Broke down and ordered a Mach 5 extreme yesterday. Seems like there is always something to buy doesn't it?
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Couple of things to consider. An SS BP is going to take 6lbs off your belt and since your a big guy and sounds like your going to be diving cold that will help in trim and comfort. The padding is nice but you find like many of us unless your diving in shorts it doesn't do much if anything for comfort and mostly gets in the way when adding things to. I have a Transpac I just relagated to be my vacation rig, the first thing I did was remove all the padding except the back pad because the transpac does not have a plate and bolts would cut in if I didn't have it. This is not an issue with a BP. The wing your looking at is really big for single tank diving. This is the one area that having two works best. With a large wing like that on a single tank your going to get the taco effect around your tank which is really not ideal for getting trimmed out. I had a 40lb Halcyon Eclipse and when looking at pictures of myself diving I could see where the little bit of air I used had all got trapped in the top of the wing wrapped around the tank. Not ideal at all. Since this is now a vacation rig i got an 18lb OMS MachV which is fantastic for this rig.I've come to really like that Hollis HTS - Harness Technical System rig.
has the rec-style padding I like (dont like the "bare bones" harnesses), I can dive it single tank without a STA (saves me a lil' $) , dont need a SS plate until I want to do doubles (save a lil' more there). Looks like I can get it with a 48lb wing for about $600 which is in the ballpark I'd allotted.
I'll see how/if my local shop wants to compete and go from there...
Anyone currently diving the HTS ? think its fairly new, may not be many owners as yet.
has the rec-style padding I like (dont like the "bare bones" harnesses), I can dive it single tank without a STA (saves me a lil' $) , dont need a SS plate until I want to do doubles (save a lil' more there). [/url]
I've come to really like that Hollis HTS - Harness Technical System rig.
has the rec-style padding I like (dont like the "bare bones" harnesses), I can dive it single tank without a STA (saves me a lil' $) , dont need a SS plate until I want to do doubles (save a lil' more there). Looks like I can get it with a 48lb wing for about $600 which is in the ballpark I'd allotted.
There are three things right off the bat that will likely keep you from "buying it once" with this system. The padding on the harness will likely just annoy you underwater, a SS plate is often better for single tanks where you need extra ballast, and a 48 LB wing for single tanks is almost certainly too big.
If you really want to "buy it once" you'll have to wait until you have some experience to evaluate the pros and cons (especially "cons!") of dive gear you're interested in.
FWIW, those three arguements are anything but weak.ok those 3 things arent dealbreakers.... for one its not a 48lb wing, its a 38 (or 25); secondly annoying padding doesnt cause me to buy anything again, if annoying I simply remove it, and thirdly I see the argument of a SS plate being used as integral wt., but I disagree that this somehow breaks my buy-it-once ethos... as I need a wt. belt anyway (I like the idea of distributed wt. , not having all my wt. eggs in one basket as it were).
So.... good, I need honest critique to test my reasoning and ensure I'm getting what I want/need... but your 3 reasons are weak.... have any more?