Halcyon Infinity for a new diver?

[FrancisK7]

My OW and AOW instructors were nontechnical(this was 17 years ago) and felt anything other than a good old BC was tech. It was the biggest damage ever done to my diving.

This might be what is happening here, who knows. In any case, I've been reading board member reviews and blog posts all night, as you said, I haven't seen a single unhappy person.

Is it worth getting the 40lbs wing? The Dive Shop guy said most people take the 40lbs. I personally don't even know what a wing is exactly, so I'm not in the best position to evaluate.

Finally -- with steel backplate and weighted STA, the whole thing must be terribly heavy. Isn't it a major inconvenience when flying down South?

 

[chs8084]

I got the infinity because I wanted the padding and it did not make sense to just buy the padding with the eclipse. That said, I do tropical diving and cold water, so the cinch system should make it easier. I took my Infinity to the Bahamas with the Ss plate and left the weighted sta at home. I really enjoyed diving the infinity. Now I have to figure out what to do with my 4 y/o Hera bcd, which was quite comfortable but no where near as stable as the bp/w. I doubt my LDS could have even talked to me about this 4 years ago, though it would have saved me money in the long run.

 

[lv2dive]

This might be what is happening here, who knows. In any case, I've been reading board member reviews and blog posts all night, as you said, I haven't seen a single unhappy person.

Is it worth getting the 40lbs wing? The Dive Shop guy said most people take the 40lbs. I personally don't even know what a wing is exactly, so I'm not in the best position to evaluate.

Finally -- with steel backplate and weighted STA, the whole thing must be terribly heavy. Isn't it a major inconvenience when flying down South?

I think that a 40 lb wing is overkill for singles but that is just me... I am guessing Halcyon makes it for a reason! I dive a 30 lb wing for singles and a 40 lb wing for steel doubles; I have a 60 lb wing but haven't started using enough stages/deco bottles to justifify it yet. I'd rather be as streamlined as possible while diving with the appropriate amount of lift, but maybe someone from where you live who dives a single regularly can speak to whether 40 lbs is reasonable for you.

RE: traveling - unless you had extra allowance and wanted to, you wouldn't travel with the weighted insert. Unless I'm mistaken, the STA is built in such a way that you can remove the weighted insert for travel. I bought the aluminum backplate for travel but I like having weight on my back so I keep leaving the aluminum bp at home and packing the steel one, even flying to tropical locations.

Absolutely a bpw regardless of if its a Halcyon or not is wortht the cost even for a new diver. Especially for a new diver. You will become a better diver than most of the people in your class more quickly in a bpw and I will guarantee that pretty much no one on any board that made the switch to bow regret the decision or disagree it will help your diving progression. I personally as I've stated before believe your the perfect person to gain from the cinch system. You are unsure in your diving future and will be diving many different environments with varying levels of exposure protection. The cinch will simply make the transition seamless. Get on the boat or at the dive site, loosen the shoulder webbing, climb in, tighten, dive. No adjusting the triglide slides base on your exposure protection. It simply makes your life easier, and I don't believe you'll be unhappy with it. In my doubles because I likely will always be in a drysuit, I really didn't need the cinch because I liekly wouldn't need to adjust because my protection won't change. I still got it anyway simply because I love the ease of getting out, plus if I do decide to dive wet, I don't have to adjust again. I plan on getting into deco procedures eventually and after two to three hours in the water in doubles with stages I'm going to want the easiest way out of my harness when I'm beat. The way I look at it, unless you know exactly what your diving will be in 10 years, then buy gear that will grow with you. In my opinion the cinch allows for growth, so I buy it on all of my Halcyon plates.

As far as the face down at the surface, yes absolutely any back inflate be it a rec bc or a bpw will put you face down when you overinflate. The problem is that most new divers are uncomfortable at the surface so they overinflate to get way out of the water, which will tip you forward. You will soon learn how much to actually inflate so this doesn't happen. And don't worry its not puching you uncontrollably face down, it just leans you forward. When you feel it, let a little air out. Again any back inflate will do this, not just a bp.

And lastly, backplates are not technical rigs. They are the preferred rig for tech divers, but they are for any stage of diving. And more and more people are learning how amazing a bp/w is. My OW and AOW instructors were nontechnical(this was 17 years ago) and felt anything other than a good old BC was tech. It was the biggest damage ever done to my diving. I've dove a bc for 17 years. Once I got into a bp, it transformed my diving, from swimming undrwater, to flying gracefully underwater. The comfort and control I felt in the bpw is what gave me the confidence to pursue technical diving. I was not a tech diver or planning to be a tech diver when I bought my bp...

+1 on a lot of what was said above. The whole "push you face forward thing" is bunch of bunk, no one who dives a BP/W regularly has an issue with this.


Given that you are new and really not sure about a few things, and you think you will be switching back and forth between exposure protection, going with the full infinity system may make more sense for you. you may choose not to use the cinch at some point in the future, but at least you will have it and not be thinking you might want it.

Don't think for a minute that it's a "technical" setup or that it's too expensive - you will save money by making one purchase now vs.several over the years.

