Hop Devil
Guest
I finally jumped in the water or Quarry in this case and bought my first backplate and wing. In fact, my dive partner Wayne and I bought two different wings and I was able to dive both. We test dove all of the equpment at Dutch Springs last weekend and it was a blast .
Having never owned a backplate wing set up before we did lots of research on both the plate and the wings. We got a lot of help and useful info right here on this board.
Our research led us to the conclusion that we didn't want to buy a package backplate and wing from one of the big boy companies. It usually boiled down to one componenet of the package system being the weak link. We decided to mix and match backplates and wings to meet our diving style and of course budget. (We're both cheap)
Although Wayne and I disagreed on which wing to buy we both seleted the S&W "Hammerhead Backplate"
We liked the S & W for the following reasons: 316 grade stainless
steel, universal bolt pattern, 10 guage thickness in standard plate
and competitevley priced. (cheap) We were also pleasantly surprised when we got the plates in four days and they required very minor de-burring with a little emory cloth. (15 minutes).
As far as wings, I selected the Dive Rite 45lb Trek and my dive mate selected the Halycon 36 lb. Pioneer. Both were mounted to the S& W plate with a one piece Single Tank Adaptor (also from S&W )which weighted about 5 lbs.
Wing Comparison: Both wings were very nice to dive with.
A huge improvement over my Seaquest Pro QD, the back inflation gives a true feeling of freedom.
The Dive Rite had a bungee system that could be manually tightened when deflated to reduce drag. The attitude in the water was excellent with both wings, although I did feel somewhat more streamlined with the Halycon. Both Bladders dumped well with no sensation of trapped air. Construction detail was excellent on both wings.
The Dive Rite seemed to be a little easier to mount due to the
integrated STA's built into the Halycon. Overall we were both pleased by our choices but being that my Dive Rite was almost 100 dollars less, I think I made the right choice. I did get stuck with buying the after dive beers though!
We purchased our gear from the following locations:
Backplate:swmetalproducts.com
Wings: northeastscubasupply.com
Both vendors were great!
Having never owned a backplate wing set up before we did lots of research on both the plate and the wings. We got a lot of help and useful info right here on this board.
Our research led us to the conclusion that we didn't want to buy a package backplate and wing from one of the big boy companies. It usually boiled down to one componenet of the package system being the weak link. We decided to mix and match backplates and wings to meet our diving style and of course budget. (We're both cheap)
Although Wayne and I disagreed on which wing to buy we both seleted the S&W "Hammerhead Backplate"
We liked the S & W for the following reasons: 316 grade stainless
steel, universal bolt pattern, 10 guage thickness in standard plate
and competitevley priced. (cheap) We were also pleasantly surprised when we got the plates in four days and they required very minor de-burring with a little emory cloth. (15 minutes).
As far as wings, I selected the Dive Rite 45lb Trek and my dive mate selected the Halycon 36 lb. Pioneer. Both were mounted to the S& W plate with a one piece Single Tank Adaptor (also from S&W )which weighted about 5 lbs.
Wing Comparison: Both wings were very nice to dive with.
A huge improvement over my Seaquest Pro QD, the back inflation gives a true feeling of freedom.
The Dive Rite had a bungee system that could be manually tightened when deflated to reduce drag. The attitude in the water was excellent with both wings, although I did feel somewhat more streamlined with the Halycon. Both Bladders dumped well with no sensation of trapped air. Construction detail was excellent on both wings.
The Dive Rite seemed to be a little easier to mount due to the
integrated STA's built into the Halycon. Overall we were both pleased by our choices but being that my Dive Rite was almost 100 dollars less, I think I made the right choice. I did get stuck with buying the after dive beers though!
We purchased our gear from the following locations:
Backplate:swmetalproducts.com
Wings: northeastscubasupply.com
Both vendors were great!
