Can't get the wing I want now. Should I get a different rig or a jacket BCD for now?

[shekes]

After three weeks of research, reading thousands of posts and discussing the subject with dozens of people until they got bored, I finally decided which BC I want:

Oxycheq Mach V with a Freedom Plate.

I am totally convinced I want this setup. I was going to order yesterday.

The only problem is: it turned out that the manufacturing of the Freedom plate is phased out for a few months and I need a BC now.

If I get myself another plate now I will still buy the Freedom Plate (+ the plate-specific harness =USD300) later and it will cost me about the same as if get a jacket BCD for the time being. Hence, I might as well get myself a Zeagle Scout (USD200) and get the whole wing later on.

Additional info:

I am only diving singles and in warm waters. I fly to my dive sites. If I ever decide to do something else I'll get more equipment. So please base on the presumption that I won't change.

I chose the Scout because it is a temporary solution. The Scout is cheap, light, back-inflated and yes: now it has a "Velcro cummerbund is user adjustable to 3 positions for extra comfort" (scubatoys.com)

 

[Jim Lapenta]

DSS single tank rig. Either torus 26 or lcd 30 wing. Try it you'll like it. With HOG harness of course.

 

[shekes]

For now the Freedom Plate only works with oxycheq products. Thus I can't get a DSS wing.

 

[timle]

"We feel the Freedom Plate is the most streamlined backplate available for the modern scuba diver."

Great and is it the streamlining affecting the diver's drag coefficient?

Get a plain old backplate - Aluminum or Stainless depending on your weight needs -, a simple one piece harness, and fit it with any wing you want.

Did you try this wing specific plate on? Three weeks of reading the internet stacks up to about 1 second of trying something on and diving it.

 

[evil_xander]

Why is this revolving around a freedom plate?

Get an AL or a Kydex regular plate, that will guarantee that one day you'll be able to use any singles or doubles wing, should you need to, as it's a standardized affair. Should you need to use a different wing with the Freedom plate, again it might be more troublesome.

Standardization is good, mkay...

 

[shekes]

Why is this revolving around a freedom plate?

Because:

1) everybody who owns the Freedom Plate swears by it and these are all people who own several rigs each, so they don't just love what they have (spent $$ on)
2) Because according to what they all say it keeps the tank closer to you than any other BP
3) Because it appears logical that something that you have on your back shoud be at least a little bit curved to be comfortable
4) because Nemrod dives with it and he is my hero

Did you try this wing specific plate on? Three weeks of reading the internet stacks up to about 1 second of trying something on and diving it.

No I didn't try it. I don't have the opportunity. I am working with the means at hand.

Standardization is good but being a recreational diver with no ambition to become anything else I want one perfect set up and not a dive shop in my closet. I have skis in there, skates, inlines, mountain gear, climbing gear and pilot's equipment. I have been diving for 15 years and managed to buy no gear. This will be my first. Why go crazy now?

 

[Narcosis_Anonymous]

I'm getting a Freedom plate because I do mostly single tank dives wearing just a t-shirt. I now use a plastic backpack that is more comfortable than a hardplate but nobody makes wings for it

 

[DennisS]

I have an aluminum dive-rite backplate, steel 130 and an oxycheq wing. I dive with a T-shirt or shorty. What's so special about a freedom plate. A plate is pretty much a plate. Get a plate any plate and some webbing.

 

[TSandM]

Why don't you buy a backplate and an Oxycheq wing, and dive that rig until the Freedom plate is being made again? Then you have a wing you can still use, a backplate you can sell, and who knows -- You might decide in the meantime that you don't need a different plate, and then you're completely ahead of the game.

 

[vladimir]

4) because Nemrod dives with it and he is my hero

That's great, but now you're going to need an Aqua-master double hosed regulator, a tank with a J-valve, and a watch with an orange face.