impression of venture 360 wing

[shaggy1]

I recently purchased my 1st BP/W set up and wanted to give my impression of my first couple dives with it today. The rig I chose was a Dive Rite Deluxe harness attached to a Dive Rite Aluminum backplate with a stainless dive rite STA with a pair of dive rite cam straps. I added a 1in crotch strap and a dive rite lumbar pad and a set of shoulder pads for comfort since my intention was for this rig to be my primary rig for Search and Recovery. I had been unsure of just which wing to go with. I had seen that the majority of people on this forum prefer the Oxycheq Mach V 30# wing or the Hod 32# wing for diving singles. I had ordered all my gear from Scuba Toys and they had a couple of the 2008 model Dive Rite Venture 360 wings clearenced for $159 so I decided to give the Venture 360 a try. I realized that it had quite a bit of lift, 45#'s, but I do dry suit dive quite a bit and sometimes can need alot of lead depending on the undergarmet that I'm wearing and I also planned on using heavy HP 130 tanks later as well, plus dive rite was also sending some of the new clips for the venture 360 to help avoid the taco effect.
I took the rig out for a couple of dives today to see how I liked it. First off,.... this is my first BP/W setup. I was diving with single AL 80 tanks and was wearing a 3mm wetsuit and didnt have the new wing clips yet. SO,... I was really surprised at how comfortable the rig was and, that I never had any problems venting with the wing and that I never experienced and buoyancy problems. I am hooked on the BP/W setup now! I am really pleased with the harness and venture 360 wing. It performed every bit as good as my back inflate BCD and possibly better since it was much lighter. I know alot of people on here prefer a single 1 piece web harness, but for me and the work that I will be doing the added chest clip along with the shoulder pads and lumbar pad gave the comfort needed when doing extensive line searches. So,... while I'm definately not an expert on BP/W rigs, and my setup may go against the norm,.... you sometimes have to make the rig that works for your individual needs and this rig definately works for me. I can see that there is a potentional for the "taco effect" when using the Venture 360 wing with a AL80 tank or smaller and without the new clips for the wing,... but I never had that problem and I feel that it was $159 well spent and I'm sure it will serve me even better later on with the larger tanks while drysuit diving.

J. Millwood
North East Texas Search and Recovery Team
Asst Dive Team Leader