comfort harness system by OMS

[diverdeb001]

I am thinking of trying the comfort harness system which has padded shoulders rather than the one piece of webbing that some people use. I know I will have some trouble carrying the weight of double tanks and thought the OMS set up looked more comfortable. I have an OMS wing. Any thoughts??

 

[MechDiver]

diverdeb001 once bubbled...
Any thoughts??

You don't need the shoulder pads. If you can't carry the weight of the tanks, the pads won't help. And if you can, they're not necessary.

MD

 

[OneBrightGator]

MechDiver once bubbled...
You don't need the shoulder pads. If you can't carry the weight of the tanks, the pads won't help. And if you can, they're not necessary.

MD

Seconded. Plus, any exposure suit you're wearing will be padding enough.

Ben

 

[nyresq]

I think OMS saw DR's transplate and said wow cool idea, and just copied it. the trans plate came out about the begining of last spring, and OMS started ads for their comfort system at the end of summer.
same idea, just a few months later...

 

[Don Burke]

The pads just make it more comfortable in the dive shop.

In the water there is no pressure on those straps.

On the boat, any dive requiring doubles will almost certainly require an exposure suit.

I wear my jacket when I lug my doubles onto the boat.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I'd vote for the pads....

On a long hike they are nice to have or if you have to haul a set of doubles up and down the rocks or just have a long walk to the slip. And they are more comfortable in the water if you are in warm water or in a pool and not wearing much for an exposure suit. I also like a hose retainer (at least on the left strap) and that is another option with the comfort harness.

The pads are a little cushy maybe but when you have been around long enough not care about what the rest of the world thinks, you realize that there is really nothing wrong with being comfortable.

 

[xnight]

Amen...

 

[O-ring]

Why not just try them both and see?

 

[MikeS]

Why not just try them both and see?

I got the DR version but haven’t tried it yet. For me anyway, part of the fun of diving is tring new things including equipment configuration.

My hypothesis is that the convienience and comfort improvement afforded by the quick releases, “on the fly” adjustability of the shoulder straps, the pads, and chest strap will offset the disadvantage of the additional failure points, while maintaining the advantages of a plate and wing.

I propose to only use it on no decompression, no overhead dives. The increased possibility of a failure seems minimal (I've yet to see a shoulder strap failure), and is not a terrible concern while diving in such an environment, if you can’t safely surface with a broken shoulder strap you probably shouldn’t be diving. I suppose I should try it once to see what problems if any it presents, but my guess is it will remain relatively secure with only one shoulder, the waist, and chest straps connected.

We'll see how it turns out.

Mike