sillygrendel
Contributor
Seems to be a lot of these posts lately!
A bit of backround on me so you can judge my evaluation better... I'm a new diver (3 months and about 20 dives) and the first 10 of those dives were in nice warm clear water (sigh...) I felt to some degree like I had to start over learning bouyancy control for the colder water here! Every time I get out there I notice I'm improving.
All of the BCs I've used so far have been rental equipment.
The new toy (Halcyon Pioneer 27# wing & SS BP) arrived early last week and I got to spend a day inspecting the various parts, putting it together and learning that adjusting tri-glides wasn't going to be one of my favorite activities. It all seemed to be fairly well made, although the fabric on the wing was not as thick as I imagined it. (strange those mental images!) After a bit of help from this board I had it set up pretty well.
Yesterday I went to Millbrook to try it out! I wandered down there with MikeS and met O-ring, divernva and kstakem. All from scubaboard and none of whom I had met before. It was very cool to meet them all and they were all very nice. I quite enjoyed diving with them and look forward to doing it again!
Ken helped me out in making a few small adjustments to the harness and showed me the correct way to position the tank.
I have to say that I really like the way it holds the tank to your body. It is exceptionally stable, even on land. I had never used a BC with D-rings on it so they were pretty nice as well. (nothing specific to BP/wings)
I hopped in the water and the first thing I noticed was I wasn't push face down in the water. But then again I usually lay on my back when 'resting' in the water.
First dive:
It was very stable. At first I wanted to kill the %^@#er who just put that string on the rear dump. I had 5mm gloves on and it seemed it took many many reach, circle and grabs before the string appeared in my fingers. :upset: But there must be some trick to the technique I can't explain 'cause by the end of the dive it DID always seem to appear in my fingers. (Thanks for the hint UP!) I liked the fact that the inflator was right there on my side where I could find it. I didn't find that it impaired my dumping but before I got the knack of grabbing the string I did have to change to a more vertical attitude in the water before dumping. Another that wasn't quite what I was expecting is that the inflator really pumps air pretty quickly. So quickly I'd feel the hose shudder when tapping the button. Not sure why I thought it would be slower.
Impressions at this point:
It is rock solid stable. Maybe the should only severely torture the guy who decided just to hang a string off the rear dump. Trim and streamlining? I didn't notice a big change, I was too busy looking for the elusive string. Overall it was good but not exceptional.
Second dive:
Much more relaxed on this dive as was also a bit worried about my weighting on the first dive. (turns out I was just about right - added 1#)
Ah-ha! The string ended up in my fingers every time! On this dive I noticed that the BP/wings did help me keep horizontal trim. Not that I was able to always stay horizontal (I'm still learning) but it did seem to aid in the attempt. I took out another new toy to play with on this dive (reel) and quite liked its positioning on the rear crotch D-ring while in the water. I went and 'penetrated' the bus at Millbrook ut: That was good fun. I also got to practice OOA drills for the first time with a long hose. The extra room was nice.
Overall I think I'll be happy with it. I don't think I'd say it is 'far superior' to the other BCs I've used (with the exception of in the stability catagory). There are a lot of little things I like and it does make proper trim a tad bit easier. I think it will be a good first BC.
Now... To get back out and master my bouyancy!
A bit of backround on me so you can judge my evaluation better... I'm a new diver (3 months and about 20 dives) and the first 10 of those dives were in nice warm clear water (sigh...) I felt to some degree like I had to start over learning bouyancy control for the colder water here! Every time I get out there I notice I'm improving.
All of the BCs I've used so far have been rental equipment.
The new toy (Halcyon Pioneer 27# wing & SS BP) arrived early last week and I got to spend a day inspecting the various parts, putting it together and learning that adjusting tri-glides wasn't going to be one of my favorite activities. It all seemed to be fairly well made, although the fabric on the wing was not as thick as I imagined it. (strange those mental images!) After a bit of help from this board I had it set up pretty well.
Yesterday I went to Millbrook to try it out! I wandered down there with MikeS and met O-ring, divernva and kstakem. All from scubaboard and none of whom I had met before. It was very cool to meet them all and they were all very nice. I quite enjoyed diving with them and look forward to doing it again!
Ken helped me out in making a few small adjustments to the harness and showed me the correct way to position the tank.
I have to say that I really like the way it holds the tank to your body. It is exceptionally stable, even on land. I had never used a BC with D-rings on it so they were pretty nice as well. (nothing specific to BP/wings)
I hopped in the water and the first thing I noticed was I wasn't push face down in the water. But then again I usually lay on my back when 'resting' in the water.
First dive:
It was very stable. At first I wanted to kill the %^@#er who just put that string on the rear dump. I had 5mm gloves on and it seemed it took many many reach, circle and grabs before the string appeared in my fingers. :upset: But there must be some trick to the technique I can't explain 'cause by the end of the dive it DID always seem to appear in my fingers. (Thanks for the hint UP!) I liked the fact that the inflator was right there on my side where I could find it. I didn't find that it impaired my dumping but before I got the knack of grabbing the string I did have to change to a more vertical attitude in the water before dumping. Another that wasn't quite what I was expecting is that the inflator really pumps air pretty quickly. So quickly I'd feel the hose shudder when tapping the button. Not sure why I thought it would be slower.
Impressions at this point:
It is rock solid stable. Maybe the should only severely torture the guy who decided just to hang a string off the rear dump. Trim and streamlining? I didn't notice a big change, I was too busy looking for the elusive string. Overall it was good but not exceptional.
Second dive:
Much more relaxed on this dive as was also a bit worried about my weighting on the first dive. (turns out I was just about right - added 1#)
Ah-ha! The string ended up in my fingers every time! On this dive I noticed that the BP/wings did help me keep horizontal trim. Not that I was able to always stay horizontal (I'm still learning) but it did seem to aid in the attempt. I took out another new toy to play with on this dive (reel) and quite liked its positioning on the rear crotch D-ring while in the water. I went and 'penetrated' the bus at Millbrook ut: That was good fun. I also got to practice OOA drills for the first time with a long hose. The extra room was nice.
Overall I think I'll be happy with it. I don't think I'd say it is 'far superior' to the other BCs I've used (with the exception of in the stability catagory). There are a lot of little things I like and it does make proper trim a tad bit easier. I think it will be a good first BC.
Now... To get back out and master my bouyancy!