Best Harness and Why

[RICHinNC]

One key point you left out....what kind of diving are you going to do? A Suzuki SideKick is a great car ...economical...never breaks...but tough on long trips.

If you plan to do just what most call simple rec diving, then whichever rig is most comfy for you would be the way to go. That is my category and I am happy with the DR TransPlate and delux harness.

If you plan to do more advanced dives and hang multiple bottles off your rig, you might want to consider the HOG harness style.

It depends on what your dive style is....will be.... Or, just get one rig for one and another rig for the other.

 

[RICHinNC]

maybe this would work?

http://www.compactscuba.com/conversion.htm

Great shades of Valhalla!!!!! Eight bolts???

 

[loosebits]

Yep, 8 bolts. No way to add a Zeagle wing to a standard plate without drilling some holes in your plate. The Zeagle wings don't have the std 11" holes. In fact, they don't even have material for 11" holes (horseshoe shaped wing). I imagine this is to maintain compatibility with their other BC's.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I am a big fan of quick releases and pivot rings on harnesses. I am a reasonably big guy with a 44 inch chest and shoulders to match. The pivot rings allow a better angle around the shoulders and keep the harness webbing from eating into the inside of the arms. Also in combintion with a chest strap it allows a great deal of adjustability without having to adjust the lenght of the shoulder straps ( I like to secure mine on the back side of the plate with a SS weightbelt keeper.) TSO the chest strap will enable you to use the harness without major adjustment in a t-shirt, wet suit or drysuit.

For cold water diving I really prefer a quick release. With a dry suit, heavy under wear and cold fingers at the end of a dive, it is very nice to be able to just unlip the quick release at the end of the dive rather than work your way out of a harness in a heavy dry suit with protruding exhaust valve on the upper arm, etc.

As for a 2" fastex buckle breaking, I have never seen it happen on a diving harness. The same buckle is used extensively in the military under more demanding conditions. And despite all the rumors to the contrary, breaking a buckle is a non event anyway as the other shoulder strap and waist strap will hold the wing and plate in place.

With regard to the most commonly available commerical harnesses, I like the OMS deluxe harness. Their D-rings are heavier than the Dive Rite rings.

 

[matt_unique]

...
As for a 2" fastex buckle breaking, I have never seen it happen on a diving harness. The same buckle is used extensively in the military under more demanding conditions. And despite all the rumors to the contrary, breaking a buckle is a non event anyway as the other shoulder strap and waist strap will hold the wing and plate in place....

Ditto...anyone with first hand experience using a harness with the quick release buckle knows the scoop. Much more convenient than a single webbing.

--Matt

 

[BigJetDriver]

My vote: DSS Comfort-fit; ease of use and sheer, lovely comfortable fit (uses parachute webbing=much softer and fits the body better)!

Here: www.deepseasupply.com

 

[CD_in_Chitown]

I picked up my 2" webbing from Seattle fabrics for less than 1.50 a foot. Snowbear once asked me how well it was holding up and at the time it was new but it has over 150 dives on it now with no visible signs of fraying. (Of course there are no H's on it but it comes in a variety of colors).

I have seen fastex buckles installed on the left side shoulder harness without cutting the harness, only using the buckle to provide slack to don/doff the rig. Seemed like another option.

 

[fishb0y]

I have used both the DSS Comfort-fit Harness and the Hog harness for the DSS back plate. Tobin really did his homework when it came down to the Harness, but I just don't think it was for me. While the straps were soft, they were a little too soft, which made getting into the rig a little difficult. I also noticed that clipping off on the chest o-ring was a little tough because the d-ring was a little too shallow. I recently made the change to a hog harness, and I love it. Don't get me wrong, I love Tobin's BP/W system, the BP alone is worth getting, not to mention the accessories such as the thumb wheels and the Torus wing.

 

[MSilvia]

I've used a DiveRite harness, and after trying a hog harness I have no interest in using anything else I've seen. I'd no more want a QR buckle or chest strap on my harness than I would on my shirt. I've found the hog harness to be easy to get into, stable, simple, comfortable, affordable, and easy to reconfigure and maintain.

Why pay extra to introduce unnecessary complexity to a simple and effective solution? IMHO, QRs are a solution without a problem unless you have limited mobility.

I'll second the DSS thumbwheels... they kick butterfly screw butt.

 

[in_cavediver]

maybe this would work?

http://www.compactscuba.com/conversion.htm

I actually have tried one with the zeagle 44lb ranger wing. After trying it in the pool, I bought a halcyon plate and wing and put the zeagle wing back on the ranger. It just seemed like they were trying to force the wing to do something it really wasn't designed to do. The lack of the continuos horse shoe fabric left the bottom of the wing left to flap. That and the bolts tied into plastice D rings on the wing, just didn't seem like a good idea.