Question My debate - go with a BP/W or stick with a back-inflate BC?

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My LDS doesn’t use HOG harnesses. They use the OMS Comfort Harness.

When you said you were getting sized for it, or something to that effect, did you mean someone is assembling a harness and plate for you, and measured up how much slack to leave in the harness to fit you?

That's a wise choice, having some help assembling it.

 

[MyBuddy]

I’m not going to rehash the other pros and cons of a Hogarthian style backplate and wing vs jacket style vs back inflate but did want to emphasize the purpose of the crotch strap, a feature that is integral to the BP/W setup, that I didn’t see covered in this thread. @stuartv mentioned the humble crotch strap briefly for his elitist scootering purposes but failed to touch on its primary and most useful function.
The crotch strap serves to lock in the BC and everything attached to it in the same location on your back throughout the dive. With the typical recreational BC if you go head up just a little too much the BC is going to move up your back several inches. If you are positioned vertically in the water or at the surface in some gear configurations you may be hanging by your armpits in the BC. If you go head down the BC may move down your back as far as the shoulder straps will let. All this movement of the airspace, tank, weights, etc. makes it difficult to stay in horizontal trim without constantly adjusting the BC’s position.
Now a crotch strap can be added to many jacket style BCs. I added one to my jacket BC which already had a 1.5” slot for one. It made a noticeable difference in my enjoyment of diving. I was no longer having to constantly tug my BC back down to where I needed it and could focus my attention elsewhere. Ultimately, I did go to doubles and since I had the backplate, I bought a singles wing to use on the rare occasion I’m diving single tank. If I had to do it over again I would have just skipped directly to the Hogarthian BP/W

 

[ams511]

At the risk of getting flamed: I just switched out my single piece harness for one with a quick release buckle .

You can add a QR buckle to a single piece harness with a couple of tri glides. You don't cut the webbing. When you buckle up the extra webbing is under the harness. When you unbuckle you have extra length to get your arm out.

 

[evandroairton]

I own an old Seaquest Black Diamond, extremly comfy, but bulky, and like it
Today i use BPW, o my single tank OC diving
Cressi and dive rite has quite simple good back flotation bc's with no frills

 

[jellycatsdad]

When you said you were getting sized for it, or something to that effect, did you mean someone is assembling a harness and plate for you, and measured up how much slack to leave in the harness to fit you?

That's a wise choice, having some help assembling it.

They wanted to see which size harness fits - they’re renting out the OMS “comfort” harness with steel quick-releases. I was on my own getting things adjusted.

I just bought a BPW system closer to a classic hogarthian setup from another LDS whose dive club I’m a member of.

 

[jellycatsdad]

I bought a Tusa T-Wing BPW setup this past weekend - it’s more of a “rec/travel” setup and I initially had the same thoughts on it as the Hydros. DGX was getting some serious thoughts from me. LDS owner dives with it, it has a dogbone aluminum backplate and 27lbs lift. Classic continuous DIR/hogarthian harness as well - no quick releases. It should be fine for my dives in NorCal - I carry 15lbs of lead with steel tanks, 20-24 with aluminum tanks - the shop owner also dives one which I took on a test dive. I liked it better than the much more expensive OMS. The DGX would have been cheaper - but I have “local” support with this one.

Adjusted it to fit my body using TDI/SDI’s guide. Need to sort out weights. I’ll try it out on my next dive.

 

[Chavodel8en]

At the risk of getting flamed: I just switched out my single piece harness for one with a quick release buckle .

To me it makes a good backplate system even better - for me. Easier to doff & don by myself in cold water gear (<48 F). And my point? BP&W are just about infinitely customizable. You can fine tune your system to best match your environment and needs.
You like pockets, you can add them. You like to dangle things like a Christmas tree, you can add D-rings to your heart's content. You can get wings to suit the diving you will do. As a modular system you can make the system fit your diving. And you can switch your rig from cold water doubles to a warm water single with very little effort or (relative) cost.

One bit of advice I will re-iterate: Mark your webbing with a sharpie. If you make changes it makes it easy to go back.

Personally, I would like a fully adjustable harness to go with my BP/W. As you say, its my rig and that's what I like. However, Im a cheapskate, so I also just went with the QR buckle, as it was only a bit more expensive than Hogarthian.

I dont understand why a manufacturer cant come up with a fully adjustable harness to easily put on a BP/W for less than $180. I think Zeagle used to, but no longer - Ive ordered it only for it to be out of stock.

And before anyone suggests, Im not buying a bunch of hardware and DIYing it. It was trouble enough just stringing together my harness and fine tuning the fit to me.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

I dont understand why a manufacturer cant come up with a fully adjustable harness to easily put on a BP/W for less than $180. I think Zeagle used to, but no longer - Ive ordered it only for it to be out of stock.

The Sub Gravity adjustable harness is only $145.95. I have have one on my Sub Gravity BP/W and love it. It's clean, simple and no plastic parts. Adjustable Harness System - SubGravity
You can also get it pre assembled on their wing.

 

[ams511]

Personally, I would like a fully adjustable harness to go with my BP/W. As you say, its my rig and that's what I like. However, Im a cheapskate, so I also just went with the QR buckle, as it was only a bit more expensive than Hogarthian.

I dont understand why a manufacturer cant come up with a fully adjustable harness to easily put on a BP/W for less than $180. I think Zeagle used to, but no longer - Ive ordered it only for it to be out of stock.

And before anyone suggests, Im not buying a bunch of hardware and DIYing it. It was trouble enough just stringing together my harness and fine tuning the fit to me.

The Dive Rite Transplate harness is $140. You can find some Keep Diving (AliExpress) harnesses for $60 or so.

I was out of the diving scene for a few years and when I came back I was shocked on how prices increased for harnesses (and everything else). The Apeks Hog harness doubled in price. The Subgravity harness was much cheaper when Golem Gear sold it. The DGX harness was around $35. I am not sure what is driving prices except greed.

 

[ams511]

I bought a Tusa T-Wing BPW setup this past weekend - it’s more of a “rec/travel” setup and I initially had the same thoughts on it as the Hydros. DGX was getting some serious thoughts from me. LDS owner dives with it, it has a dogbone aluminum backplate and 27lbs lift. Classic continuous DIR/hogarthian harness as well - no quick releases. It should be fine for my dives in NorCal - I carry 15lbs of lead with steel tanks, 20-24 with aluminum tanks - the shop owner also dives one which I took on a test dive. I liked it better than the much more expensive OMS. The DGX would have been cheaper - but I have “local” support with this one.

Adjusted it to fit my body using TDI/SDI’s guide. Need to sort out weights. I’ll try it out on my next dive.

Congratulations, it seems like a nice rig, I hope you enjoy it. However, I would be on the lookout for a cheap/used stainless plate to move some weight to your back.

At $300, the OMS harness is ridiculously expensive for what it is. One of the online dive shops was selling the older version with a steel plate for $200. Unfortunately, they sold out last week.