Wing. OMS?

[Tortuga68]

You're correct, cam band slots don't have anything to do with bungees. All the OMS wings apart from the Tesseract (and the TacOps if you want to be particular) have cam band slots

The 32# singles wing (and the TacOps 32#) and the Larry Green 45# and 70# doubles wings don't have bungees

The non-Larry Green 45# and the 60# non-Tesseract single bladder wings are available with or without bungee fittings so you can choose

The redundant bladder 60# & 94# and 60# Tesseract wings have bungee fittings whether you want them or not although you can choose to not fit them, or... they can be fitted in normal or Jocasee rig (see Tessaract photo)

If in doubt refer to Dr. Wu's post above, thanks for the link

 

[RJP]

I am diving singles and a semi-dry wetsuit. (I am not actually asking for advice about lift capacity, only quality/workmanship/design so this info was not really needed RJP).

Well, actually, there are different designs for wings by different manufacturers - even within manufacturers - so knowing whether you want a singles or doubles wing is quite relevant to any specific recommendation.

As is lift capacity - even on singles - due to differences say between some of the 18lb wings and some of the 30lb-ish wings.

If I only knew what kind of tank you plan on diving (Al63 or a Steel 130 or something in between) I could provide a specific recommendation.



PS - I have a gently used Oxycheq Mach V 18lb wing I could part with if you're at all interested.

 

[Tortuga68]

Not to make a big deal out of it, because it's not, but these type of questions - what BC/wing/computer/wetsuit/etc - get asked a lot and it's easier to get good advice if you give some details about your diving

There are a lot of Oxycheq fans here, also DSS, HOG and of course OMS, Halcyon etc.. Help them to help you

 

[RAWalker]

You're correct, cam band slots don't have anything to do with bungees. All the OMS wings apart from the Tesseract (and the TacOps if you want to be particular) have cam band slots

The non-Larry Green 45# and the 60# non-Tesseract single bladder wings are available with or without bungee fittings so you can choose

I own the 45# bungee and the labeling from OMS states that it is for both singles and doubles use. I have used it as a singles wing from time to time and it performs rather well. The bungees limit the taco effect and control air movement within the wing.

As for customer service if you purchase a well made product you may never need to deal with them directly.

 

[beanstalker]

Ok, for those who wanted more details: I am diving in Otago, New Zealand so temperate waters (in the sea) with a seven ml one piece semi-dry wetsuit. I am diving singles, using club tanks so could be either steel or aluminium (standard sizes). The backplate I have is an Apeks stainless steel with single piece hogarthian harness. My diving is all open water but I may look at doing minimal wreck penetration in the future and possibly some river drift diving.

This kind of gear is not very readily available in New Zealand so any information on importers/suppliers or shops/websites that ship internationally would be much appreciated. I will also consider second-hand but once again shipping is an important factor there.

Regarding the discussion of retraction bands/bungees: I don't like the idea of anything that constricts the bladder and makes oral inflation more difficult at depth. Plus it is just more bits that can get caught up/tangled. If it ever did get tangled up with something underwater then trying to cut yourself free is very risky as you could easily puncture the bladder. They seem like an unnecessary complication with a lot of potential problems/risks.

 

[halocline]

OMS wings might be good quality, but the reputation for horrible customer service would be enough to keep me away from them. There are many good choices in wings, so there's no reason to go with a questionable company. In not particular order, there's dive rite, deep sea supply, oxycheq, halcyon, golem, and HOG. You rarely hear anything bad about any of those companies' products or service, whereas with OMS there's a new horror story every few months, it seems.

I have a few dive rite wings, and while they're not always the best designed wings on the market, they're reliable and they were all a great deal (none more than $200). Recently my doubles wing started to leak; there is a little separation between the bladder and the flange where the inflator mounts. I called dive rite and in 10 minutes got an RA to return the wing for warranty repair or replacement. No questions about how old the wing is, where did I buy it, do I have a receipt, etc...

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

It's a good wing but I would suggest getting it with the retraction bands.

They do no harm yet have the added bonus of enraging people who don't know any better.

Yeah, and they can trap gas, catch on things, or in the event of a wing failure squeeze all the gas out.

Pretty solid design I would say. [Sarcasm]

 

[Dr Wu]

Yeah, and they can trap gas, catch on things, or in the event of a wing failure squeeze all the gas out.

Pretty solid design I would say. [Sarcasm]

Explain how the bands would "squeeze the gas out" in the event of a wing failure when the water pressure would have done that in the first place.

Please explain this.

Please?

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

If I had a rip say at the bottom area of the wing, or on one side etc... the bungee's will help squeeze the remaining gas out... you can still keep air in a regular wing if the rip is not too terrible by rolling to one side or the other, on the other hand, not as easy to do with a bungeed wing, and besides the other two reasons NOT to use bungeed wings are plenty relavent.

You're welcome

 

[PfcAJ]

I can roll left or right and trap gas in the appropriate pontoon if my wing gets fubar'd some how (dump valves, inflator hoses and elbows all fail occasionally). Bungees make it worse by applying additional pressure on the wing from all sides, reducing the volume of the wing.

THATS an issue. Plus, they have poor hydrodynamic qualities (this is why boats and submarines don't have a bunch of ripples in their hulls), and the bungees can snag on pieces of wrecks. If you have heavier tanks on one side (all stages/deco bottles should be on one side anyway), you can't throw some gas into that pontoon to keep in level trim because on the restriction of the bungee.