Best Doubles Wing?

[halocline]

Thank you everyone for sharing your opinions and thoughts.

I currently own a single tank halcyon eclipse wing and have been very happy with it. Basically, I am looking for something that is DIR compliant and is good to last me for awhile as I move into doubles/tech. At this point, it seems like going with halcyon seems to be the safest option.

It doesn't have to be halcyon to be DIR compliant, whatever that phrase actually means.....

Allow me to suggest that you are not necessarily thinking (based on your questions) about this in the most useful way. What you should be thinking about is how much lift you need, what kinds of tanks/exposure suit combinations you'll be using, and maybe even what your specific dive plans are, rather than focusing on the brand.

As an example, if you are planning to use twin AL80s, without alot of heavy gear, in warm water, you probably want a wing on the smaller side. I have a dive rite rec wing, supposedly a doubles/single hybrid wing, and even that is too big for my liking. If on the other hand your plan is big heavy steel tanks, extra stages, etc...you'll want something bigger. In all cases I would avoid OMS bungeed wings, but that's just my opinion. I've heard horror stories about their customer service and I have yet to encounter an OMS product that I thought was well designed. (I'm sure they're out there)

Then there is the whole redundant lift issue, which is handled differently by different types of training agencies. You'll want to answer that question (maybe you have already) before buying a wing.

I love buying used gear, but I'm a cheapo and I live in the US where used gear is plentiful. I'm sure there is a halcyon wing that fit your needs, once you've really figured those out specifically. But Oxycheq, Dive rite, and others make good wings too. Deep sea supply used to make a terrific small doubles wing. If I were in the market, I might try to find one of those used.

There's one other thing, I hope it's not too annoying a suggestion. At some point when moving to dives that involve two or more cylinders, the sidemount vs backmount issue becomes relevant. That, of course, would send you in a totally different direction in terms of a BC. There are advantages to both sidemount and backmount twins, and each works best in specific dive situations. As an example, I would not advise someone to invest much in backmount doubles if they were primarily interested in cave diving. Unless I missed it (very possible) I don't think you specified what specific dive environments you are working towards. That might be something you want to consider.

 

[ginti]

I currently own a single tank halcyon eclipse wing and have been very happy with it. Basically, I am looking for something that is DIR compliant and is good to last me for awhile as I move into doubles/tech. At this point, it seems like going with halcyon seems to be the safest option.

If you plan to go doubles in a couple of years, stay cheap. You may want to buy a wing that is compatible with big single tanks but also with very small doubles (bi7 without any space in between them). This solution is perfect for rec dives and will allow you to try doubles before changing the wing.

 

[diverwin]

Need not to worry about "H" in Singapore if you know who is behind "Livingseas".

Wings (AirCells)
Free shipping if order is over $250.00. Fast and reliable.
OMS Double
US$369.00 is about 500.00SGD

Why do you say this?

It doesn't have to be halcyon to be DIR compliant, whatever that phrase actually means.....

Allow me to suggest that you are not necessarily thinking (based on your questions) about this in the most useful way. What you should be thinking about is how much lift you need, what kinds of tanks/exposure suit combinations you'll be using, and maybe even what your specific dive plans are, rather than focusing on the brand.

As an example, if you are planning to use twin AL80s, without alot of heavy gear, in warm water, you probably want a wing on the smaller side. I have a dive rite rec wing, supposedly a doubles/single hybrid wing, and even that is too big for my liking. If on the other hand your plan is big heavy steel tanks, extra stages, etc...you'll want something bigger. In all cases I would avoid OMS bungeed wings, but that's just my opinion. I've heard horror stories about their customer service and I have yet to encounter an OMS product that I thought was well designed. (I'm sure they're out there)

Then there is the whole redundant lift issue, which is handled differently by different types of training agencies. You'll want to answer that question (maybe you have already) before buying a wing.

I love buying used gear, but I'm a cheapo and I live in the US where used gear is plentiful. I'm sure there is a halcyon wing that fit your needs, once you've really figured those out specifically. But Oxycheq, Dive rite, and others make good wings too. Deep sea supply used to make a terrific small doubles wing. If I were in the market, I might try to find one of those used.

There's one other thing, I hope it's not too annoying a suggestion. At some point when moving to dives that involve two or more cylinders, the sidemount vs backmount issue becomes relevant. That, of course, would send you in a totally different direction in terms of a BC. There are advantages to both sidemount and backmount twins, and each works best in specific dive situations. As an example, I would not advise someone to invest much in backmount doubles if they were primarily interested in cave diving. Unless I missed it (very possible) I don't think you specified what specific dive environments you are working towards. That might be something you want to consider.

