Any negative experience with UTD Z-system harness+BC (no manifold!) ?

[Marcel Vysudil]

Hi,

I've decided to buy finally some SM equipment and I'm looking for some feedback on UTD Z-system. Particularly if anybody has some negative experience or can pinpoint weaknesses of this system or why not to go for it. Question is only harness + BC related, I'm not thinking about the manifold/isolator for the reasons mentioned a million times on this forum, mainly tons of additional o-rings, QC6 connectors and other failure points.

I dive BM for years but I'm tired of bagging dive centers in tropical destinations to put me a twinset together, tired of packing backplate in my baggage, handling twinset on the boats, etc, etc. So I have taken UTD sidemount course last year, the tec one with isolable manifod. I have done only 3 dives on top of the course dives and UTD is the only equipment I have tried. Here is my thinking and why I'm looking at the UTD gear:

I like the way how the BC is attached to the harness on the sides. This seems to be a nice and clean solution which keeps my chest free just like in the traditional DIR backmount. Looking at Xdeep having 3 bungees wrapped around my chest is not an option for me. Standard Razzor is a bit better attachment solution, but I'm not a big fan of double bladders either. On the other hand UTD doesn't have any sophisticated weight system AFAIK so the other option would be to combine for example the Xdeep harness with UTD BC (Z-Tec probably). If anybody tried such combination or have some experience any advise is welcome !

To clarify what kind of diving am I looking for: wet suit with only 2xAL80 (typical "fishy" tropical destinations) as well as dry suit with 2xAL/steel plus max 2 stage/deco tanks (TMX dives let's say down to 50-60 meters). Both warm and cold waters.

thanks
Marcel

 

[Patoux01]

Xdeep tec sounds like what you want...
Or a classic with a slight mod could work as well.

I don't see the use in taking something as specific as UTD gear and then not going for "their way", but that's just me, I guess.

 

[Marcel Vysudil]

Looking at the Xdeep Tec again, do I understand correctly there are no more bungees except one on each side and these doesn't go around the chest/belly but are attached to harness same way as the Razzor solution ?

 

[Pao]

Looking at the Xdeep Tec again, do I understand correctly there are no more bungees except one on each side and these doesn't go around the chest/belly but are attached to harness same way as the Razzor solution ?

Correct.

Sold my Z-trim long ago. Not enough lift on the surface, especially when waiting for the boat on the surface w/ choppy seas. The velcro attachment at the butt end also tend to become undone at the most inconvenient moment.

 

[Patoux01]

Looking at the Xdeep Tec again, do I understand correctly there are no more bungees except one on each side and these doesn't go around the chest/belly but are attached to harness same way as the Razzor solution ?

I don't know the razor well enough, but yes.

Have a look here.

(starts at 4:10 in case the automatic thingy didn't work)

 

[decompression]

Hey Marcel, I have several of the z harness/trim devices. Depending on weight needs, I use different pouches placed around the harness. Also, when I need considerable lead I have a t weight pouch that works well with the tec wings. I can post some pics later if that helps. The UTD pouches are awesome as they fit anywhere on the harness without threading.

 

[Marcel Vysudil]

Thanks guys. I have to think about this a bit more. Each system has some pros and cons for me. I have personal experience with the UTD pouches (on the back of Z-trim) and I don't find this to be a very nice solution. The pouches were a bit "hanging" there. The X-deep central weight pocket seems to be much more solid. But the X-deep harness is little over overthought, too much padding and adjustment elements which I find unnecessary. I can live with adjusting the harness 2 times in year when switching between dry and wet suit (I dive 90% dry suit in Mediterranean with 1 max 2 trips yearly to tropical destination for wet suit diving). Here the UTD "one piece" harness looks nice. It's difficult deciding when I have no chance to try it

 

[Patoux01]

Padding? Have we seen the same Xdeep? Try seeing if there's a diver in your area that dives one, that way you'll at least be able to see it =) (or a dive shop, both work)

 

[Marcel Vysudil]

Maybe I haven't expressed myself correctly with the "padding". What I meant is the bottom junction where the harness is basically sewed together onto a soft "plate", plus there are 4 adjustments elements which then produce 4 loose ends. At least this is how it looks from the pictures. The one piece harness seems more robust.
But true, I haven't seen it live yet. Need to find some shop here in Rome which I'm afraid is impossible. Official dealer is a bit far in Verona.

 

[Subcooled]

I have an old (pre-bungee) version of the UTD Z-Plus wing. It is lovely. As that old version did not have the chest bungee however, it tended to float up and make me a balloon rider. I solved the problem with a knife and now I have a two inch webbing chest strap that I love. The modern UTD Z-Plus wings seem to have a bungee chest strap to pull the wing close to the back. I do believe that my heavy duty version is better. Rubber band is... rubber band.

I once had a small problem while diving (+0 bar trimix, +0 bar deco gas, stress and perceptional narrowing, open sea, current, ship traffic). One of my dive buddies tried to empty my wing to keep me at deco depth. The exhaust valve was on the opposite side to the norm however, so he wasn't able to find the cord (blind???). This is a risk to consider. Do pay attention. Then he tried to puncture the wing with a dive knife. The wing proved to be robust as he tried to stab me in the back several times... I guess it's good?