Are Back Inflate and BP/Wings the same thing?

New diver here,

Doing my OW dives the end of the month.

I know there have been questions on these manufact.
but here is a model question.

Specific question.......

I have decided on a Back inflate BC.
Doing a Search helped alot. Thanks.

Looking at two models Oceanic Pro Tour or
Sherwood Freedom

Let the advice begin.




BTW ... will be doing recreational diving in Chicago
dont expect to get to "warm water" for a while.

The "wings" in BP & wings are back inflate. It could be said that BP & wings are a type of back inflate BC. Then again, so are the Transpac II and Seaquest Balance.

I really love mine. It has transformed my diving experience like nothing else.

OK - let me see if I can do this without starting WW3.

A backplate and wings is exactly that - a stainless steel, aluminum or plastic backplate, with nylon webbing strung throughout to make a harness.

It's desired by many people for it's simplicity, ruggedness and ease of use - I know Leadweight gave up on using one after one weekend of using a poorly adjusted one, but I swear by mine - it disappears in the water, primarily because it's custom dialled in to my exact specifications.

A back inflate BC is like a regular BC - usually made of cordura nylon, with an air bladder. The only difference is that the bladder is, obviously, on the back. They traditionally have more accesory-type things on them, such as quick disconnects, plastic parts, pockets, weight pockets, that sort of thing.

The backplate crowd doesn't like them because they are considered unnecessary, failure points or 'gimmicky.'

Leadweight, I know, dives a Transpac II, as do a number of people. A Transpac is a back inflate BC which is rather minimalist in design, but can also accomodate a backplate should the user desire it.

Neither of the two models you are asking about are a "BP & Wing." That being said, both are good BC's, and I hope you enjoy whatever one you choose.

I know I chose a BP & Wing not because I wanted to be DIR or a technical diver (I dive single tanks in a wetsuit) but because it's simple, no hassle and decidedly cheaper. For example, I bought my backplate, Single Tank Adaptor (STA) and harness kit for around $120. I bought a Deep Outdoors Matrix wing on E-Bay for $95. The only thing that's going to wear out is the webbing, which I can buy at a hardware store for about $1 a foot.

well put Boogie711 that is very sound advice. The main reason I went with bp/wing over back inflate was less clutter. BI has large harness systems that is hard to attatch stuff to, usually to many d-rings in very bad places, pockets placed where they cant be used and lots of plastic parts that are potential failure ponits.

Boogie711 once bubbled...
OK - let me see if I can do this without starting WW3.

Click to expand...

Very good explaniation there Boogie and I hope I can ask this without starting WW3 as well.

First, let me start by saying that I dive exclusively with a BP and Wings. I dived with a back inflate Mares Syncro Tech for years before I converted and since I got the BP I haven't even taken the Mares out of the closet.

I've seen people talk about the beifits of the BP&W setup for a very long time usually quoting the "More streamed lined and less failure points" reasons for using one. While I agree conpletely with the more streamed lined reason I just can't seem to justify the "failure points" reasoning. First, has anyone ever actually seen a plastic sholder strap QD fail? I've been diving for nearly 20 years and in all that time I've never seen one fail during a dive and the only one I've ever actually seen broke was due to someone setting a tank down on top of the BC and cracking the QD. Second, if plastic is supposed to be such a no-no due to it's susceptibility to failure why then is something so vitally important as an inflator hose elbow at the point where it connects to the bladder made of plastic? If this were to fail, and you had no redundent bladder, it would far worse it seems then if a sholder strap QD broke. At least if the QD failed you could conceivably still keep the rig on, cinch the waist strap down tight and abort the dive.

Just something I've always thought about.

Scott

Not to mention all the 2nd stages and masks out there that are made of plastic.

You dont hear about plastic failing because people who use heavy gear dont use bc with plastic buckles. My gear weighs approximatley 150-160 lbs. If I were to throw a stage on there in would top 200 lbs. Combine that with a long hike to the water and after time its gonna fail. I have actually seen plastic buckles crack but never when a person was wearing it.

Ok, now that's starting to make some sence.

Scott

...About the differences between a jacket, a back-inflate, and a "bp/wings" BC at http://www.islc.net/~bayne/homebc.html . The differences go beyond the simple idea of minimalizing failure points and getting rid of the plastic pieces.