I went by my LDS at lunch today. They had some Hydros Pros in stock, so I spent a few minutes having a look at one.
Definitely too much plastic stuff on it for my tastes. With those pocket things fitted on the waist band, it was way too bulky for me to want to pack it or dive it. Without those pocket things, it would still be a wing so large that I would be missing my 23# Hog wing. 40.5# of lift! I only use a 45# wing when I dive double steels in a drysuit! As well as missing all the convenient D-rings I usually have that will let me attach a light or two, an SMB, and my camera, without having anything "dangling". And, I specifically mean the rigid D-rings I use which I find much easier to clip off to than the standard floppy D-rings. Having to look for and/or use two hands to clip stuff to your harness seems kind of sucky to me after diving for a while with a config that I can reliably and quickly clip stuff on and off using one hand and without looking.
If you presented me a BP/W with a tidy wing (like the 23 I use) and the Hydros Pro, with every option and attachment, and said "you can take either one of these to use for the next year, and then you have to return it," I would pick the BP/W. If there was no BP/W option, but there was an AquaLung Outlaw, I think I would pick the Outlaw over the Hydros, too. The Outlaw with the 12# wing would be super sweet for really warm water (i.e. board shorts) and an AL80. And the ability to swap to the 25# wing for diving with a wetsuit makes it my current favorite integrated BCD-I've-never-actually-dived-with.
Do you drink the extra sweetened KoolAid or the diet version????
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