DIR from the start? Zeagle Express Tech

[The Chairman]

Yet BS about DIR persists with surprising regularity.

With a lot of that BS directly attributable to DIR divers. Go figure.

-Comes with a fabric backplate and no option to replace with a metal one. For cold-water diving, this is a real issue (have to put lots of weight in integrated pockets which is awkward and leads to non-ideal weight distribution, no option for a channel weight)

That's the best part of the system: the fabric backplate. I'll agree about cold water diving and pointed that out in my first post in this thread.

-Webbing in multiple pieces

Just two and its standard webbing. I agree that there seems to be no problems with this.

-Non-standard: team has to carry multiple spares

You carry extra BPs&Wings on a dive? Wow. I have never seen this. That being said, any bladder and any webbing will work on it.

-Seems to require an awful lot of fiddling/pushing with a screwdriver just to get the thing assembled.

It's actually pretty simple. Threads almost the same as a BP and there is no need to micro-adjust it between individuals.

-Plastic screws to link wing to plate

I have SS in mine. However, I did not know that this is non-DIR.

-From the pictures it's hard to tell how much elasticization of the wing there is. The Deluxe ET clearly has some, but the plastic-clipped bungee running to the outer, bottom, inside corner may be a problem as well--or may not.

Nothing like the BWOD. The bungees are a part of the system, though not an essential part.

-I don't see a reasonable wing for small doubles on Zeagle's website ("optional bladders"). By reasonable I mean a non-bungeed, non-funny-shaped, non-dual-bladder horseshoe or donut wing.

You can put any standard wing on it, but I don't see it as a solution for doubles unless you are forcing it to work.

Can be replaced at some price in time/effort:
-No crotch strap by default
-Long oral inflate hose
-Seems to come with velcro oral inflate hose retainer by default
-Plastic D-rings, triglides, and harness buckle

Completely agreed. The plastic screws should be in this list.

-And finally, if you're going to dive something 90% like a BP/W, why not just dive a BP/W?

Is this a rhetorical question, or did you really want an answer? I have abandoned the BP&Wing for singles diving in favor of this rig. It can be swapped between team members mid dive without any need for adjustments. While, I have never seen a need for that, getting out of the rig is significantly easier than any BP&Wing because of it. This is huge for those of us with joint issues. You can set up D-rings and other gear in DIR fashion easily.

N.B. I would be more than happy to dive with anyone diving an ET, and I think it's a perfectly reasonable gear choice.

You're always welcome to come dive with me in Key Largo. I love showing off my back yard and show how we are actively restoring the Keys.

 

[gsk3]

You're always welcome to come dive with me in Key Largo. I love showing off my back yard and show how we are actively restoring the Keys.

Thanks. I'd love to. And if you're ever up this way do drop me a line.

 

[Johanan]

Hallo, guys!

Thank you for your posts! I really didn’t expect to evoke such a discussion! It seems familiar to me from the computer world. Seems like the discussion between the Mac and Windows or iPhone and Android communities. I am really grateful for your engagement. I’m a newbie in diving. Many things in your discussion exceeded my understanding. “The hydrostatic lung loading discussion” or “we were supposed to be able to, from the dopplers done on us after extreme profiles”… Not a clue what does all this mean… But I could learn a lot. I’m thrilled to converse with someone “diving with George or Irvine” and with other equally qualified experts.

Sometimes you mentioned the motivation of my question.
Why was I attracted to DIR? Firstly, I dive a Mares Dragonfly BC that my friend gave to me. It has different “bells and whistles” including some inflatable flaps around the tank. I always forget to fasten the special buckle for them and I have to employ several valves to dump the air. During the OWD course I had difficulties simply to sink in warm fresh water even wearing 24 lbs of led on my belt. The instructor said then: “The simpler BC you have the better.” Finally I looked with envy at the DSS webpage with the simple and streamlined BP&W gear. Express Tech looked much the same. Secondly, the DIR philosophy attracted me also with its serious attitude to the diving skills. Reading through the GUE and DIR Explorer WebPages I compared it to the easy approach in my PADI training that might be OK for the 12 ft dives during the course but not good enough for life sustaining techniques in more serious conditions. Thirdly, It just seemed to be based on sound and common sense. Sharing the air with a distressed diver through the primary 2nd stage on a long hose or the idea of using identical gear with your buddy or team seamed to make sense. During your discussion there were several things that “rung the bell” for me:

the DIR idea though, is that a buddy team knows instantly how to deal with each other's gear, because it is nearly identical

