Well, after many years of diving in nothing but a jacket style BC, I decided to make a switch for my personal fun diving to a backplate/wing setup. I will continue to use my jacket BC when working with Open Water students, Discover Scuba students or Scuba Review clients, so as not to be using something too foreign to them. Since I dive year around in cold/temperate waters in Southern California and the Pacific NW in a drysuit and also take 2-3 trips a year to warm water destinations, I did a lot of research to see if I could find something that would be a true “all-rounder”. I settled on the XDeep Ghost Deluxe. I went with the deluxe, because I still wanted to have the easy don/doff characteristics that come with quick release shoulder straps and I like the neutrally buoyant padded shoulder straps. They make a non-deluxe version also that is more Hogarthian.
Pros:
• I am able to shave 9lbs of lead off of what I require with my jacket style Scuba Pro Glide Pro BCD in an open ocean cold water environment with my drysuit. Note: the back plate is not steel, but a high grade and super lightweight aluminum/magnesium mix and yet I am still able to shed lots of lead, as it is so much less buoyant than my jacket BCD.
• The entire rig weighs in at 5.3 lbs. and will be wonderful for travel and packing.
• I am so much more streamlined and efficient in the water.
• Maintaining horizontal trim is effortless, by comparison.
• Very comfortable and stable at the surface and does not push your face forward at all. Feels just like a jacket BC at the surface.
• I like how they have positioned the low-pressure inflator hose at the top and in the middle of the wing, instead of the top of the left shoulder. It seems to be much more efficient for adding and dumping air.
• The waist strap webbing and thus the ditchable weight pockets that are threaded through the waist strap are situated just below the rib cage and slightly above the belly button- instead of below the belly button and on the hips. I find this location much more stable, comfortable and also facilitates better trim.
Cons:
• They designed the wing so that the bottom of it is a bit wider and it tapers up toward the top and is narrower at the top. They did this intentionally for streamlining purposes, which is fine when diving. The unintended effect is that if you decide to don the BC in the water, at the surface, the higher volume of air at the bottom of the wing causes the entire rig to float upside down and makes it quite cumbersome to get into at the surface. This is a minor issue, as I rarely don my gear in the water, but another reason why I wouldn’t want to use it for skill demonstration.
• Another minor issue, but after so many years diving in a jacket style BC, I have become very accustomed to having and using a dump valve located on my upper right shoulder and am having to adjust to not having one there with a BP/W.
• I am not a fan of where they have located the dump valve on the bottom of the wing. First, it is not low enough for my liking. It is located about 8-12 inches up from the bottom of the BC and is useless if you only have a small amount of air in the BC that you are trying to release. The air is trapped above the valve in a head down orientation and thus forces you to tilt yourself up to move the air to the top of the wing and use the LPI hose to dump air. Also, the dump valve is located on the left-hand side of the wing. Probably a non-issue for most, but again, another muscle memory and brain memory issue to overcome for someone who has only used a dump valve located on the lower right hand side of a BC. In a perfect world, the wing would have dump valves on both sides and be located much lower on the bottom part of the wing.
Final thoughts: I am not a technical diver, cave diver or sidemount diver. All of my diving is recreational and in all sorts of conditions around the world. I feel like I made a really good choice for my intended uses. I am able to dive in my drysuit with hood and gloves with only 22lbs of lead now- which is such a big deal for me. I could shave more lead if I had a steel backplate, but then I would be giving up the overall light weight of the rig and the ease of traveling with it to warm water locales. I feel like I have struck a wonderful balance. XDeep sells optional proprietary ditchable weight pockets that are mounted to the backplate and threaded through the waist strap. They come in 2 different sizes. I opted for the larger size due to my cold water diving. They will hold up to 12lbs on each side. I also added some XS Scuba trim pockets that mount nicely on the camband in order to distribute my lead.
Clearly, this rig is not for everyone, but it definitely is for me. It is always nice to make a purchase that you are actually happy with and don’t regret.
Here is a link: http://www.xdeep.eu/lightweight-traveler-scuba-bcd-ghost-bc-system-pr-51.html
Pros:
• I am able to shave 9lbs of lead off of what I require with my jacket style Scuba Pro Glide Pro BCD in an open ocean cold water environment with my drysuit. Note: the back plate is not steel, but a high grade and super lightweight aluminum/magnesium mix and yet I am still able to shed lots of lead, as it is so much less buoyant than my jacket BCD.
• The entire rig weighs in at 5.3 lbs. and will be wonderful for travel and packing.
• I am so much more streamlined and efficient in the water.
• Maintaining horizontal trim is effortless, by comparison.
• Very comfortable and stable at the surface and does not push your face forward at all. Feels just like a jacket BC at the surface.
• I like how they have positioned the low-pressure inflator hose at the top and in the middle of the wing, instead of the top of the left shoulder. It seems to be much more efficient for adding and dumping air.
• The waist strap webbing and thus the ditchable weight pockets that are threaded through the waist strap are situated just below the rib cage and slightly above the belly button- instead of below the belly button and on the hips. I find this location much more stable, comfortable and also facilitates better trim.
Cons:
• They designed the wing so that the bottom of it is a bit wider and it tapers up toward the top and is narrower at the top. They did this intentionally for streamlining purposes, which is fine when diving. The unintended effect is that if you decide to don the BC in the water, at the surface, the higher volume of air at the bottom of the wing causes the entire rig to float upside down and makes it quite cumbersome to get into at the surface. This is a minor issue, as I rarely don my gear in the water, but another reason why I wouldn’t want to use it for skill demonstration.
• Another minor issue, but after so many years diving in a jacket style BC, I have become very accustomed to having and using a dump valve located on my upper right shoulder and am having to adjust to not having one there with a BP/W.
• I am not a fan of where they have located the dump valve on the bottom of the wing. First, it is not low enough for my liking. It is located about 8-12 inches up from the bottom of the BC and is useless if you only have a small amount of air in the BC that you are trying to release. The air is trapped above the valve in a head down orientation and thus forces you to tilt yourself up to move the air to the top of the wing and use the LPI hose to dump air. Also, the dump valve is located on the left-hand side of the wing. Probably a non-issue for most, but again, another muscle memory and brain memory issue to overcome for someone who has only used a dump valve located on the lower right hand side of a BC. In a perfect world, the wing would have dump valves on both sides and be located much lower on the bottom part of the wing.
Final thoughts: I am not a technical diver, cave diver or sidemount diver. All of my diving is recreational and in all sorts of conditions around the world. I feel like I made a really good choice for my intended uses. I am able to dive in my drysuit with hood and gloves with only 22lbs of lead now- which is such a big deal for me. I could shave more lead if I had a steel backplate, but then I would be giving up the overall light weight of the rig and the ease of traveling with it to warm water locales. I feel like I have struck a wonderful balance. XDeep sells optional proprietary ditchable weight pockets that are mounted to the backplate and threaded through the waist strap. They come in 2 different sizes. I opted for the larger size due to my cold water diving. They will hold up to 12lbs on each side. I also added some XS Scuba trim pockets that mount nicely on the camband in order to distribute my lead.
Clearly, this rig is not for everyone, but it definitely is for me. It is always nice to make a purchase that you are actually happy with and don’t regret.
Here is a link: http://www.xdeep.eu/lightweight-traveler-scuba-bcd-ghost-bc-system-pr-51.html
