Hydros Pro

[drrich2]

Once a short guy who couldn't reach the grapes on the grape tree said: "They must be sour" and went away.

A more accurate analogy would be the short guy could climb the tree for grapes, but it'd be a lot of work, and some other people happened by and pointed out there was other fruit serving the same purpose on other, nearby trees, that was easier to get to and some considered better. Then the short guy, better informed, decided for himself what to do.

I didn't pick a BP/W over a Hydros Pro because I couldn't afford it. By the time I got my whole package assembled and paid for, I think the price was very close.

If there weren't a number of reports on the shoulder strap attachment wearing out way early, I might've chosen one. I'd just had a Sherwood Avid BCD's cam bands tear off the attachments, which was considered a design mistake.

 

[BoltSnap]

I didn't pick a BP/W over a Hydros Pro because I couldn't afford it. By the time I got my whole package assembled and paid for, I think the price was very close.

Yes, this point most people seem to ignore, Hydros isn't "expensive" and the BP/W wing is less expensive for the same features standard on both. You are very right when you say that once you dress up a BP/W the price differential is insignificant. Comparing bare BP/W to Hydros isn't comparing apples to apples.

If there weren't a number of reports on the shoulder strap attachment wearing out way early

The very small % issue with the attachment was on the first version of the BC. As far as I know from friends who use it and few dealer friends, this issue is a none issue in current version of the BC (current as of I believe 2 - 3 years ago).


I was watching a poll on a popular scuba diving FB group concerning "which BC is best/most recommend" and the overwhelming majority of the recommendations were for the SP Hydros BC.


The views on gear here on SB aren't really representative of the whole diving community at large. The problems reported here may appear to be "substantial" but it seems that in reality they are very minor and not representative of what is actually taking place outside SB.

 

[BoltSnap]

you’re sarcastic argument is irrelevant in this discussion.

OK, I'll try to contain my sarcastic arguments next time. Thank you for your feedback.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

A more accurate analogy would be the short guy could climb the tree for grapes, but it'd be a lot of work, and some other people happened by and pointed out there was other fruit serving the same purpose on other, nearby trees, that was easier to get to and some considered better. Then the short guy, better informed, decided for himself what to do.

I didn't pick a BP/W over a Hydros Pro because I couldn't afford it. By the time I got my whole package assembled and paid for, I think the price was very close.

If there weren't a number of reports on the shoulder strap attachment wearing out way early, I might've chosen one. I'd just had a Sherwood Avid BCD's cam bands tear off the attachments, which was considered a design mistake.

What bpw package did you get that cost $1200?

 

[drrich2]

What bpw package did you get that cost $1200?

It wasn't $1,200, it was probably around $950 or so, by the time I ordered the 2nd cam band. A Hollis AL backplate, Hollis wing, Hollis deluxe harness, 1 Hollis stainless steel cam band, 2 Hollis integrated weight pockets, 2 Hollis trim pockets, 1 Dive Rite thigh pouch (to make up for the thigh pockets a BP/W system doesn't have by default) and a crotch strap. $905.18 with 9% sales tax on 10-23-18 (bought in Tennessee; a shop employee assembled the harness webbing for me), I bought the 2nd Hollis stainless steel cam band online for $49.95. So $955.13 in late 2022.

I don't recall exactly, but that was over 4-years ago, and I think the HydrosPro at the time was very similar in price.

I know people get cheaper setups that work well for them. I wanted a donut style wing with soft single tank stabilizer ridges and plenty of lift and a denier rating not on the low side, and to get all one brand as much as reasonably possible (I'm normally not very fashion conscious, but I wanted to avoid the 'Franken-rig' look). I wanted a shop staffer to assemble it, so I chose from the varied brands they carried (a brick-and-mortar retail dive shop).

I'm not saying mine was the best, or that cheaper packages aren't good enough. There are higher denier wings marketed to public safety dives and similar that might in theory be more puncture resistant.

A HydrosPro would've been simpler to plan (I wouldn't have had to start a SB thread delving into it, had to choose amongst various back plate materials, pondered what wing lift range I needed, weighed soft tank stabilizer use vs. a STA and ruling out wings that didn't have the soft stabilizers (I think OMS has a product you can buy and odd onto a wing), and I wouldn't have needed a dive shop staffer to web that deluxe harness for me - situating D-rings and triglides, etc...

The HydrosPro I could've ordered online hoping for a Black Friday sale, taken out of the box and put on.

On the other hand, my BP/W is very modular. People who want a lot of choice amongst the pieces have that option.

If the shoulder strap attachment and any other durability concerns have been well-addressed and are no longer affecting substantial numbers of people, great. Some people have posted on SB about proneness to roll to one side diving it; that might be worth checking into.

I'm not anti-HydrosPro; I'm pro-informed decision diver.

 

[dmaziuk]

$250 for the shiny backplate, DRIS gave me a nice discount on the Hollis wing so it was under $300 IIRC... Cambands, weight pouches, gear pouch, webbing, d-rings etc. takes it over $600: not $1,200 but there is any number of back-inflates over at LP for less than that. Incl. a Covert and an Outlaw on closeout for $350.

 

[digdug87]

I love mine!

 

[L13]

The very small % issue with the attachment was on the first version of the BC.

Over 100 dives on my Hydros pro. No sign of wear at the attachment point. It is a solid BC. While in hindsight I might not have bought it, I do like it overall, and will use it till it dies (except when sidemounting, which is whenever I can).

 

[agmason]

A 6 lb dry-weight stainless plate has a buoyancy of negative 5.22 lb. (Density of stainless is about 7.9 g/cm3 but displaces a fluid with density of 1.024 g/cm3 in seawater on average.) Assuming the Hydros was neutral, you can technically only drop 5.22 lb of lead when switching. Climbing the ladder, you will be 0.78 lb heavier.

Thanks for the clarification, I was forgetting about buoyancy forces...

 

[passeparici]

Why would I spend 2.5x’s more on the hydros pro when I could get a BPW for less that is more versatile and better quality? It’s excessively expensive for what it is. I’d love to know what features or advantages it provides that demand a $1200 price tag.

"Only" 750 € (around the same in $) in Europe. A good designed product. You buy it you use it. Design like a wing but a few extras : the weight pockets for instance. I like that (you can take them out if you want). Maybe not a product for the tec divers but a good product for the others...​