The Idea of going DIR to be able to find reliable buddies on that other side of the globe: “they have to acquire the skills to belong”.

you cant; expect to be able to sit down with every potential buddy for a few hours prior to a dive, and teach them your BC as if it was their own…

On the other hand, I could ask myself, how many times in my lifetime I expect to dive in Florida or Australia and will have a need to find a buddy on the other side of the globe? If I need a friend to dive with in Latvia or the neighbourhood, perhaps more likely we will both have a budget ET rather than a Halcyon BP&Wing gear that costs 1260$ in our local shop. This is about 2 months average salary in Latvia. If the ET in its price level is as good as NetDoc review says, than it seems more realistic to find here a buddy having it. And in my age “getting out of the [ET] rig significantly easier than any BP&Wing... is huge for those of us with joint issues”. NetDoc's reasoning seems very sound, too.

I realize that it was not my person that evoked this most interesting discussion. Nevertheless, it was very interesting and insightfu. Thank you, folks! I have a big respect to your opinions and will be glad to read more.

Best wishes!
Janis

 

[boulderjohn]

you cant; expect to be able to sit down with every potential buddy for a few hours prior to a dive, and teach them your BC as if it was their own…

On the other hand, I could ask myself, how many times in my lifetime I expect to dive in Florida or Australia and will have a need to find a buddy on the other side of the globe? If need a friend to dive with in Latvia or the neighbourhood, perhaps it is more realistic that we will both have an ET rather than a Halcyon BP&Wing gear that costs 1260$ in our local shop. This is about 2 months salary in Latvia. If the ET in its price level is so good, than its more realistic to find here a buddy having it. And in my age is important “getting out of the rig is significantly easier than any BP&Wing because of it. This is huge for those of us with joint issues”.

The importance of knowing your buddy's gear increases with the complexity of the dives you are doing. If I am in a cave, and we have an emergency situation during a silt-out, you can bet it will be great to know my buddy's gear--I may have to deal with it totally blind.

If, on the other hand, you came up to me on a basic recreational dive on a tropical reef and had whatever kind of emergency that can happen on a basic recreational dive, I think I could deal with it even if I had never seen your BCD before the emergency occurred. The only thing you really need to know in the open water about your buddy's gear configuration is how to get air, how to release the weights, and and how to get him/her out of it in an emergency. That does not take a two hour study.

 

[chrpai]

Wow, reading through this thread brought back some memories. Must resist the temptation to reply with passion ( as I don't want to get banned again! ).

I came to this thread wondering about the Express Tech with regards to weights and trim. I have to say that I want to be Hog / DIR-L like. What attracts me to the Express Tech is the minimalist BP/W (like) design and awesome price of $260. $350 if I add the RIP weight pockets. +$10 for a crotch strap. This is about what I paid for my POS stab jacket years ago so I feel like compared to that I'm already way ahead of the game.

If I was going to be only a blue water vacation diver I'd be sold right there. However, I'm going to do some local diving also. While it's not as cold as back in VA ( 2pc 7mil in 38f off the coast of Delaware ) I do anticipate diving a 5mil much of the year here in Texas. Probably AL80's.

I'm concerned about weighting and trim. Would I be making a huge mistake by not building a BP/W with a stainless steel backplate? (Subjective question I understand. ) It seems like a brand new BP/W assembled is around $500. Is that about right?

FWIW, I never plan on becoming a tech diver, diving doubles, taking a DIR-F class ectera. I just want to get back to diving and have a clean, streamlined rig in the water.

 

[The Chairman]

I'm concerned about weighting and trim. Would I be making a huge mistake by not building a BP/W with a stainless steel backplate? (Subjective question I understand. ) It seems like a brand new BP/W assembled is around $500. Is that about right?

I have dove this with a dry suit and a 7 mil off of Catalina Island (Cold and lots of weight). You can add all sorts of weights or buy the DUI weight harness system and be done with it. I go both ways.