Which Wing???

I will soon be ordering my first ever backplate(FredT), and I am leaning towards the Halcyon Pioneer 27# wing, however I was wondering if anyone besides Halcyon, Oms & Dive Rite made wings? I hear these three manufacturers wings talked about on the board extensively, but I am also curious if there are other wing manufacturers out there that are just as good or better.
Thanks!

You mean their are other wings besides Halcyon?

Well I just retrieved my Custom Diver wing I carelessly left at home when I moved to Japan! I look forward to getting it wet again soon.....

JT2 once bubbled...
I will soon be ordering my first ever backplate(FredT), and I am leaning towards the Halcyon Pioneer 27# wing, however I was wondering if anyone besides Halcyon, Oms & Dive Rite made wings? I hear these three manufacturers wings talked about on the board extensively, but I am also curious if there are other wing manufacturers out there that are just as good or better.
Thanks!

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Just got an Oms IQ with the single tank adapter. Dove it yesterday & loved it. My old setup was about ten years old, a Dive plastic backplate and web harness, classic wings, S.S. bands, twin hp80 steel tanks. I sold it yesterday to a friend, i never really liked that setup but i suppose i never really gave it a chance.

A couple people on the board got me thinking about bp's and wings again & the local LDS i dive through carry's Oms not Halcyon.
The jury is still out but i think i'm going to like the Oms IQ just fine.
I normally dive with 5 pounds with a full 3mm wetsuit and alum 80. Yesterday i dove with 5 pounds total and seemed slightly overweighted. Trim was very horizontal on the first try ... wings as low as possible toward my feet, ankle weights, 3 pounds, were clipped on my reg/tank valve.

I have no experience with Halcyon so i can't help you there.

Gedunk,

I am interested in something you said. You stated that you had both ankle weights, and weights on the tank reg, correct? Isn't this counter productive? One would surely cancel the other out.

JamesK once bubbled...
Gedunk,

I am interested in something you said. You stated that you had both ankle weights, and weights on the tank reg, correct? Isn't this counter productive? One would surely cancel the other out.

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Yes i believe that would be counterproductive. Used only one pair of ankle weights, they were clipped on the reg/tank valve, not on my ankles. They each weigh about 1.5 lbs, so 3 lbs togeather and the Oms STA is about 2 lbs or so i was told by the LDS. I'm wondering if it's heavier since i was slightly overweighted.

Thanks for clearing that up so no one will misunderstand where the weights went.

I have both the OMS 45lb and the Halcyon 27lb.

For single tank you will be EXTREMELY happy with the Halcyon 27lb wing. It is MUCH smaller in size than the others that are comparable (there is not much out there that is truly made for single tank use in my opinion).

The OMS wing is sloppy used with a single. It flops around. Really it is/should be used for doubles.

I love my Halcyon 27lb. wing. I actually have two.

I do also feel the cost difference is worth it for the halcyon.

You will be very happy if you go with the 27lb Halcyon wing.

DUI makes a wing as well. I have not owned or tried it.

There are some European brands overseas as well. But why would you go there. We have the best dive equipment in the world right here (Halcyon )

I have seen many divers in North Carolina using a Dive Rite Rec wing. They like the fact that they can adjust the size of the wing to fit different bouyancy needs e.g. single tank, double tanks.

With the Halcyon Pioneer wing you can only do a single. And they are outrageously expensive as is every peice of Halcyon equipment.

I dove an OMS last weekend with my doubles since my Halcyon wing hadn't come in yet. Other than the dump getting stuck open on the first dive and resulting in weird losses of buoyancy, it was fine. We attributed that to the dump being put together off center and once we corrected it I had no problems with it on dive 2.

I have a Halcyon 27# wing and love it...that led me to buy a Halcyon 40# wing for my doubles. The OMS wing was also fine, but I got another Halcyon since I had previous experience with the 27# and think they make a good wing. You probably won't go wrong with either...I have no experience with DiveRite so I can't comment there.

cybordolphin once bubbled...
I have both the OMS 45lb and the Halcyon 27lb.

For single tank you will be EXTREMELY happy with the Halcyon 27lb wing. It is MUCH smaller in size than the others that are comparable (there is not much out there that is truly made for single tank use in my opinion).

The OMS wing is sloppy used with a single. It flops around. Really it is/should be used for doubles.

I love my Halcyon 27lb. wing. I actually have two.

I do also feel the cost difference is worth it for the halcyon.

You will be very happy if you go with the 27lb Halcyon wing.

DUI makes a wing as well. I have not owned or tried it.

There are some European brands overseas as well. But why would you go there. We have the best dive equipment in the world right here (Halcyon )

Click to expand...

Correct me if i'm wrong but ANY 45lb wing on a single would flop around more when compared with ANY 27lb wing on a single. That's over 60% more lift for a 45lb wing.

Has Halcyon come up with a way to slow down or stop air shift? I don't know, as i have never dove a Halcyon. But you can not compare a 45# wing to a 27# wing, if only because of the significant difference in lift.

I've only dove it a few times but my IQ with the 35# wing seems to work fine. Yes there is air shift if you make extreme changes in attitude to the left or right but very little shift occurs with subtle changes in attitude. Sure it probably flops around more than a 27# wing but it also has 30% more lift. For the type of diving i do i'm willing to accept the added drag to get the added lift. Added lift has come in handy more than once for me when helping out a distressed diver at the surface.

I'm sure the Halcyon 27# is great, low drag, streamline, it seems everyone who has one, loves it. Just make sure you have enough lift to safely do the type of diving that you do.