First time with Halcyon Eclipse

[shellbackdiver1]

Last night I spent an hour in the pool trying the Halcyon Eclipse (AL bp). I wore a 2.5mm wetsuit, no weight, full foot fins, mask, and basic reg setup.

Adjusting the unit for fit was not a problem due to all of the info here on scubaboard and personal research. Donning it though almost caused me to take off my scalp thanks to a wing nut holding the STA. Yeah did one of those flip over the head things? Made a note to myself to change those wing nuts or never try that again.

Entered the pool and naturally filled the wing to its max capacity. With all of the complaints here on the board I expected my face to be in the water. Maybe I just have the natural instinct to keep my face out of the water when no artificial breathing apparatus in my mouth. Moved around abit to check the stability of the tank and to ensure that all was well.

Normally with a jacket style BCD in the pool I need 2 kilos of weight to go down. I prepared a weight belt with 2 kilos and placed it next to the pools edge if needed (I didn’t need it). Deflated and down I go. Trimmed out fine, held a good horizontal position and most of all noticed a freedom of movement. This is the most important reasons why I want to switch over to a bp/w setup.

I did remove the bp/w under the water and replaced as well as on the surface. With a little practice there should be no problem. Also made note to myself that tank placement should be exact every time or the crotch strap will be an issue.

Question: Is there going to be a major difference between Halcyon and DSS, OMS, Dive Rite, or any other (hog) bp/w setup as far as performance? Quality wise I’m sure they are all par with each other. Should the shoulder straps be firmly against the wetsuit? Mine were about 1/2" from my shoulder under the water. Anything against buying cheap weight pockets (for maybe 1.5Kilo each side zippered) and placing it on the waist belt?

I'm sold on the idea but am unable to try any bp/w other then the Halcyon due to my location.

 

[PerroneFord]

Frankly, the wings are a bit different between the manufacturers. On the single tank wings, not that big a difference though. Any of the one's you mentioned would probably be fine. Try to stay with the hog harness if that is what you like.

I prefer to keep my weightbelt seperate from my rig, but that's just me. Should the need ever arise to take the unit off underwater, seperating yourself from your weighting will make you VERY positively buoyant.

 

[jeckyll]

For your question regarding the harness tightness
http://www.baue.org/images/galleries/equipment/straptightness
Should do the trick.

 

[*Floater*]

Question: Is there going to be a major difference between Halcyon and DSS, OMS, Dive Rite, or any other (hog) bp/w setup as far as performance? Quality wise I’m sure they are all par with each other. Should the shoulder straps be firmly against the wetsuit? Mine were about 1/2" from my shoulder under the water. Anything against buying cheap weight pockets (for maybe 1.5Kilo each side zippered) and placing it on the waist belt?

There are small differences. If you are standard size, then all average plates should work fine, though there are differences in what slots are available, how flat they are and what material they are made off. If you are very big or small, then a large or small plate would fit better and those are available from DSS and Oxycheq at least.

For wings, the major differences are whether they are donuts or horsehoes, single-layer or double-layer and the lift capacity and shape. I prefer donuts, but you can search for arguments about whether it matters. Some say it doesn't really make any difference. Double-layered wings are more durable, and you have the option to replace the inner bladder if necessary at not too much cost, whereas with single-layered wings you'd probably have to get a new one in such circumstance. However, single-layer wings take less space, cost less and are more streamlined imo (good for warm water vacation diving).

For shape, you need to consider how the gas would shift inside the wing and where it would locate when you are in horizontal trim. Some wings have wider rears, so those tend to place more lift over there, which is what some people want, but others do not. There are many other differences too (bungies, dump valves, etc). Once you've narrowed down your choice, it's best to double check here on the board or elsewhere to get a second opinion before you pull the trigger.

As for the shoulder straps, it's not just about the tightness, but also how low you want your plate to be. If you loosen the shoulder straps then the plate (and the center of weight of your whole rig) will drop lower, but you'll have to tighten the crotch strap in return to make sure the rig stays tightly in place. I like to loosen the shoulder straps until I can comfortable turn my head back to look up without being restricted by the manifold when using doubles.

 

[shellbackdiver1]

Good information and thanks.

 

[Vicente]

I have never found "face-down" to be a problem with a BP/W setup where it wasn't a user-error of operation or setup. Like if you had all your weights in pockets near the front of your body, duh that's not going to help matters any.

Halcyon makes a good wing.

Beyond that it's just a backplate and some webbing. Who assembles these pieces hardly seems to matter. I bought various pieces and put my own together.

The only thing I don't like about the Halcyon is if it came with that junky new stainless-steel inflator I'd ask the shop to put on a simple and reliable Dive-Rite inflator and credit me the difference. Or I'd put my own inflator on there, and sell the Halycon inflator to some sucker. That's one of their few ideas which has turned out to be like a British sports car.