I have had in my possession now for a couple weeks the new HOG softpack and comfort harness. Along with the 32 lb bungee wing. The first time I had it in the water was during my UW Photo class two weeks ago.
Having been involved with this project from the beginning and providing some of the the hardware designs and prototypes, I am biased. Not going to hide that. Even so those who know me also know that if I don't think something is ok, I won't recommend it.
This I recommend. Is it for everyone? No, it is however going to meet a need that I run into with my students who, for whatever reason, don't want a traditional jacket or a back plate and wing.
The entire assembly is modular and it comes as parts. Webbing, drings, slides, waist belt plates, and buckle. there are also two shoulder pads that are nice but don't have to be used. The harness will also work with the HOG Steel or aluminum plates and probably any other plate out there.
The soft pack is light, and not overly padded. It has just enough let's say. So buoyancy wise it's not a concern. The cam bands slide through webbing secured to the back in the same way as similar styles. I mean c'mon, there are only so many ways to secure webbing on a soft pack so you go with what works. You don't try to reinvent the wheel.
The bungee wing is not fixed. You can remove it if you choose and adjust the tension as well as placement. It does not compress the empty wing as much as some others seem to do. The rig will work with any HOG 23 or 32lb wing with the long slits.
The harness package itself when assembled on the soft pack will adjust from someone say 5'7" and around 150 lbs to something like a 6'7" 300 lb guy. So when you are smaller like me there is some webbing left to trim.
I added the new HOG weight pockets to it in order to distribute my weights. It's been a long time since I had a single al80 in back mount in open water. So back to the log book to get a starting point with my 5 mil merino. The last time I used an al80 and a 5 mil in a non bpw set up was nearly 4 years ago. I needed at the time 16lbs to be properly weighted.
So that's what I started with for the 1st dive. 2lbs in each small pocket on each cam band, 3 in each large pocket on the waist strap, and 6 lbs on my MAKO rubber belt. Did not feel terribly overweighted but felt a bit over. Next dive I swapped the 3's for 2's and had no issues at the end of the dive with 700 psi left in the tank. No trouble holding a stop at 6 ft.
I will try to post some pictures later. Right now the unit is available in this size and a smaller size as well which should work for kids and smaller individuals under say 5'5" and 140lbs. I am going to be using this a bit over the next couple months along with my Sidemount unit. It's comfortable, dives well, and looks good.
There is a bit of a learning curve to setting it up and I recommend that you have your dealer do it if you are not familiar with rigging a harness. I have assembled over 100 BPW's at this point with various harness mods. Even created some custom set ups for people with hardware I manufacture myself.
I needed to follow the instructions on this the first time and, being in a rush, ended up re working it. It offers a lot of options to customize it for fit and placement of the hardware as a traditional BPW and actually adds a level to that.
The waist strap plates slide so that you can make it more of a conventional BPW fit or a "H" style harness that some sidemount systems (including the HOG) make use of. I actually prefer this now due to having a shorter torso that had my back up lights under my arm pits.
If you want more info shoot me an email to jimlap212@comcast.net or call me at the number in my signature line. You can also get in touch with any other HOG dealer about it.
Having been involved with this project from the beginning and providing some of the the hardware designs and prototypes, I am biased. Not going to hide that. Even so those who know me also know that if I don't think something is ok, I won't recommend it.
This I recommend. Is it for everyone? No, it is however going to meet a need that I run into with my students who, for whatever reason, don't want a traditional jacket or a back plate and wing.
The entire assembly is modular and it comes as parts. Webbing, drings, slides, waist belt plates, and buckle. there are also two shoulder pads that are nice but don't have to be used. The harness will also work with the HOG Steel or aluminum plates and probably any other plate out there.
The soft pack is light, and not overly padded. It has just enough let's say. So buoyancy wise it's not a concern. The cam bands slide through webbing secured to the back in the same way as similar styles. I mean c'mon, there are only so many ways to secure webbing on a soft pack so you go with what works. You don't try to reinvent the wheel.
The bungee wing is not fixed. You can remove it if you choose and adjust the tension as well as placement. It does not compress the empty wing as much as some others seem to do. The rig will work with any HOG 23 or 32lb wing with the long slits.
The harness package itself when assembled on the soft pack will adjust from someone say 5'7" and around 150 lbs to something like a 6'7" 300 lb guy. So when you are smaller like me there is some webbing left to trim.
I added the new HOG weight pockets to it in order to distribute my weights. It's been a long time since I had a single al80 in back mount in open water. So back to the log book to get a starting point with my 5 mil merino. The last time I used an al80 and a 5 mil in a non bpw set up was nearly 4 years ago. I needed at the time 16lbs to be properly weighted.
So that's what I started with for the 1st dive. 2lbs in each small pocket on each cam band, 3 in each large pocket on the waist strap, and 6 lbs on my MAKO rubber belt. Did not feel terribly overweighted but felt a bit over. Next dive I swapped the 3's for 2's and had no issues at the end of the dive with 700 psi left in the tank. No trouble holding a stop at 6 ft.
I will try to post some pictures later. Right now the unit is available in this size and a smaller size as well which should work for kids and smaller individuals under say 5'5" and 140lbs. I am going to be using this a bit over the next couple months along with my Sidemount unit. It's comfortable, dives well, and looks good.
There is a bit of a learning curve to setting it up and I recommend that you have your dealer do it if you are not familiar with rigging a harness. I have assembled over 100 BPW's at this point with various harness mods. Even created some custom set ups for people with hardware I manufacture myself.
I needed to follow the instructions on this the first time and, being in a rush, ended up re working it. It offers a lot of options to customize it for fit and placement of the hardware as a traditional BPW and actually adds a level to that.
The waist strap plates slide so that you can make it more of a conventional BPW fit or a "H" style harness that some sidemount systems (including the HOG) make use of. I actually prefer this now due to having a shorter torso that had my back up lights under my arm pits.
If you want more info shoot me an email to jimlap212@comcast.net or call me at the number in my signature line. You can also get in touch with any other HOG dealer about it.
