Continuous webbing vs adjustable harness for first BPW

[Badger7]

When I was looking to get a little more standardized and efficient with my diving, I asked many of the same questions, adjustable vs continuous - making it work for different exposure gear - steel vs aluminum plate - quick release - etc.

After doing quite a bit of diving, and a lot of gear tweaking, I have the harness and crotch strap on my heavy steel backplate set exactly where I want for ideal trim. I also ended up with an aluminum backplate with a different harness that I use when i'm diving somewhere warm in a wetsuit, and the length of the harness are where I want them for that configuration, and I wouldn't want to adjust those either or I'd need to dial it all in again. If you're only going to be doing one or the other, you'll never need to adjust your harness or crotch strap once you have them set for optimal trim.

Zero regrets, never wished I had buckles or quick adjusts.

 

[Mike McG]

I switched to BP/W a few months ago and I contemplated this question myself. I went with the one piece webbing and for me it's been brilliant. Most of my diving is with the same exposure gear so it never needs adjusted beyond my initial set up and believe it or not it's actually easier to don than my old Scubapro BCD which was fully adjustable. It's great to not have a load of buckles and little excess webbing tails floating around. Also, my decision was sealed when I was shore diving with my Scubapro BCD one day and upon entry to the water the plastic buckle disconnected. From that point on I realised that it was an inevitable failure point.

 

[mr_v]

I loved my continuous webbing until I tried a setup with adjustable webbing and quick releases. I don't think I'll go to continuous webbing again.

The comfort of quick releases and the ability to adjust the webbing depending on the undergarments is priceless. Btw, I have excellent shoulder mobility, but I prefer the webbing to be dialed in perfectly, as it affects CC counter lung breather comfort and I am also a big fan of working smarter, not harder.

 

[landphil]

I’m continuous webbing on the right side and Subgravity adjustable on the left side. It’s not really for the adjustable part. But it’s tons easier to doff with the quick release, especially wearing a thick drysuit when you need to get your rig off standing and lower it to the ground. And years of crashing mountain bikes has definitely taken its toll on my shoulders

 

[jakehbk]

I dive the sub gravity adjustable harness and like it a lot. The quick releases are metal, pretty robust, but also much lower profile than the ones from Mares.

If you regularly and randomly switch exposure suits like I do an adjustable harness makes life a lot easier. If you have to don and doff your gear in challenging conditions like on smaller boats in choppy seas without a buddy to help you then the adjustable harness will help you don and those quick releases will help you doff.

An adjustable harness is a way to cheat in some sense. If you can get away with using a continuous piece of webbing you'll have a simpler, stronger, cheaper and more fail proof harness system. But if something precludes you from that then grab an adjustable harness.

 

[DCN]

We have adjustable harnesses (Tecline) and being new (but older) divers with some shoulder issues, it is great. The additional hardware is minimal, and we can live with that.

 

[NitroxSam]

Started with a single piece harness about 25 years ago. The last 12 years I've used a Dive Rite "Deluxe" harness, no quick releases, on both my SS and AL plates, with the 1.5" crotch strap with slide release. I only have 1 D ring per shldr , and only 1 D ring on the left waist, so no unnecessary hardware. It's a minimalist carry over from my HOG diving days. Both types are streamlined and functional, so it is simply personal preference. I guess it's just about as minimal as I can get while still using a so called "Deluxe" harness.

 

[MacDuyver]

If you currently dive a basic, continuous webbing harness on your BPW, have you ever wished you had an adjustable harness?

I'm buying my first BPW setup. All of the configurations I have had a chance to try have adjustable harnesses (e.g. Diverite Transplate harness and the Scubapro S-Tek).

I'm looking for something as simple as possible and thus leaning toward a basic, continuous webbing harness. But I don't know what I don't know about that arrangement. There must be a reason why all of these respected tech brands offer an adjustable or "comfort" harness as an option.

Warm water rec diving only--no coldwater or tech diving.
Typically, in a 3mm shorty wetsuit (maybe a rashguard/shorts sometimes).
Newly recertified after a long break. Trained in a rental jacket BCD (Aqualung Wave) but have been trying out various BPW configurations (and love them).

Thanks!

Yep, so I installed a couple of these:

DGX S/S Loop Adjustment Ring

The DGX Loop Adjustment Ring (LAR) is a simple device that allows the left shoulder strap of any 2-inch continuous webbing harness to be freely adjustable, making your harness much easier to doff and don.

www.divegearexpress.com

Cheap and give me the best of both worlds

 

[Barefoot_Lawyer]

Only time I’ve ever wished for adjustable is with my dry gloves, at first. Just getting the hang of how to get in was difficult, especially since the rings for my dry gloves are abnormally large hard plastic screw on (Oberon) rings.

After 20 dives I had it figured out. I don’t need help getting in, and the best advice is to make sure your (doubles) wing is deflated to give you room to get in / out.

 

[Anish]

Im new to this, just got a Dive Rite HydroLite which has adjustable harness. I can't see the point of fixed harness. It seems harder to size initially and get in and out of. It won't work well with different wetsuit thickness (skin to 7mm) The only advantage I see is "points of failure". While in Cave diving I can see that as a major deal, for most recreational warm water diving, so what if a buckle opens up? I can simply reach over and clasp it back. I've had to open and tighten weight belts underwater before and it's never a big issue. So for recreational warm water diving, why would I use continuous webbing