K I'm a pain in the rear Newby, but a question on BCD's verse BP/Wing

[DavidHickey]

This has probably been asked a Million and one times, but from doing some research I have been reading up on different BCD's and BP/Wings. It seems people either love or hate which ever one they do not use. I've been looking at the Halcyon Eclipse, and can find relatively little bad press or opinions on it. What are your thoughts on this set up? And the Eclipse can only take single tanks. Being new to all this, how often do recreational divers do dives that would require 2 tanks? Is this common or are most dives single tank dives. I also read alot about the Transpac II everyone seemed to agree they were great. Then I found one message board that litterally said they were JUNK.... Any thoughts?
David

 

[simbrooks]

David, you are correct that this has been covered a million times, but regardless, what kind of diving do you want to do? If you look in the BC or Hogarthian forums you will find a good idea of what kinds of stuff people like. Dont worry about carrying two tanks until you want to and get training to do the types of diving that this configuration is used for (in any case only a few BC's can carry such configurations and all but one type of BP seem suitable (with a doubles wing) for that job should the time come).

I love my BP/W (its all Zeagle and Dive-Rite, but you also have Halcyon, OMS and Oxycheq - not to mention a few independant manufacturers around) and wouldnt go back to my rental jackets - ergh, hack. I cant speak for the transpac having not dove one, but i know a few who do, some were happy, some changed out to BP/W. Only a few people dislike BP/W, and prefer jackets after trying them, from what i read here and see/hear out on the boats or in the springs. Best bet is to try to get somewhere that you can rent or borrow (from a buddy) a BP/W to see if it is for you, but its hard not to be right for you in the real world

 

[jbisjim]

This has probably been asked a Million and one times, but from doing some research I have been reading up on different BCD's and BP/Wings. It seems people either love or hate which ever one they do not use. I've been looking at the Halcyon Eclipse, and can find relatively little bad press or opinions on it. What are your thoughts on this set up? And the Eclipse can only take single tanks.

http://www.scubaboard.com/t72232-.html
This may help some. If you have the opportunity to try them i recomend doing so. Talk to your LDS and see what they dive and why.

Being new to all this, how often do recreational divers do dives that would require 2 tanks? Is this common or are most dives single tank dives.

Most recreational divers do not use doubles as well as most recreational dives. As your get into diving more technical diving then it may require doubles. Doubles are not meant for the air hogs.

If you are new I recomend getting a bunch of dives under your belt and decide what type of diving you will be doing. Staying recreational? or going more technical?

 

[Don Burke]

This has probably been asked a Million and one times, but from doing some research I have been reading up on different BCD's and BP/Wings. It seems people either love or hate which ever one they do not use. I've been looking at the Halcyon Eclipse, and can find relatively little bad press or opinions on it. What are your thoughts on this set up? And the Eclipse can only take single tanks. Being new to all this, how often do recreational divers do dives that would require 2 tanks? Is this common or are most dives single tank dives. I also read alot about the Transpac II everyone seemed to agree they were great. Then I found one message board that litterally said they were JUNK.... Any thoughts?
David

Generally, a two tank dive trip means two single tank dives. It will be a while before you need double tanks, if you ever do. If you do go to doubles, you will do better if you get a wing just for doubles anyway.

You can find someone to say bad things about anything. Santa Claus has enemies and Hitler has fans, so I do not take any single opinion too seriously.

I like Halcyon products, although I suspect I would be just as happy with Oxycheq.

Two of the things I really like about the backplate and wing are the simplicity and modularity of the system. I can change the wing or the backplate as needed. Those two points give it an edge over backinflates.