Dive Rite Rec EXP wing - works for me

[stuartv]

I have been diving HP120 doubles since around mid-September. I have been using an OMS 60 # wing.

Some reading on here convinced me that for some situations, I would be fine with a 45 # wing. There are a few things I don't like about my OMS wing. It's an older one and the corrugated hose comes out of the front side, instead of the back, like newer wings. It has an extra, unneeded pull dump on the right shoulder. And it's a horseshoe shape. And, of course, it's really big.

So, I have been keeping an eye out for a 45 # donut wing. I looked at the Dive Rite Rec EXP wing and read what I could find here on SB about it. All the reviews seemed to be on a theme - the Rec wing is marketed as being for use with both single tanks and doubles. And the SB consensus seems to be that a wing designed to do two things does neither well. But, I didn't find any posts that actually said it is bad for doubles. They just said it's not great for singles.

DGX had one on closeout a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to get it. I have now completed 1 shore dive, 4 boat dives, and 1 long Tech training pool session with it. All the dives were in a 3mm full wetsuit. The 4 boat dives, with a Kydex back plate and the other 2 dives with a SS BP.

I really like this wing!

I was able to get and maintain good buoyancy control and good trim right from the first dive on. In my Tech training yesterday, my instructor said I had the best buoyancy and trim I've had yet (since starting training in September). It was the first time I've had training where he didn't make a single comment about letting my legs droop into a slightly head up position when task loaded. It was also the first time he actually complimented my valve drill and noted that I had maintained good eye contact with him the whole time as I did it. Valve drills yesterday were also the first time I've really been able to do the drill and consistently stay in one spot, instead of finishing and finding that I have moved anywhere from 2 to 10 feet from the spot where I started, due to "happy feet". Not having happy feet seems to corroborate the idea that I was maintaining good buoyancy and trim.

With full tanks, a SS BP, and being in fresh water, the wing was right at its limit for floating me on the surface with my head comfortably out of the water. Meaning, I was totally comfortably buoyant, but with full tanks the wing was FULL. But, in salt water it was good - not having to be inflated to the point of burping from the OPV. And in salt water with the Kydex BP instead of SS, it was more than good. As a side note, double 120s, a 3mm wetsuit, freediving fins, and the Kydex BP, with no additional weight at all, was the bomb! Effortless buoyancy, trim, and motion.

Anyway, the Rec EXP wing may not be the best choice when diving with single tanks or with diving 8" doubles, but it works great for me for diving double 7.25" tanks!

 

[halocline]

I have an older version of the rec wing for doubles, and I've posted several times that it's an okay doubles wing. Where it's terrible is as a single tank wing. I got mine because it was on special, same situation as you described.

Dive rite wings are good quality, they're just often times way bigger than they need to be.

 

[JMBL]

Been using my Rec Exp for some years now, either with a single 15 L tank or double 10 or 12L, while diving double I usually add a S80 stage and sometimes two, never had a problem.

 

[stuartv]

I have an older version of the rec wing for doubles, and I've posted several times that it's an okay doubles wing. Where it's terrible is as a single tank wing. I got mine because it was on special, same situation as you described.

Dive rite wings are good quality, they're just often times way bigger than they need to be.

Your voice has been one of a very few. It seems like most every post I read regarding the Rec EXP was counseling against buying one. But, almost all of those counseling against it seemed to be basing that on the OP's stated intention to use the wing for both singles and doubles.

Regarding just being "okay", what wing(s) in the 45# range do you find to be better and why? Please don't take that as me trying to argue with you. I have extremely limited experience with wings in general and doubles wings in particular, so I am really, sincerely just trying to learn what I might be missing out on. I'm sure I'm just in a honeymoon phase right now, but it's hard for me to imagine being any happier with a doubles wing. I suppose I might eventually come to wish that it was more puncture or tear resistant. I am sure there are other wings that are better in that sense. But, is there anything else?

Lastly, my understanding is that the DGX Gears Doubles wing is essentially the same wing as the DR Rec EXP. The differences being that the Gears wing does not have the bungee Gusset Control System, and the Gears wing has a solid panel in the middle versus the open design with just a cross of webbing in the middle of the DR wing. If one is only going to use the wing for doubles, neither of these differences seem to matter at all. The DR wing on closeout was less expensive than the Gears wing. But, after using it and liking it so much, I think I would not hesitate to buy the Gears wing for doubles, if, say, my DR wing got stolen or something.

 

[tbone1004]

dgx wing is similar, but the same as the rec wing. The rec wing works fine for some doubles, not so well for others because a lot of the lift is down low. I like them for tanks like LP72's and the PST skinny HP tanks, but it doesn't work well for 8" doubles. Not wide enough and the wider tanks cause it to be restricted.

also, clear your PM inbox, it's full.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

I personally own and use a Rec Wing quite a bit. I find it to be great for larger single steel tanks with a slung pony as well as my double 72's. Honestly though, for anything else it is either too large or too small. Of course, 90% of my back mount diving is in the above set up it tends to be my go-to wing.

 

[halocline]

I personally own and use a Rec Wing quite a bit. I find it to be great for larger single steel tanks with a slung pony as well as my double 72's. Honestly though, for anything else it is either too large or too small. Of course, 90% of my back mount diving is in the above set up it tends to be my go-to wing.

Sorry to pick on you, but the rec wing is a terrible single tank wing. The size of the tank doesn't matter in the slightest. They're either 7.25" or 8" in diameter, and the rec wing is far too wide a wing to work well with any single tank. The pony, of course, makes zero difference as well. You're not diving overweighted and using a larger wing to compensate, are you? Lift requirements are determined by exposure suit, not tank size. This is despite what dive rite used to put in their sales descriptions.

I wouldn't have responded, but you do work at a dive shop selling this stuff. Maybe you should try wings that are actually made for single tanks and have a narrow profile to fit one. If you do that and you still think the rec wing is a good single tank wing, I would have no explanation for that.