I decided I'd reached the limitations of my first BCD - a trusty Scubapro Glide 500, mainly due to the lack of D-rings which means there's nowhere to put the reels, backup lamps and stuff that I'm now starting to need. In looking for a replacement I thought I'd see whether a backplate+wing might be the way to go so managed to borrow one (a Halcyon Eclipse) from a shop for a couple of dives to see. These are my impressions:
On land, walking to and from the water it's a definite improvement. The backplate feels much more like wearing a well fitting backpack than a ridiculously heavy loose jacket. I certainly feel less unbalanced and can walk more comfortably with the backplate system.
On the surface I can certainly understand what some people have said about the feeling that they try and float you face-down. Compared to a BCD there is a definite feeling that the thing is trying to tip you forwards. It takes a conscious effort to lean backwards in order to float comfortably. Of course, this could simply be a matter of what I'm used to - more experience with the wing and it may well feel as natural on the surface as the BCD does now. I did notice that it seems to take less effort to swim on the surface with the wing though.
Underwater, where it really counts, I love the wing already. You seem to naturally float in a horizontal position compared to the head up/feet down position which a BCD seems to encourage. For the first time I actually felt like the frogkick made sense, although my technique still needs a lot of work. As on the surface, it seems to need less effort to swim through the water.
Other points: The lack of pockets on the wing could be a problem, although the BCD pockets were never easy to reach and, especially with air in the vest, impossible to get anything into or out of. Still, the full MC system comes with a storage pack - that and a bigger drysuit pocket should solve that problem.
All in all, I think my upgrade is going to be to a backplate/wing system rather than to a higher end BCD.
On land, walking to and from the water it's a definite improvement. The backplate feels much more like wearing a well fitting backpack than a ridiculously heavy loose jacket. I certainly feel less unbalanced and can walk more comfortably with the backplate system.
On the surface I can certainly understand what some people have said about the feeling that they try and float you face-down. Compared to a BCD there is a definite feeling that the thing is trying to tip you forwards. It takes a conscious effort to lean backwards in order to float comfortably. Of course, this could simply be a matter of what I'm used to - more experience with the wing and it may well feel as natural on the surface as the BCD does now. I did notice that it seems to take less effort to swim on the surface with the wing though.
Underwater, where it really counts, I love the wing already. You seem to naturally float in a horizontal position compared to the head up/feet down position which a BCD seems to encourage. For the first time I actually felt like the frogkick made sense, although my technique still needs a lot of work. As on the surface, it seems to need less effort to swim through the water.
Other points: The lack of pockets on the wing could be a problem, although the BCD pockets were never easy to reach and, especially with air in the vest, impossible to get anything into or out of. Still, the full MC system comes with a storage pack - that and a bigger drysuit pocket should solve that problem.
All in all, I think my upgrade is going to be to a backplate/wing system rather than to a higher end BCD.
