Best SS Backplate

[willanz]

I looked at the one that Jeff brought with him to FL. It was an SS plate with lots of holes in it and heavy. (12lbs, I think he said)

I am pretty sure he said it was the Fred T.

I have my SS plate from Dive Rite and will probably get the Halcyon set up wing and plate with no STA. All in one shot.

I guess up north with thicker suits you need much more weight. Rufty tufty divers...Yeah.

I'll stick with warm water weenie diving.

 

[Spectre]

willanz once bubbled...
I looked at the one that Jeff brought with him to FL. It was an SS plate with lots of holes in it and heavy. (12lbs, I think he said)

I am pretty sure he said it was the Fred T.

11 lbs is what I said [10.9 to be ultra specific]. Yes, it's a FredT heavy. 9 lbs, and then 1.9 for the STA.

When I bought it, I was calculating out my weight needs based on my BC; and not the differences in bouyancy between a BC and a wing/harness setup, so when I dropped 8 lbs going from the BC to the BP and wings, I lost a lot of the leeway I was planning on using for steel tanks.

In an effort to not make that mistake again, I'm waiting until after my drysuit to get a warm water plate. If the FredT heavy still works with the drysuit, then I'll get an aluminum for warm water diving....

 

[ElectricZombie]

For the most part, they are all the same.

FredT does make a heavy plate...I don't think any other manufacturer does.

The Halcyon plates are nice and polished if that appeals to you.

I'm ordering a Halcyon to compare to my FredT for Christmas.

 

[ninja]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...
The backplates are all very similar in design and function however some of the small differences can be important for certain configurations.

I have two plates... one is a Halcyon and the other is from Gary Hoadley in Canada. The Halcyon plate pocket fits on both and I like the pock for holding my lift bag. Not everyone does so this might not be important to them.

Shane has one of Scott Koplin's large plates. It does not have the holes positioned to accomodate a Halcyon pocket so Shane can't use one... I don't think he cares. He does like the size of the plate though. BTW Scott no longer makes plates but I understand that someone took his design and they are available at a grossly inflated price.

Yoopers pappy had a FredT and I got to see it when he was out here in the PNW and it looked good~n~heavy!

Newton's wife had a HD FredT STA when they were here last week... and it looked... well.... heavy duty!

I used to have one of Scott's lead weighted STAs but sold it. Shane still has one and uses it with his singles rig.

I use my Halcyon plate with my singles rig because it has the slots for use with an STA-less wing. I like the new wing without the STA... not eveyone does but if you did you would need a plate with the band slots.

So to answer your question... phfftt.... no big deal... they are all about the same exept for the minor differences

Exactly Uncle Pug!!

With the exception to the oms plate they are all the same the Oms plate does not accomodate a 2 inch crotch strap although some may argue that it is the most photogenic The Halcyon is sexy I use the divreRite plate to me they are all the same with the slight differances that Pug pointed out!

Len

 

[JamesK]

I have a Dive Rite AL, a homemade AL that was made like the Dive Rite, and a Halcyon SS. With the Dive Rite, there are somethings that I do not like. One is the shape. The corners are not rounded enough. So on the homemade one, I rounded the corners a little more. Also, on both the Dive Rite and the homemade one, I bent the lower corners out just a little bit, maybe 15 degrees, to keep them from digging into my lower back. My Halcyon plate already had this done, and I liked it. The other reason I picked the Halcyon over the OMS or Dive Rite SS is because it has tank strap slots for my Pioneer wing. I would have ordered a FredT, but in all honesty, I hate ordering stuff. Waiting for something kills me. I want it right now.

 

[wrongkey]

sumguy once bubbled...
...... And who makes the best STA?

I want to eventually switch to a backplate and wings setup, and will be primarily diving with a single tank, cold water.

Before you fork over $$ on an STA, be sure to take a peek at what Scott Koplin makes.

http://www.selchie.com/sta.htm

The quality of workmanship on his stuff is outstanding. I note on the web site that he's now got a super low profile light weight one, which ought to be just the ticket for warm water and travel. I've got one of the old-style unweighted ones. Since you're mostly cold water, you'd want to consider the weighted one and get some of that weight off of your belt.

 

[Waterborne]

I have a Gary Hoadley AL BP. Came out of the box with harness and hardware attached. I'll be buying one for my g/f here pretty soon. He's one of the few that makes a smaller plate for a small womens stature at a great price too. The only problem I saw with the OMS and Dive Rite plates is the crotch strap hole only accomadates a one inch strap. My buddy had to have his OMS plate's strap hole bored out at a machine shop so he could use a two inch strap.

 

[ninja]

SCORE ResQ once bubbled...
I have a Gary Hoadley AL BP. Came out of the box with harness and hardware attached. I'll be buying one for my g/f here pretty soon. He's one of the few that makes a smaller plate for a small womens stature at a great price too. The only problem I saw with the OMS and Dive Rite plates is the crotch strap hole only accomadates a one inch strap. My buddy had to have his OMS plate's strap hole bored out at a machine shop so he could use a two inch strap.

True but the dive rite stainless plate accomodates 1 inch or 2 inch webbing! The Oms only handles 1 inch!!

Len

 

[Waterborne]

My mistake about the Dive Rite plates. The only crotch strap I've seen made by them is one inch though. That's how I infered that the mounting slot is only one inch. It's not the first time I've been wrong and it definetly won't be the last. Thanks for the correction in a civil manner though

 

[DannyBurchett]

Not sure how economic they would work out for the US market but for the UK have a look at www.backplates.co.uk I don't have any involvement other than a happy customer. A lot of the guys on uk.rec.scuba also dive them and seem more than happy to reccomend.

Circa £30 each...

Danny