XDeep Zeos or Zen

[Pepa]

Hi guys! I'm reading a lot about BPW. I've decided to buy an XDEEP, but I'm not sure about the Zeos or the Zen NX versions.
Zeos is cheaper and more standard compared to the Zen version, but I've seen so many Zen lovers.
I've heard the zeos is better for short and small people (I'm a woman, 60 kg and 1,66 cm). Also, I'm planning to use it in cold waters (0-7 °C) with a trilaminate drysuit. Just with one tube.
I was thinking of buying the Zeos or Zen with an aluminium backplate (I know that the Stainless Steel is better in my case, but I'm going to travel a lot, so any free kg is welcome).

Have you tried the Zeos? What would you recommend?

Thank you so much to this community that is helping me a lot <3

 

[LFMarm]

Both are good options and dive quite similar. I would get the smallest wing that covers all your diving needs which depends on diving single vs doubles, warm vs cold water, fresh vs sea.

For backmount, I started with large wings and ended up moving to small wings reserved for tropical rec diving as I do all tec diving in sidemount.

 

[GDHLEWIS]

My wife just went through the same dilemma 2 months ago. After diving my Zen and a mate Zeos she chose the Zeos, simply put she found the Zen dug in to her back cause of the length of its BP. The zeos she found far more comfortable and she is around 160cm as well. If your mainly going to be doing rec diving then the Zeos is the better option in my opinion. Easier to put together and replace straps (I find the zen fiddly), zeos is lighter and smaller than the zen so better for travelling. Zeos can handle tech diving just nicely as well.
Zen is great if your handling larger steel tanks (I use 18L steels a lot) and find its more than capable to handle the larger cylinders, whilst using the zeos on 18s didn't feel as solid. Im a shorter bloke at 174cm and find the back plate on the edge of being just comfortable, a taller friend of mine found the Zeos plate too small and almost toy like (his words not mine).
For traveling and you being a shorter lady the Zeos is the winner especially with the aluminum BP

 

[GiantMoray]

I’ve had a Zeos for about 10 years, used it with both SS and Ali backplates and I’ve found it great.

I’m more like 180cm but had no issues with it size wise. I have mainly used it with my trilam dry suit (SS backplate and V weight) but also wet suit (Ali backplate), always one cylinder.

I’ve found it very comfortable and love the simplicity of the BPW, never regretted the purchase.

 

[Pepa]

Thank you so much!! Do you have the 28 or 38 version of the zeos?

 

[GiantMoray]

Thank you so much!! Do you have the 28 or 38 version of the zeos?

I have the 38. Looking back through my emails I was a little under 14 stone (90kg/200lb) at the time when I bought it which was why I went for the larger one. At 60kg you may find the 28 better suited.

 

[Pepa]

Thank you for taking the time to help me! Ok, but with all the weight needed for the drysuit and undersuit also? And my last question, what hose length would you suggest?

 

[GiantMoray]

Thank you for taking the time to help me! Ok, but with all the weight needed for the drysuit and undersuit also? And my last question, what hose length would you suggest?

I am only speaking from my experience as your questions are almost exactly the same I had when I bought mine!

There are people way more qualified than me to respond on this, I’ve been out of the water a little while and just got all my gear out to service to get back in!

I also used it with drysuit and undersuit, weight wise I used the 5kg backplate plus a 2.9kg p-weight and then some dumpable weight on a belt.

Thinking about it a bit more the difference in weight between you and me isn’t actually hugely relevant as if you are correctly weighted the lift value (wing size) only needs to really compensate for any dry suit failure (or wet suit compression) and gas usage.

Going through the old emails again the guy I bought it from said that size is a personal matter but for UK diving it’s usually the larger one. It sounds like you are doing UK style diving, but someone else here or perhaps in the store you’re planning to purchase from could probably advise you better.

Which hose are you referring to re length?

James

 

[makar0n]

Hi guys! I'm reading a lot about BPW. I've decided to buy an XDEEP, but I'm not sure about the Zeos or the Zen NX versions.
Zeos is cheaper and more standard compared to the Zen version, but I've seen so many Zen lovers.
I've heard the zeos is better for short and small people (I'm a woman, 60 kg and 1,66 cm). Also, I'm planning to use it in cold waters (0-7 °C) with a trilaminate drysuit. Just with one tube.
I was thinking of buying the Zeos or Zen with an aluminium backplate (I know that the Stainless Steel is better in my case, but I'm going to travel a lot, so any free kg is welcome).

Have you tried the Zeos? What would you recommend?

Thank you so much to this community that is helping me a lot <3

Given your size and the fact that you are planning single cylinder only, as well as travel, perhaps Ghost would be much better suited:
GHOST lightweight traveler BCD single tank scuba BC system - XDEEP

Aluminum backplate, smaller than on Zen/Zeos, super light so great for traveling. No need for heavy steel one, you can easily attach weights with bungee (thought best cut out little pocket like things from an old wetsuit, that way weights wont damage aluminum), see below:
Attaching hard weights to shoulders

That said it comes with a 38lb/17kg wing, waaaaay to big. 30 lb / 13.6kg or less is optimal for a single cylinder.
Best option would be to buy harness/backplate, wing and STA (single tank adapter) separately - that way you can have a perfect setup.

Also note that the standard NX backplate comes in 2 sizes, under and over 170cm height. Harness wise I prefer standard - slightly lighter and easier to use (less clutter) than the deluxe.

Backplates
kg	SS​	Alu​
DIR (classic)	2,1​	1,0​
NX Size S	3,0​	0,8​
NX Size L	3,4​	1,1​
Ultralight (both sizes)	-​	0,6​

How do I know? I've done it myself

I am using two setups currently:
-under 60m - Ultralight backplate + standard harness (with extra bottom pad, really comfy), 2x1 or 2x2 weights attached via bungee (if necessary, in 3mm sometimes dive without), aluminum STA (also xDeep but normal size, not the ultralight version - the latter is a bit too small/flimsy for my liking), and Apeks D30 wing (since I had one, why bother with new one). This is enough for a single tank to rebreather + 2 stages
-over 60m - Standard NX backplate (with extra bottom pad, really comfy) + harness, also aluminum as I travel for diving, weight attached in the same fashion as with Ultralight, can also use STA if need to adapt for a single cylinder, 30 or 45 wing. This is good from single cylinder to rebreather + twinset + 2 stages

Both setups with wetsuits though - not a fan of freezing my behind in northern Europe.


If you want to order, best prices can be had in Germany or Poland (xDeep home country), no issues with EU shipping.
I had my orders with the below, since prices in Belgium were insane as usual:

UWFUN24.de Wassersport

Divezone.pl - xDeep

 

[Pepa]

Thank you all for your help!! I was wondering, do you know if it is too complicated to stay in a vertical position with those wings? Because maybe we have to drill some stuff in a vertical shelf.

Cheers,