Lt CHEG
Contributor
Are you diving wet in NY state in doubles? As I described earlier, its almost impossible to not be able to swim up a single tank in any wetsuit (even 7mm) from recreational depths ~100ft. If you can swim it up, you don't need a redundant bladder.
I would not advise a single tank below recreational depths.
If you are diving doubles, in a thick wetsuit, that would not be a good idea for more than just the redundant bladder issue.
I don’t dive doubles, yet anyway, and have never exceeded recreational depths. I do eventually want to get into doubles and sidemount. My interest in tech is specifically wanting to get into wreck penetration so my choice for that will likely be sidemount when I eventually get there. I do plan on buying a dry suit, hopefully within the next year, largely to extend my dive season but also because I am getting into public safety diving.
I should also add that I don’t have much of a dog in this fight, and as I’m upgrading my equipment I’m going to equipment that would largely be compatible with GUE. In fact I’m saving for a Halcyon Infinity BP/W setup as we speak. I know it’s not exactly perfectly Hogarthian because of the Cinch system but that is a feature that I most definitely want and what is largely leading me to Halcyon as opposed to others. I also don’t believe that I’d be willing to compromise on that particular system either. As I begin my foray into public safety diving the majority of my equipment will be my own, bought by me so I want a system that can easily accommodate changes between laminate and crushed neoprene dry suits as well as thick wetsuits for up north and thin wetsuits and rash guards for when I go diving in warm water on vacation. I plan on using one primary system for everything so being able to make small changes in fit easily is important to me, as is the ability to quickly doff equipment. The likelihood that I wouldn’t be able to use the cinch system when taking Fundies has also been a turnoff as I prefer to train as I would dive, just as I train as I would fight in my day job.
So I guess what I am largely saying is that I agree with a lot of the GUE equipment choices, if not all of them. The biggest hitch for me is the complete inflexibility on equipment. I don’t even have an opinion really on single vs dual bladder systems. It’s just that I’m willing to concede that for some people’s specific needs it may be logically justifiable to use a system other than GUE’s and be just as correct. This is after all supposed to be largely for fun.