Here are some pics and measurements of the 18# Razor and the 30# Mach V:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=2348021&postcount=71
http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=2152915&postcount=19
As said the 30# may be better for use with steel tanks. Also when using thicker exposure protection or drysuits you may find it beneficial to have a bit of extra capacity. Even if the 18# has enough lift to be usable in these situations you may find that it doesn't float you very high at the surface. On the other hand it might, I havn't tried it myself. I personally like inflating my 30# Mach V all the way and laying back on my own personal mini life raft. You can't do that with a Jacket ;-)
If you plan on diving with steel tanks then I would probably go with the 30# wing. I personally try to avoid steel tanks when diving with a thin wetsuit because they make me rather negative. If you are going to be diving steel tanks with a bp/w and a thin wetsuit then you will probably want to get the lightest bp/sta combo that you can. I would recommend either an aluminum bp (a little over 1# negative) or if you want to spend a bit more money the DSS Kydex plate that Tobin sells (0.7# negative) . For an STA I would go with the aluminum 2 piece that Aggir Brok makes, it costs about $80 w/ SS cam bands which isn't bad if you need the cam bands. This will not be enough weight when using aluminum tanks but if you aren't a very bouyent person to begin with it should be plenty when diving the heavier steel tanks. The #2 STA HH has allows me to not need a weight belt with aluminum tanks, but I would prefer to minimize my weight when diving with heavy steel tanks.
If you decide to go with a 30# wing I highly recommend the Mach V wing. It is a sweet little wing.
~Jess
http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=2348021&postcount=71
http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=2152915&postcount=19
As said the 30# may be better for use with steel tanks. Also when using thicker exposure protection or drysuits you may find it beneficial to have a bit of extra capacity. Even if the 18# has enough lift to be usable in these situations you may find that it doesn't float you very high at the surface. On the other hand it might, I havn't tried it myself. I personally like inflating my 30# Mach V all the way and laying back on my own personal mini life raft. You can't do that with a Jacket ;-)
If you plan on diving with steel tanks then I would probably go with the 30# wing. I personally try to avoid steel tanks when diving with a thin wetsuit because they make me rather negative. If you are going to be diving steel tanks with a bp/w and a thin wetsuit then you will probably want to get the lightest bp/sta combo that you can. I would recommend either an aluminum bp (a little over 1# negative) or if you want to spend a bit more money the DSS Kydex plate that Tobin sells (0.7# negative) . For an STA I would go with the aluminum 2 piece that Aggir Brok makes, it costs about $80 w/ SS cam bands which isn't bad if you need the cam bands. This will not be enough weight when using aluminum tanks but if you aren't a very bouyent person to begin with it should be plenty when diving the heavier steel tanks. The #2 STA HH has allows me to not need a weight belt with aluminum tanks, but I would prefer to minimize my weight when diving with heavy steel tanks.
If you decide to go with a 30# wing I highly recommend the Mach V wing. It is a sweet little wing.
~Jess