Taath
Contributor
I wanted to take a moment to put together a review of the Deep 6 Gear backplate, wing, and harness. Additionally, I’m going to add in a bit about the Eddy Fins as well. Going to break it down by each piece.
Backplate
Backplate is a backplate, right? Well, not exactly. There are a few nice features that stick out on this backplate. First off, I’ll mention that I went with the stainless steel plate. It has a nice light black coating to it, added points in the cool factor.
One thing that I really like about this plate is the bent corners. I have some pretty decent love handles and other plates I’ve tried on have always jabbed me right in the flab. Not an issue with this plate.
Overall quality seems very high. The laser engraved logos also add to the cool factor. This plate does exactly what it’s supposed to do while looking cool and feeling non-existent while in the water.
Wing
I went with the 30lb wing. The wing comes with a dry bag, cool bonus. The exterior shell is not cordura or a fabric, it’s an almost rubbery feeling material. Dries almost instantly, which is super nice for travel. Wing has lots of mounting options, as it should, and includes slots for cam straps.
The wing came with a nice foam/rubbery feeling pad that was velcroed on between the cam straps. I’ve been using the wing with a STA, but I imagine this pad would do a great job holding the tank in place if I weave the cam straps through the backplate.
The wing is a donut shape, which I prefer. I’ve had no issues with inflating, dumping, or maintaining trim with this wing. It just works. Dump valve on the bottom left is very responsive and dumps like a champ when activated. The corrugated hose is different than any I’ve used before. It’s softer, almost feels like silicone. This gives it a little bit of stretch and a little more diameter; it feels pretty good and stays nice and tight once bungeed to the harness.
Overall, the wing performs flawlessly in my trials.
Harness
The harness kit comes with all the needed hardware and a crotch strap. It is 2 inch webbing with a twist. It is coated in silicone. At first, I wasn’t sure I was going to like this. It has a little bit of a slick feel and it was a pain in the ass to get some of the d rings on, especially the crotch d-ring when you double thread it through the triglide. Once I got the webbing wet, however, it was super easy to work with; so pretty standard for webbing.
One big plus to the silicone coated webbing is that it dries really fast, like almost instantly. Once I got the harness on with my Lavacore and later my drysuit I noticed that it really gripped on to what I was wearing. This made it super stable and there was no slippage of the harness, even when it was a little loose on my lavacore.
I’m not sure how durable the silicone coating will be, however, for now it seems like a winner.
Eddy Fins
I now own two pairs of Eddy fins. A pair in large and a pair in x-large. For reference, I have switched to the Eddy fins from my Hollis F2s. I’ve also tried the Hollis F1s.
I loved the power of the Hollis F1s but hated the weight. Loved the light weight of the F2s but they just didn’t produce enough power for drysuit diving. I needed something in that goldilocks zone of power to weight ratio. The winner? The Eddy fin from Deep 6.
These fins are actually pretty light, no where near the bricks that the F1s were. But despite being light they have great stiffness in the middle of the fin and deliver power that is damned near what the F1s were giving me.
The spring straps they come with are great and have three adjustment levels to fine tune the fit and tightness. The foot pockets appear to have been made with a human foot in mind, they aren’t the ridiculously shaped pockets that I’ve seen on many fins.
These fins, in my opinion, find the perfect balance. They are light enough to not drag me out of trim, deliver more than enough power, and still have all the precision I need for back kicks, helicopter turns, and other technical kicks. These fins are a home run!
BONUS: Customer Service
I wanted to take a moment to talk a little bit about the Deep 6 customer service. I’ll start by saying I know I can be a bit of a pain in the buttocks. I am a very particular customer. I want to know exactly what I’m getting and I want to know when I’m getting it.
Landon and Chris have been great about communicating, answering questions, and when there was a minor hiccup (shipped the wrong size fins) getting it fixed quickly. It’s been a pleasure dealing with Deep 6. The guys even took the time to share with me some of their preferences and the reasoning for doing what they do (talking about STAs, why they used silicone coated webbing, ect.)
