Wing Recommendations

[Pkishino]

The problem with your recommendations is that you appear to take no account that the OP has said he is UK based. That makes your recommendations comparatively expensive after shipping charges (think around US$50 minimum), customs duty, VAT (20% on all of cost, shipping & duty) plus customs agency fees for the courier ...

Then if you ever need service or support, its available ... but in the USA ... not the UK.

So I wouldn't consider buying from USA ... unless it something that needs zero support, like a backplate.

Wow is why we recommended Xdeep and tecline among others (Apeks, agir two more. Available in the UK, great prices and really good quality

 

[UFOrb]

Thanks Guys for your responses. Might stay faithful to AP diving. Any thoughts of their techwing?

AP TEKWING | AP Diving

Cheers.
Alan

Have you looked at the AP Diving travelwing? AP TRAVELWING | AP Diving

Unless you’ve got your heart set on a BP/W it looks like a good option, esp as you know and like AP gear. It’s lightweight for travel (<3kg), has big integrated weight pockets/storage pockets, made of min 800 denier material (much more than most travel BCD’s) and should have more than enough lift for colder water diving. It also comes with a crotch strap
Maybe not as minimalist as a bp/w set up but I think it seems pretty good for a single tank travel bc that can also be used for uk diving. I’m tempted myself...I’d possibly add some trim weight pockets though.

 

[taimen]

The problem with your recommendations is that you appear to take no account that the OP has said he is UK based. That makes your recommendations comparatively expensive after shipping charges (think around US$50 minimum), customs duty, VAT (20% on all of cost, shipping & duty) plus customs agency fees for the courier ...

Dive Gear Express has global free shipping for orders more than $250. Import duty for scuba equipment into EU is 2.7% (including UK for the time being...) and on top of that you pay local VAT (20% for UK).
Customs agency fees for the courier may or may not apply. DGE uses US Priority mail and at least in my country you can pay duty and taxes for incoming mail online without additional charges.
So, imported price with 2,7% duty and 20% VAT would be 1.2324x DGE list price.
Thus, especially DGE may sometimes be competitive in price. Some of the gear they carry also have global warranty and support, or are more or less zero support required.

Anyway, I agree that the price advantage of the US gear is small after importing into EU. UK has great prices for dive gear both online and local. Just wanted to point out the actual numbers.

I would still pick a light harness and BP/W setup instead of the AP with 27kg lift (!!?!).

 

[Centrals]

WTX Series
Add a used plate + hardware and DIY the harness.