Yes, I understand where you are coming from. I already know that I am going to be getting a wing with 40lbs of lift because I will typically be diving AL80s in tropical climate with a max of 1-2 deco tanks in the future.

There isn't much DIR used gear available locally as most divers tend to travel out to dive in neighboring countries because our local dive sites have terrible visibility.

I am also working towards tech diving and might do cave way further down the line.

 

[Wibble]

At least in the US, Evolve 40s are not THAT hard to find used. People use the 40 for a while and then realize they need the 60 to move up to larger steel tanks and stages. If you're using an aluminum twinset, the 40 should be ideal.

Why?

You should be neutrally buoyant in the water and the only variable is the gas in your cylinders. 40 lbs/18kg is a lot of gas!

A BCD should not be used for core buoyancy if you’re overweighted. You should be shedding weight, changing to an ali/carbon backplate and not using steel stage cylinders. If you are grossly overweighted, your BCD fails and gas leaks out, you’ll find yourself overwhelmed and rapidly sinking.

If you’re correctly weighted, the BCD is only counteracting the gas in your cylinders which you will be consuming during the dive. (and compression of a wetsuit at depth - edit)

Overweighting is one of the great sins of diving and will really mess up your dive.

 

[runsongas]

@Wibble for SEA, less likely to use a drysuit so if they usually dive with a 3mm/5mm wetsuit, suit compression has to be accounted for also in the lift

 

[Centrals]

Why do you say this?

You did mention DIR.
I got the name of the place(Living Oceans) mixed up with Seas.
It should be Living Oceans. Gideon Liew is well known and respected instructor in GUE.

40lbs is good enough for twin Al with 2 or 3 Al deco tanks unless you are doing serious deep dive.
I would be very surprised if there is much supply of used tec wing in SE Asia.
As for buying a new wing, any brand as long as it is not "H".

Tecline.

 

[halocline]

You may want to buy a wing that is compatible with big single tanks but also with very small doubles (bi7 without any space in between them). This solution is perfect for rec dives and will allow you to try doubles before changing the wing.

This is very poor advice, there are no wings -none- that work well with single tanks and twinsets. The two are totally different styles of wing.

Since the OP specifically said he is looking for a doubles wing, that's what he should buy.

 

[halocline]

Why?

You should be neutrally buoyant in the water and the only variable is the gas in your cylinders. 40 lbs/18kg is a lot of gas!

A BCD should not be used for core buoyancy if you’re overweighted. You should be shedding weight, changing to an ali/carbon backplate and not using steel stage cylinders. If you are grossly overweighted, your BCD fails and gas leaks out, you’ll find yourself overwhelmed and rapidly sinking.

If you’re correctly weighted, the BCD is only counteracting the gas in your cylinders which you will be consuming during the dive. (and compression of a wetsuit at depth - edit)

Overweighting is one of the great sins of diving and will really mess up your dive.

This is why most tech agencies do not advocate using double steel tanks with a wetsuit, especially in the ocean. In those cases, some sort of redundant buoyancy system is considered mandatory.

I am in agreement that it is pretty rare for someone who is weighted correctly to need one of the humongous 60lbs+ wings. I suspect that most of those divers are overweighted, even without lead, so they might not have a lot of choice. Someone recently posted that he bought a 90lb wing from a dive shop employee to use with single tanks. This is the sort of thing that makes me cynical about the dive gear industry.

 

[halocline]

Yes, I understand where you are coming from. I already know that I am going to be getting a wing with 40lbs of lift because I will typically be diving AL80s in tropical climate with a max of 1-2 deco tanks in the future.

There isn't much DIR used gear available locally as most divers tend to travel out to dive in neighboring countries because our local dive sites have terrible visibility.

I am also working towards tech diving and might do cave way further down the line.

That's great. You'll like AL80 doubles; to me they generally trim out better than single AL80s. And if the only new gear you need is a doubles wing and an extra 1st stage (maybe some hoses) then it's a modest investment.

 

[ginti]

This is very poor advice, there are no wings -none- that work well with single tanks and twinsets. The two are totally different styles of wing.

Since the OP specifically said he is looking for a doubles wing, that's what he should buy.

There ecist wing compatible with single and doubles, that's a fact. I am not suggesting to use such a wing for all dives with doubles, just to use it for singles and to *try* doubles; then, he can decide to go for more serious wing or not. I don't think there is anything bad in that, but feel free to think differently