If you want to deal with a top notch team who are dedicated to ensuring that you, the customer, is happy then Deep 6 gear is the way to go!
Backplate
Backplate is a backplate, right? Well, not exactly. There are a few nice features that stick out on this backplate. First off, I’ll mention that I went with the stainless steel plate. It has a nice light black coating to it, added points in the cool factor.
One thing that I really like about this plate is the bent corners. I have some pretty decent love handles and other plates I’ve tried on have always jabbed me right in the flab. Not an issue with this plate.
Overall quality seems very high. The laser engraved logos also add to the cool factor. This plate does exactly what it’s supposed to do while looking cool and feeling non-existent while in the water.
Wing
I went with the 30lb wing. The wing comes with a dry bag, cool bonus. The exterior shell is not cordura or a fabric, it’s an almost rubbery feeling material. Dries almost instantly, which is super nice for travel. Wing has lots of mounting options, as it should, and includes slots for cam straps.
The wing came with a nice foam/rubbery feeling pad that was velcroed on between the cam straps. I’ve been using the wing with a STA, but I imagine this pad would do a great job holding the tank in place if I weave the cam straps through the backplate.
The wing is a donut shape, which I prefer. I’ve had no issues with inflating, dumping, or maintaining trim with this wing. It just works. Dump valve on the bottom left is very responsive and dumps like a champ when activated. The corrugated hose is different than any I’ve used before. It’s softer, almost feels like silicone. This gives it a little bit of stretch and a little more diameter; it feels pretty good and stays nice and tight once bungeed to the harness.
Overall, the wing performs flawlessly in my trials.
Harness
The harness kit comes with all the needed hardware and a crotch strap. It is 2 inch webbing with a twist. It is coated in silicone. At first, I wasn’t sure I was going to like this. It has a little bit of a slick feel and it was a pain in the ass to get some of the d rings on, especially the crotch d-ring when you double thread it through the triglide. Once I got the webbing wet, however, it was super easy to work with; so pretty standard for webbing.
One big plus to the silicone coated webbing is that it dries really fast, like almost instantly. Once I got the harness on with my Lavacore and later my drysuit I noticed that it really gripped on to what I was wearing. This made it super stable and there was no slippage of the harness, even when it was a little loose on my lavacore.
I’m not sure how durable the silicone coating will be, however, for now it seems like a winner.
Eddy Fins
I now own two pairs of Eddy fins. A pair in large and a pair in x-large. For reference, I have switched to the Eddy fins from my Hollis F2s. I’ve also tried the Hollis F1s.
I loved the power of the Hollis F1s but hated the weight. Loved the light weight of the F2s but they just didn’t produce enough power for drysuit diving. I needed something in that goldilocks zone of power to weight ratio. The winner? The Eddy fin from Deep 6.
These fins are actually pretty light, no where near the bricks that the F1s were. But despite being light they have great stiffness in the middle of the fin and deliver power that is damned near what the F1s were giving me.
The spring straps they come with are great and have three adjustment levels to fine tune the fit and tightness. The foot pockets appear to have been made with a human foot in mind, they aren’t the ridiculously shaped pockets that I’ve seen on many fins.
These fins, in my opinion, find the perfect balance. They are light enough to not drag me out of trim, deliver more than enough power, and still have all the precision I need for back kicks, helicopter turns, and other technical kicks. These fins are a home run!
BONUS: Customer Service
I wanted to take a moment to talk a little bit about the Deep 6 customer service. I’ll start by saying I know I can be a bit of a pain in the buttocks. I am a very particular customer. I want to know exactly what I’m getting and I want to know when I’m getting it.
Landon and Chris have been great about communicating, answering questions, and when there was a minor hiccup (shipped the wrong size fins) getting it fixed quickly. It’s been a pleasure dealing with Deep 6. The guys even took the time to share with me some of their preferences and the reasoning for doing what they do (talking about STAs, why they used silicone coated webbing, ect.)
If you want to deal with a top notch team who are dedicated to ensuring that you, the customer, is happy then Deep 6 gear is the way to go!
A complete Deep 6 life style.
