Has anyone tried this backplate? Golem Stream

Has anyone tried this backplate? Golem Stream:








I'm about to buy one, as the Freedom plate sadly is not available anymore, and would like to have the impressions of people having tried it.

I will use it in a travel rig, for single tank warm water diving mostly.


Thanks a lot!

I noticed that backplate when I was initially shopping. I liked the multiple cam-band slots because I find that the top one is often too high for me. The "built in" STA looked interesting too. Ultimately I had to rule it out because it only comes in one length (height) and I needed a shorter one.

So I really have no data to respond with (sorry), but I will keep an eye on this thread just because I, too, am curious what anyone who has tried one thought of it.

Blue Sparkle

Blue Sparkle:

I noticed that backplate when I was initially shopping. I liked the multiple cam-band slots because I find that the top one is often too high for me. The "built in" STA looked interesting too. Ultimately I had to rule it out because it only comes in one length (height) and I needed a shorter one.

So I really have no data to respond with (sorry), but I will keep an eye on this thread just because I, too, am curious what anyone who has tried one thought of it.

Blue Sparkle

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I'm in the process of buying a Huw Porter aluminium backplate, which has the same kind of reverse profile, and received an offer to buy a used freedom plate too. So I might have the 3 models soon to compare!

I will keep the 2 I prefer for my rig and my girlfriend, and the third one for when we receive friends.

I'll try to post a comparison between the 3 if it works out.

Any news?

I'm interested too.

Cheers,
Huw

huwporter:

I'm interested too.

Cheers,
Huw

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Do I know you? Your name sounds familiar


Well I received both the Huw Porter plate and the Freedom Plate. The Golem gear I didn't buy finally, instead I invested in afreedive course + gear

I'm currently working in the field, and only had time to dive twice with the Huw Porter plate, and only tried the freedom plate in my living room.

For what it's worth, here are my impressions:

Huw Plate:

The plate is made of aluminium, and is a little bit smaller than a normal backplate. I'm only 5'7 150lbs, so it fits me perfectly. It's very light, 1,4 lbs.

The reverse profile does work, and you don't need a STA, which saves weight. Fit and finish is perfect, the slots for the harness are vey tight, so the harness doesn't slide in too easily.

I used it with the tiny oxycheq #18 mach V extreme, and it's a very light combination. The tank was very stable, and really close to my back, wich is great, except that the first stage regulator that I use for travel is a yoke with swivel turret, so it has a pretty high profile. The tank being so close to my back put the first stage a bit too close to the back of my head when my tank was in the correct position. With a non swivel first stage it would be perfect.

In conclusion, I love it, and once I finish assembling all the parts I want it's going to be a great travel rig that packs very small. I easily fit all I needed for the dive, including the BP/W regulators, mask, fins, knife, and the wetsuit (full 3mm, hood, gloves, boots) in a small duffle bag that easily fits as a carry on in airplanes.

Freedom plate:

The one I have is an early model made of stainless. Because of it's shape its more confortable than any flat backplate, and has a small stabilizer bracket on the lower part of the plate to hold the tank in place. Does about the same thing as the Huw plate inverted profile.

For me, this plate is perfect, except that I'd prefer to have it made of aluminium to save some weight for travel.

As both plates are not available anymore -I bought the last Huw Porter plate, and the Freedom plates are not made anymore-, I'm not sure if this post is very helpful, unless you decide to make your own... And I'm sure making one is way more work that it looks like.

As for the Golem Stream, I was considering it a long time ago but never received a reply from them when I emailed several times with questions.

One question I have is how to thread the harness horizontally on top? The top cam slots appear too low for the harness to fit through. Once you insert the wing, it would seem to get a bit hairy, esp if you are using the top cam slot for your tank cam bands. Or am I missing something?

If using an Oxy wing, I would just want to make sure there is no wing pinch--the center panel on Oxy wings is a sliver, and the reverse flanges on the Stream plate are a tad wide. I don't think there would be a pinch problem, but I would want to make sure before I bought it.

mahjong:

As for the Golem Stream, I was considering it a long time ago but never received a reply from them when I emailed several times with questions.

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I sent Golem several emails with questions and Jakub answered very fast to all my questions. I'd be very confident to buy from him.

One of the questions I asked was the compatibility with the mach V wings, and the answer is that there is no problems.

As for the threading, maybe this picture will help:

Maybe Jakub was out of town when I wrote.

Well, that picture only begs further my first question. If you need to use the upper-most cam slots for cam bands then you have a problem. If you will use only the lower two cam slots for cam bands, then no problem, beyond the fact that the harness will still pass over the tank stabilizing ridges and interrupt the smoothness of the tank cradle--of course the tank should still lock down okay, but the setup is not squeaky clean ;-).

My other questions, it's coming back now, were can this accommodate standard STA's, if needed? And what about doubles? Does the reverse profile allow for switching between doubles and singles? Most typically, my first dive is with doubles and my second is with a single tank--and I swap the same backplate (A DSS SS short plate), which takes all of five minutes thanks to the delrin/brass star nuts (which I bought from Oxy).

Good to know there's no wing pinch with the Oxy's.

Bison Ravi:

I sent Golem several emails with questions and Jakub answered very fast to all my questions. I'd be very confident to buy from him.

One of the questions I asked was the compatibility with the mach V wings, and the answer is that there is no problems.

As for the threading, maybe this picture will help:

View attachment 107318

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Bison Ravi:

I used it with the tiny oxycheq #18 mach V extreme, and it's a very light combination. The tank was very stable, and really close to my back, wich is great, except that the first stage regulator that I use for travel is a yoke with swivel turret, so it has a pretty high profile. The tank being so close to my back put the first stage a bit too close to the back of my head when my tank was in the correct position. With a non swivel first stage it would be perfect.

In conclusion, I love it, and once I finish assembling all the parts I want it's going to be a great travel rig that packs very small.

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Cool - I'm glad you like it. For the tank position, which cam band slots are you using? If it's the top and bottom pairs, you might be able to use the middle and bottom pairs instead, and drop the tank slightly. A couple of my friends do it that way - I use top and bottom, but I don't have a swivel.

Cheers,
Huw