Advice plz on a Wing BP Halcyon vs OMS

[Ice Mike]

I have decided to go the BP/Wing way.
(Borrowed an OMS wing from a friend and liked it from the moment I hit the water.)

I will be diving with a semi-dry 7mm wetsuit, 10liter steel tank (72cuft at 3000psi.)
After a while I will very likely be wanting to do some dives using doubles and therefore want to buy a setup that can also do doubles.

I am looking at buying either a Halcyon Explorer (40lbs), Halcyon Evolve (40lbs) or an OMS single bladder (35 or 45 lbs)

Also I don't know yet whether to go for an one-piece harness (DIR style) or one with shoulder buckles.

- What do people believe is the best buy out of these three and why?

- Anybody any experience with the Evolve?

- Can an OMS backplate be used with a Halcyon wing and the other way around?

- How easy is it to get in and out of an one-piece harness whilst floating along side a boat. (Eg. In case I need to hand the gear to somebody before climbing into the boat.)

Advice will be appreciated.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
If your using brute force and it is not working.....you are not using enough

 

[scarefaceDM]

welcome to the darkside...

Now:

The best backplate and wing is the one that will fit you and fit the style of diving you are going to be doing. You will have to choose between a Stainless steel plate or an Aluminium plate. Properly adjusted..it will seve you well..all you do is change wings.

However that is not the case for the wing.
There are single wings and then there are doubles wings. You will need one of each. One for singles and one for twins.

Reason: singles wings are ment to be small and lean. Doubles wings are wider to accomidate the various doubles set up you will want to use in the futur.

DOUBLES wings will WRAP around a single tank and flap around, which will throw you off balance and ad bulk to your simplistic rig.

I prefer a single HOG harness as opposed to the clips. BUT to each his/her own. Which ever works for you.

It is a little difficult at first to simply slip out of your HOG harness but once you get the nack..it is no problem.

That is the nice thing about a back plate...they fit and work well with various wings and brands. It is diver prefrence regardless.

OMS, Halcyon are both good wings...if you can try before you buy. There are other wings aswell.

 

[jasonmt1]

dive rite ss backplate and deluxe harness with buckle on one side works for me. recwings have 51 lbs of lift and work well with singles and with double 95's.

 

[Ice Mike]

welcome to the darkside...

Thanks..........I guess

Now:

The best backplate and wing is the one that will fit you and fit the style of diving you are going to be doing. You will have to choose between a Stainless steel plate or an Aluminium plate. Properly adjusted..it will seve you well..all you do is change wings.

[ENDQUOTE=scarefaceDM]

Still deciding on the StSt vs Alu on the backplate. I normally dive with with a 7 mm wetsuit and that means a lot of lead. But I also travel quite a lot and lead is easy to rent. But I have always found weightbelts annoying and weightbelts with a lot of lead even more annoying. What to do what to do..

However that is not the case for the wing.
There are single wings and then there are doubles wings. You will need one of each. One for singles and one for twins.

Reason: singles wings are ment to be small and lean. Doubles wings are wider to accomidate the various doubles set up you will want to use in the futur.

DOUBLES wings will WRAP around a single tank and flap around, which will throw you off balance and ad bulk to your simplistic rig.

[ENDQUOTE=scarefaceDM]

My funding is ok but not limitless... I was hoping to get away with one wing for both single tank diving and doubles diving (2 * 72cft tanks). Hence the small doubles wing
But I still need to make up my mind.

 

[LIVES4SHARKS]

I love my SS BP and I just will make do in the luggage for weight. I like not haveing to put much on my waste, and in fresh water I do not need any at all if I have a steel tank. You might look into getting a used setup and then go from there. Also see if you can demo gear from LDS's or borrow for a test dive from your friends. There are many manufacturers of BP/W's so look around and shop around. The DECO STOP is another good place to look for used equipment. This is the setup I have. I got to meet the owners and manufacturer of the wing and was really impressed! Again, look around try things out then go from there. I will be moving into doubles probably by the end of the year. But I will be keeping my single wing, there are some areas that diving a single is easier. http://www.salvosupply.com/inc/sdetail/205
http://www.agir-brokk.com/

Happy diving!
Carolyn:sharks:

 

[kidspot]

If the choice between these two brands is because they are what your LDS carries I'd go with the Halcyon with a Hog harness.

If you are not limited to these two brands I'd check out DSS http://www.deepseasupply.com as they seem to have one of the best thought out designs imho. Lots of little "extras" in their gear like the wedge blocks (prevents tank strap slipage) and the integrated Tank stabalizer (Makes an sta unnecessary). Plus I like the ease of being able to quickly remove the wing for storage/travel without removing the cam bands.

No matter which route you go will be good solid gear though.

For the harness - I'd start with the one piece Hog harness, then if you find you don't like it upgrade to a quick release style. Usually saves quite a bit of money going with the simple harness, and often divers seem to end up liking it better.

Aloha, Tim

 

[Chris Brown Tech]

Hi Ice Mike,

We have a DIR club in the Florida Keys, so I see single, double, wetsuit and drysuit, steel and aluminum set ups regularly. We also have OMS dealers and Halcyon dealers (me) in the group. All I can say is that everyone has changed from OMS to Halcyon

The Eclipse MC system is IMHO the best BC on the market. You can get it with steel or aluminum backplates (I would recommend steel for you if you are diving a 7mm. You also shouldnt need a 40lb wing unless you are a big guy!) and it comes with a single tank adaptor. When you are ready for doubles, you just swap the wing to a 40lb explorer or evolve wing. Easy!

PM me if you would like any further info on Halcyon or OMS.

Cheers!

 

[Chris Brown Tech]

Oh yes, forgot to answer your question on the Evolve. The divers who have used horeshoe style doubles wings for a long time find it hard to change to the Evolve. I think it is just because they like what they are used to.

I use the evolve as I find the explorer wing sloshes around too much and is slower to react when 'feathering' the rear dump on a shallow deco stop. However, my captain would be quick to disagree, he loves the Explorer!

 

[halocline]

If you're typically diving in cold enough water for a 7mm suit, I'm pretty sure you'll want a steel plate, at least for singles. The AL plate is really only best when you need less than the 5-6lbs of ballast the SS plate provides. As far as wing goes, get the smallest one you can get away with depending on your lift requirement. Do you typically dive with steel or AL tanks? That's going to factor into the lift.

Recently dive rite express was selling dive rite venture wings, which are perfectly fine single tank wings, for $150, although they may be out. It's an unusally good deal. The venture wing has 30lbs lift, and it's pretty unusual that a single tank diver needs more than that.

Tobin at Deep sea supply make excellent single tank rigs that are extremely well designed and substantially less expensive than Halcyon. He also is a real expert at calculating your lift requirements with some basic info from you.

 

[GreenDiverDown]

Then, of course, there is this ...
http://www.agir-brokk.com/

Which you could get here...
http://www.dirdirect.com

Nothing finer.