BP/W - APEKS vs Oxycheq

BP/W - APEKS vs Oxycheq

  • Oxycheq

    Votes: 18 62.1%
  • Apeks

    Votes: 11 37.9%

  • Total voters
    29

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I own/have owned the 40, 30 and 18. I agree with slow venting on the 40, noticeably slower than the other two, not my favorite wing. I have no issues with the 30 but my favorite is the 18, vents effortlessly, just wish I lived somewhere warm enough as it would be my primary wing of choice, no question.
 
@eelnoraa halcyon also oversizes their wings, and Deep Sea Supply is to my knowledge the only company that quotes their lift measurements based off of water capacity when it is fully mounted to an 8" steel tank, so most have to be taken with a grain of salt. If you use an STA the decrease is less because it is stood off of the backplate spine, but if you aren't, then most wings will see a reduction in capacity
 
Not a wing design expert, but based on some DIY study of wings I own, all wings must over size their bladder somewhat, so the outter shell is what restrict the maximum size of the wing. In this sense, H bladder is over size, so as DSS or DiveRite and many others. These wings "properly sized" their bladder. But Oxy 40lb over size by a huge margin. based on eye balling, I would at 50% bigger than what it needs to be. I have posted picture of Oxy vs H inner bladder pictures before. I will find the link and update this post later.

As for wing size reduction due to tank attached, I can understand this applies to all wings. it is all about the acceptable range. If a 40lb wing with tank attached, it becomes 38lb. I call it acceptable. But if it becomes 30lb,I say it is too much. Oxy MkV by design will suffer from this more than any other wings because it is so narrow. It is the cost of being so low profile.

In fact, I did some ghosting test in my dunk bucket at home. Set up the rig with different wings, out weight in until the rig sink. This is by no mean accurate because my dunk bucket is not big enough but it does show a ball park comparison. Oxy MkV 40lb only take 2lb more to sink compare to H 30lb. Both with worthington lp95. No reg attached. Both with STA, Oxy has deep outdoor, H has H. DeepOutDoor STA is probably lower profile and 1 lb heavier. Again, not a scientific measurement, but kind of show the ideas.

Can't find the threat, but found these pictures
Photo Feb 22, 11 12 09 AM.jpg
H 30lb. Left half (inner bladder) vs right half (outter shell). Bladder is a little bigger.

Photo Feb 22, 11 16 26 AM.jpg
Oxy MkV 40lb. Left side (shell) vs right side (inner blader). See how much wider it is. See the crease at the middle vertically on the bladder, it is where the bladder got folded naturally when inside the shell. A member here showed a similar picture for the 30lb version. The bladder doesn't oversize like this.
 
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I have the 18 pound Oxycheq wing for use in (very :D) warm water. Pleased with it, but there are a few things I found; and as mentioned above. These may or may not apply to the 30 pound version.
- I suspect the lift capacity is actually less than 18 pounds once mounted. The tank prevents the wing from fully inflating.
- Oxycheq uses an oversized inner bladder. The idea behind this is that because of this, there will be little stress on the seams. Downside of this is that this traps some air in the wing. If you're very tight on trim, getting that last bit of air out may be tricky.

Neither is a practical issue for me. No experience with Apeks wings, don't even recall ever having seen one in real life. My other wings are an Agir Niord 40 (doubles) and an H Eclipse 40.
 
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I would choose the oxycheq over the Apex simply because Apex uses a proprietary OPV. I hate it when manufacturers use non standard parts. However I would suggest purchasing Oxycheq from a very reliable dive shop that will stand behind their customer because Oxycheq's customer service sucks.
 
I would choose the oxycheq over the Apex simply because Apex uses a proprietary OPV. I hate it when manufacturers use non standard parts. However I would suggest purchasing Oxycheq from a very reliable dive shop that will stand behind their customer because Oxycheq's customer service sucks.

It doesn't suck in my experience, it's more non existent. I recommend Cave Adventurers if buying Oxy, Edd is a great guy. Scuba Toys used to sell Oxy but had a falling out, had a fire sale on all Oxy stock and that was that. Oxy is just down the road from CA and I believe Edd has a good relationship with Patrick.
 
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+1 for Apeks. I cannot speak for their durability as I have yet to beat mine up (have ~10 SW dives on it) I can speak for the design. I have the 18lbs wing and my partner has the 32lbs wing. Both wings are the same height and width the 32lbs wing just extends more outwards and around the tank. They are quite narrow and streamlined. The standard wing is made with a decent thickness coradura shell and a thick urethane (I think) inner bladder. The PSD Wing is made with a harder more durable (but also heavier and less compressible ie.not ideal for travel) material that dries almost instantly. We have one of each so I can compare. The wings appear to be very well made. The corrugated hose of the standard wings (coradura) fits 1inch elbows and comes with a 1 inch elbow and standard inflator assembly that attaches to a Standard power inflator hose. The PSD Wing comes with a slightly smaller diameter hose (3/4 inch I believe) and has a pull dump at the elbow. I can't tell you if the threads for the elbow and dump valve are standard wing threads but they are standard aqualung threads and hence aqualung dumps and elbows will fit it with no issues. The none standard kidney dump that everyone is talking about is a very low profile dump valve that attaches to the wing using the same aqualung threads I mentioned so it can be replaced rather easily if needed. The wing also has built in bars that stabilize the tank in place and the wing inflates around the tank hence An STA is absolutely not necessary for stability. I find it rather easy to stay upright on the surface with my 18lbs wing and find that it provides me with sufficient lift for warm water diving (5mm wet suit, 10 lbs of ballast, aluminum 80 tank). I cannot speak much for the trim characteristics of the wing as it stays mostly deflated while I'm diving but what little air I have in it doesn't cause me any trim issues whatsoever. Also due to the design of the wings there is no chance of any taco effect.

Edit: I just realized that this thread is from March 2017 not 2018! I hope you're enjoying the choice you made! Happy diving
 
Another choice for a travel wing that was not available when this thread was started in one from Vintage Double Hose. At $310 it seems like a bargain for an American-made wing. Store | Vintage Double Hose

Once I checked the date I did not read the whole thread so I don't know if it was discussed. The Oxycheq wing has longer slots for the webbing so it can be used with almost any backplate and not require an single tank adaptor. The Apeks wing doesn't and requires a proprietary plate or one with similar spacing of slots.
 
Another choice for a travel wing that was not available when this thread was started in one from Vintage Double Hose. At $310 it seems like a bargain for an American-made wing. Store | Vintage Double Hose

Once I checked the date I did not read the whole thread so I don't know if it was discussed. The Oxycheq wing has longer slots for the webbing so it can be used with almost any backplate and not require an single tank adaptor. The Apeks wing doesn't and requires a proprietary plate or one with similar spacing of slots.
Not the 18 but for the 23 or 35 even better...

Store | Vintage Double Hose
 
Not sure if the OP is still checking but in case you are - I picked up the Halcyon BP/w last year and combined it with Apeks regs. I too am negatively bouyant but found that the alu plate was too light and I had to carry an extra kilo to keep me down towards the end of the dive with an empty tank.

Also the whole setup is quite bulky and heavy. Not really the best for dive holidays but would be a great choice for local diving.

Apart from that I'm super happy with the Halcyon. It's just so comfy :)
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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