LDS Pressure

[mdax]

I love my halcyon bp/w as well as my deep sea supply bp/w for single tank diving. The internet is not just for porn, you can also order cool gear on it!

 

[616fun]

Oh - and in reference to being hard to get into....they aren't for someone with no shoulder injuries IMO, but if you have a shoulder injury, Tobin at DSS has you covered:

https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=1340

I also highly recommend his gear. I have his stainless plate with a 27 lb wing and weight plates for singles and a 49 lb wing for doubles. Quality is top notch and Tobin is all over the boards with helpful insight for customers. Call him and ask what setup you need. He'll want to know the tanks you are diving, the exposure protection, and generally how buoyant you are in water. From there he'll hook you up with a balanced rig. His stuff may be $50 more than the competitor, but for the service it's worth every penny.

 

[chrpai]

I don't know if you have to be a tech diver for that to apply. Some would describe me as border line tech ( strictly speaking rec ) and having been around the block a few times I know what I want, what it should cost and don't need hand holding beyond that.

 

[616fun]

Ok, Ok, dont stereotype the tech divers as being cheap. Very knowledgeable in how to obtain gear for fair pricing a bit more accurate. Not willing to put up with bs sales associates also pretty accurate... I usually order online, I don't need the sales pitch or the tax lol. So I guess Im a little cheap in a sense, just not as you described... haha.

Ya. I agree. I guess what I was saying is that new divers don't always realize the money they are spending can go much farther than the kid at the LDS is trying to sell them. I know I ended up with a Cressi BC, some crappy Tusa regs and a console computer that have been sold and replaced with quality gear (BP/wing, Dive Rite regs with parts readily available (Hog wasn't out when I purchased them), and wrist gauges).

 

[Nemrod]

I just started back getting into diving after a 25 year break of marriage,kids and career. I have been visiting as many LDS's as possible in my area to get back up to speed with equipment changes etc. Now I started with double hose regulators and with no BC's back in the beginning but I had stepped up to an early backpack and wing set up before I quit.

When I tell the shop I am looking for a backpack/wing set up they immediately go into a long spill on their jacket bc's and how they are so much better etc. I get such gobbley gook as you cant hardly get into a one piece harness or if you have any shoulder problems you can never get in it or out of it etc. I am a little old but not crippled. Most shops I visited either do not have backpack/wings in stock or have maybe one with a wing that is clearly made for doubles. Yea sure, I will take that big floppy thing with 50lbs of lift for my single tank set up.

Is there some conspiricy to push jacket style BC's on customers or something? Or is it maybe like a marketing/fashion thing or something. It looks like each year the manufactures come out with a new and improved jacket models so you have to keep up (and spend more money)? Guess its hard to improve much on a one piece harness design other than fancy padding etc which in my opinon is not needed.

I don't get it, a good quality backpack/wing set up cost as much or more than their best jacket BC's. What gives here?. I want to support my LDS but this stuff is pushing me me more and more to just buying what I want online.

There is absoutley nothing wrong with jacket BC's if that is what you prefer but, I just like the simple one piece harness set up. I have a big enough pot belly with out wrapping it in an inflatable jacket.

Maybe you should stay with the double hose regulator:

Vintage Scuba - Vintage Scuba Gear at Vintage Double Hose

Back when you learned to dive, most people taking up the then SPORT of diving could swim, now most divers, even instructors and so called AOW cannot actually swim a lick if their life depended upon it. Therefore they need a life jacket or what some of us derisively call a poodle jacket to feel all safe and cushy and relaxed because they dive for RELAXATION, not sport. For a wing/BP system, forgo all of the padding and fancy stuff, just get the simplest rig you can find, if you travel look for a light weight or fabric plate like the Oxy Check Ultra-light plate or similar and an eighteen to thirty pound lift wing.

Actually, physics have not changed despite "hope and change" and you actually still do not need a BC or a BCD, BCDD, spgdvd, or a blurayBD or any of the other junk they sell today.

Nothing prevents you from leaving the shoulder straps a bit loose on a plate or installing a buckle in the left shoulder loop.

N

 

[JamesK]

Back when you learned to dive, most people taking up the then SPORT of diving could swim, now most divers, even instructors and so called AOW cannot actually swim a lick if their life depended upon it.
N

Why do you say "most divers" can't swim?

 

[TSandM]

After a several year long campaign, we recently talked our LDS owner into carrying DSS BP/W setups. He's sold, I think, five of them in the last two months. He has BCs that have been hanging in his shop for two years.

I agree -- shops would sell more backplate setups if they would, well, SELL them!

 

[blc]

I see this thread has struck a kindred nerve and that I am not entirely alone in my observations. Glad to see that, not sure if I had gone off the deep end by myself on this. I just know what I want and I dont need a long winded sales pitch, especially from shops that dont like it, not knowledable about it nor stock it.

I fear for the nimrod who decides he wants to maybe switch to bp/wing and gets all the bad advice or negative comments I have experienced. They must figure that since i have not dived in a long time and forgot everything I ever knew so I am as gullable as a beginner.

Any rate on to moe helpfull info. I almost pulled the trigger on a Halycon set up (seems to be very high quality)but I am looking hard at DSS from a cost savings prospective. Any pros or cons on these set ups would be appreciated.

5'10" tall, 240 lbs, moderate swimmer due to advancing age
I plan to strickly recreation dive ( not looking any 100' plus dives anytime soon)
Mostly warm waters and tropical (NC,Fla and Keys)
Some quarry dives which brings on colder water
Travel weight is not an issue (mostly drive to locations)

 

[616fun]

Halcyon is great gear and no one will say a bad thing about it. DSS is the same. The plus to DSS, in my opinion, is the configurability of the wing sizes. Tobin makes a slew of lift configurations. Based on your dive needs (single tank, double tank, will you carry stages, etc) he'll hook you up with exactly what you'll need. Halcyon offers two sizes - single tank or double.

He also offers the integrated weight plates, which I do not believe Halcyon does. They are expensive, but awesome.

I did the same investigation you did and decided DSS is the way to go.

 

[blc]

Halcyon is great gear and no one will say a bad thing about it. DSS is the same. The plus to DSS, in my opinion, is the configurability of the wing sizes. Tobin makes a slew of lift configurations. Based on your dive needs (single tank, double tank, will you carry stages, etc) he'll hook you up with exactly what you'll need. Halcyon offers two sizes - single tank or double.

He also offers the integrated weight plates, which I do not believe Halcyon does. They are expensive, but awesome.

I did the same investigation you did and decided DSS is the way to go.

Thanks
I did fail to mention I am looking a single tank set up. if I ever do doubles again it will be down the road a little.Does DSS use a STA for single tanks?