and had a hard time not flipping on my back since I needed less lead out front ... but even there I was face up.

That, by the way, is another very nice side effect of bp/w combos: You get to dive with less weight. Even alu has reduced inherent bouyancy, ss obvously more so. And it doesn't weight much (in my setup) at the surface:
Ranger and Scubapro 72 with Atomic B1 - 52 lbs
DR ss bp/Oxycheq wing with same tank & reg - 47.5 lbs
Don't remember what the alu bp/w setup came in at, but it was less.

While that was on my mind when I bought the bp/w equipment the main reason was stability.

As for quality, Halcyon, Oxycheq, Deep Sea Supply and DiveRite all will serve you well.
Customer service-wise I don't have experience with Halcyon (though their rep is very good), the other three I've dealt with and are all excellent in my experience.