 

[Ozwald]

It's an excellent system. I have the aluminum and the SS backplate. I have since removed the padded shoulder straps but kept the backplate pad. However, when I dive up here in Manitoba and wear my drysuit (Fusion Bullet) I find that the shoulder straps get buried right in the joint between my shoulder and pec muscle making it very difficult to reach the D-ringss. I think this is partly due to the zipper design on the drysuit coupled with my somewhat limited flexibility in that area. I did try a friends Transpac with the sternum strap that pulls the shoulder straps towards the middle of my chest and it was much more comfy. I do dive with twin steel 95's. I am currently looking at the new X-Tek form system for my cold water diving and using my Halcyon for warmer "wet suit" diving.

I urge you to try different set ups before purchasing.

I do have an aluminum backplate with the complete cinch system collecting dust if you are interested.

 

[danvolker]

This might be what is happening here, who knows. In any case, I've been reading board member reviews and blog posts all night, as you said, I haven't seen a single unhappy person.

Is it worth getting the 40lbs wing? The Dive Shop guy said most people take the 40lbs. I personally don't even know what a wing is exactly, so I'm not in the best position to evaluate.

Finally -- with steel backplate and weighted STA, the whole thing must be terribly heavy. Isn't it a major inconvenience when flying down South?

You do NOT want the 40 lb wing....That is the lift a tech diver with doubles and a stage would consider....for a single tank diver, this is so much lift that if you ever had a inflator accident underwater, you could get rocketed to the surface at a very unsafe speed...Additionally, you have more drag with a 40 pound wing, and there is no need to pull this much more surface area around with you.

When you are dry suit diving, you could actually be just fine with the Halcyon 18 pound lift wing if you could still find one--this is what I use with my DUI suit.... The 30 pound wing is just a little more drag than the 18, has more than enough lift for any wetsuit use you would have in the tropics, and also enough for a thicker wetsuit, if you are not going extremely deep ( extremely deep with a thick wetsuit is kind of dumb, as a 7 mil suit quickly becomes a 1 or 2 mil suit as you get deep--so you begin to get cold--and very heavy without the bouyancy anymore.....Meaning, this is dry suit territory

 

[FrancisK7]

I'm pulling the trigger... Dan's Dive Shop has a kit for a better price than what I was going to order originally (40$ less, but it's a better kit nonetheless):
https://dansdiveshop.ca/store/index...id=730&zenid=714402be32b3eb2b740b6f526eff5bc0

I bought a second hand Mint Vyper for 395$ from someone in the family who used to dive frequently, all I'll need is a wetsuit before I leave.

 

[rddvet]

Go for it man. That's not a bad deal. ANd Halcyon regs literally are rebranded Scubapro regs. Literally exactly the same. I think you'll be very very happy.

As far as wing I got 40lb because I may do some technical dives in a single carrying stages. I also may not, but I never know so I went with 40lb. It's true the 30lb wing is more streamlined and really all a rec diver needs, but I will say as a new diver, you won't notice the difference in streamlining. So if you get 40lb as part of the kit, don't worry it's overkill. A purist will say yes. From a new diver perspecitve, it doesn't matter. As far as the tank straps. THey're better than 95% of most, so don't change. As far as weighted sta, its havy and unneccessary. I say keep the pockets on for a while for the little bit of weight you'll need. When you come ready to buy tanks, buy steels and you'll never need weight again. So don't spend extra now for the sta.

Once you buy your rig ask your local instructor to do some pool work with you and help get your weighting and trim down. It will take an hour in a pool. Most new divers are grossly overweighted, so an instructor's opinion is very helpful.

You're def gonna love what you buy. Here's a thread from our local forum form a gy that just bought a used infinity.

http://***********************/vb3/showthread.php?t=1633

 

[sprange]

When you add up everything over the span of your diving 'career' (which will hopefully be a long time), I think you'll come out ahead versus those of us who had to go through several different configurations. Worst case, the Halcyon equipment should have better resale value if you decide that you like poodle jackets better...

 

[lv2dive]

...As far as weighted sta, its havy and unneccessary. I say keep the pockets on for a while for the little bit of weight you'll need. When you come ready to buy tanks, buy steels and you'll never need weight again. So don't spend extra now for the sta...

I agree with so much of what you have to say, I hate to disagree with anything! But I have just recently learned, myself, that even diving with big double steel tanks and a steel BP and one stage - it is possible to be very close to needing weight to be able to hold a stop at the end of the of dive if one is wearing 400g undergarments and diving nitrox. I think helium may have pushed me over the edge into needing that weight! IJS!

 

[FrancisK7]

The dive shop insists I need 40lbs, whereas others have said 40lbs could be dangerous... what gives

Quoted from their email to me:

You’re 6’1” and 215lbs. You’ll need the larger lift capacity, especially if you’re ever going to use a steel tank. We don’t even have 30 lbs in stock as no one wants them. If you still want the 30, I’ll have to order it in. We should receive it in a week and a half. I’ll need to know if you want stainless steel or aluminum for the backplate.