Good Doubles Wing

[Pullmyfinger]

+2 on the DSS OPV wing upgrade.

-Mitch

[DevonDiver]

If you haven't looked at scubapros xtek line it might be worth taking a look at. high quality stuff with lots of options

Top Prize.... Gold Medal.... contentless 'Advert of the Week'.

As a scuba-pro dealer, could you contribute some genuine details about the rig... the 'why'? You don't seem to have a high dive count to be diving doubles? Do you have any experience diving, as per this thread topic? If not, what qualifies you to recommend them?

[Wayne at DiveSeekers]

Scubapro inflater = bad design? Do you mean the shape? As for reliability and efficiency, they are unrivaled. Well respected technicians swear by them, and one recently told me that the OEM inflators (like Halcyon's) are a "piece of @#$%."

When you say the new Scubapro XTEK donut "is a Halcyon," what exactly do you mean? They are both donuts, but they are not even close to being identical. The Scubapro is an exaggerated square design, while the Halcyon rounder. I believe Halcyon uses 1000 cordura--the original good stuff, esp if made in USA--while Scubapro uses the 1680, the cheaper Asian imitation of the 1000 (this is not to say that 1680 is not good enough). One key is the undercoating: Halcyon claims to generously urethane underdoat their shell. I don't recall reading Scubapro making such claims (despite all claims, I have a Halcyon Explorer and an OMS 45#--the OMS undercoating is clearly more robust). The inner bladders of the Halcyon and Scubapro use the same stuff.

Beyond this, Scubapro still uses those dangerously large pull-dump knobs. Also, the Scubapro wing has two sets of cam band slots and a whole bunch of scattered grommets needed to affix it to the XTEK harness. The Halcyon wing is clean--no cam band slots and two center grommets.

And I think the Scubapro might retail for more than even the Halcyon.

I am a minor Scubapro collector, so I offer this grudgingly. I would love to love Scubapro's wings, but I find it difficult to do so.

Realize that I am a Sp Dealer as well and I think that they make a lot of great quality products but all I am doing is pointing out differences between wings and my personal reasons why. As far as the inflator goes, I find that both are indeed highly reliable, no issues with the SP and I as well as my students do a lot of local NE diving and see no issues with the H as well so don't know where "piece of @#$%." is coming from other than just a hater. The issue I have is with design, the SP buttons are close together and are on the same surface. The issue with this is control and accidently hitting the wrong buttons (although a diver Rec/Tec should have the discipline for this not to happen, it does) which I have seen lots of divers do with SP bc's. So, IMO, the H, seperated button design, is much better where this will not happen.

As far as design goes, both SP donut wings (single & double tank) are basically the same engineering design as the Halcyon Eclipse & Evolve wings. I would rather go with the original. There may be slight cosmetic (different inflator, big OPV, slots etc..) difference but hold them side by side and you'll see my point. Rumor on the street (i heard from someone at SP) is the David Rhea (SP Florida Rep/G.U.E. instr) helped SP with their line. Look at the Harness, BP, Wing, Storage Pak, STA, Trim Weight pockets closely! All are interchangeable with H and same Identical Pricing. Here is the other thing to make my point.....Halcyon worked with SP to do their regs. Identical regs with minor differences.

In regards to the Halcyon OPV, I use that exclusively for all of my BC venting and have NO Issues with the stock Halcyon one. In fact I even took the little knob off and can vent it flawlessly, with drygloves on. The main issue with OPV's is Technique. Simply reach LH hand back, make OK sign around OPV, circle index finger and pull. Part two to technique is muscle memory (practice) and most divers have trouble developing that and don't put enough time in. The issue with the knobs (bigger more likely) on the OPV is getting them caught on things, especially stages and accidentally venting your wing, which I have witnessed an many occasions. If you are going to use a knob, make it a small one and tie it up closer to OPV and don't let it dangle down low.