DR Rec Wing ?

[The Kraken]

Just as DA and Howard said . . .

the K

 

[String]

Ive tried a recwing and didnt like it. On a single even fully tightened it was flappy. It MAY be ok in places where for some reason people decide to use Aluminium tanks as these are bigger and heavier than steel but on my tanks it was too flappy.

For twins it didn't provide quite the lift i needed.

So another one of those wings that tries to do 2 jobs and manages to do neither terribly well.

 

[ArcticDiver]

Good thing this isn't a decision based on popularity. Or, at least popularity in the very small number of posters to this thread, or to similar threads.

Instead, this is a decision based on what is most practical for the OP's circumstances. For that the advise he was given was good.

Yes, I have dived other wings, both bigger and smaller. I own other wings. But, for a good, all around wing that will adapt to most circumstances the RecWing is very hard to beat.

 

[Bismark]

You asked advice and the majority are suggesting to get the single wing now and use it now. You may or may not transition to doubles later. If you do, you will want a dedicated doubles wing. Like someone above pointed out, this will be probably the least expensive part of your transition to doubles and tech or cave. Add my vote to buying the best wing for the job at hand, which is a single wing. I tend not to compromise with my diving equipment. I also suggest you get one of the nice donut wings made by somebody like DSS, or Oxycheque, or Halcyon or Agir. They are all excellent and travel well.

 

[gxsr_sarge]

A few months ago I moved into the world of BP/W's by getting into a Halycon 30# wing w/ a s/s 6# backplate/single harness. I looked at the DR wing that you are describing and really didn't understand how a wing that could be used for doubles could efficiently and cleanly collapse for a single tank set up. Also, if you look at a "clean" (non-bungeed) dedicated wing in the water, you will notice how nicely they fold and contour the tank.

 

[atlas750]

Thanks for the input. I will go with the single wing at this time.

 

[super7]

Guess I was a little late?

I have the Rec wings with the retainers. I chose this wing because
1) I decided to go bp/w
2) I was taking a deep sp course in singles
3) I was taking a tec basics sp in doubles (didn't have the prerequisite 50 dives for Tec Lv1)
4) the dives were going to take place abroad

As ArcticDiver said, the versatility of one wing covering both singles and doubles cannot be put aside when you're travelling. If you might be diving either singles or doubles, depending on what you can get at your destination, this is the wing to have.

The retainer hooks on the current Rec wing, hooks the lower part of the wing to the BP, keeping them tucked in. Result is a smaller wing volume, with less space for air to get caught. Other than the bungees and retainer hooks being a possible entaglement hazard, they work fine. I'm only a holiday diver and not experienced like many veteran divers on this board, but in spite of my inexperience, I was quite comfortable with this wing from my first singles dive with this wing.

As for doubles, I've only had three training dives with this wing. With 12L alu doubles and a 10L alu deco bottle, buoyancy was no issue. I don't know how things will go when I dive with large steel doubles, and especially with lots of deco bottles, but by the time I get that far into tec diving, I would have bought a larger wing that matches the requirements.

Since you haven't decided to go doubles yet, getting a singles wing should be your best choice.

 

[Mattyo]

I have a rec wing that I have used for diving singles for some time. I have had no problems at all, in fact I have found it to be a great wing. The problem you may have depending where you are diving when you convert to doubles is as follows:

Many tech agencies will like to see a redundant source of bouyancy. You mentioned you dive a 3mm wetsuit so I am assuming it is mostly warm water diving in your area. In this case you will probably not wear a drysuit which would double as your redundant bouyancy. So for tech diving you may need a dual bladder. The Rec wing is available as a dual, but the one you were looking at may not have been a dual.

I dive with a wetsuit and have a dual bladder superwing for my doubles which also has more lift than the rec wing.

I think the guys are right, probably best to go for seperate wings but dont discard the rec wing for diving singles if it is the right price, its a good wing.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Guess I was a little late?

I have the Rec wings with the retainers. I chose this wing because
1) I decided to go bp/w
2) I was taking a deep sp course in singles
3) I was taking a tec basics sp in doubles (didn't have the prerequisite 50 dives for Tec Lv1)
4) the dives were going to take place abroad

As ArcticDiver said, the versatility of one wing covering both singles and doubles cannot be put aside when you're travelling. If you might be diving either singles or doubles, depending on what you can get at your destination, this is the wing to have.

The retainer hooks on the current Rec wing, hooks the lower part of the wing to the BP, keeping them tucked in. Result is a smaller wing volume, with less space for air to get caught. Other than the bungees and retainer hooks being a possible entaglement hazard, they work fine. I'm only a holiday diver and not experienced like many veteran divers on this board, but in spite of my inexperience, I was quite comfortable with this wing from my first singles dive with this wing.

As for doubles, I've only had three training dives with this wing. With 12L alu doubles and a 10L alu deco bottle, buoyancy was no issue. I don't know how things will go when I dive with large steel doubles, and especially with lots of deco bottles, but by the time I get that far into tec diving, I would have bought a larger wing that matches the requirements.

Since you haven't decided to go doubles yet, getting a singles wing should be your best choice.

It is a a fair assessment. It works ok with smaller and less negatively buoyant doubles where any loss of buoyancy from the compression of the wing between tanks and plate will not cause any issues.

Where it gets problematic is when you add large duobles with more swing weight, steel tanks that are more negatively buoyyant and a stage bottle or two. In that case the lift is marginal to begin with and the loss of lift from the narrow wing being confined between plate and tanks leaves it very short on lift.

Larry

 

[CompuDude]

I also have a Rec Wing, and while I was about to post my story, DA Aquamaster pretty much posted it.

I pulled the bungee tight, and it didn't taco on a single tank, but this did make dumping air a little more challenging (but not unmanageable). I did use it for more than a hundred dives with singles, and for a few doubles dives as well without the bungee pulled tight. It certainly works better for doubles than singles, but I had no issues with either.

If you're looking for a solution for both singles and doubles, it will do the trick in lieu of having 2 separate wings, and it will save you money by doing that.

If money isn't an issue... get a singles wing, and a doubles wing.

Pretty much my experience as well. Started with the Rec Wing, and never had a problem with it. Even took Fundies with it (bungies removed, of course). Once I got a proper singles wing, and a proper doubles wing, however, I finally saw how much better they were. It's not that the RecWing didn't work, it did... but the others definitely worked better... notably so. I do think it's a decent (but not great) doubles wing, doing better than it does as a singles wing, as long as you have small doubles (Al.80s, HP100s, etc., vs. larger 8" doubles).

Currently my RecWing is collecting dust as a backup wing in case either of my other wings fails, to cover me during repairs. It's doing a bang-up job of that (collecting dust, that is), but one of these days I may just get tired of waiting and sell it off. I definitely would have saved money in the long run if I had just bought a good singles wing to start and added a good doubles wing when I finally started putting together a doubles kit. Small part of the overall cost of moving to doubles, as others have noted.