Noob seeking advice on BCD

[DCBC]

I am a newly certified OW diver with just 7 dives under my belt. I am looking to buying my own BCD before taking the AOW course. I am located in Athens, Greece and this limits the BCD manufacturers I have access to through my LDS (a good LDS, ran by true scuba pros and not mere merchants). I will not buy a BCD I can't test dive and I'd rather buy my BCD and regulator from the same people who will be servicing them.

As you trained with a BCD, I think you're making a good decision not to go with a BP/W at this stage. After you get more experience, you can make the switch at a later date, should you elect to.

Not having dove either, I can't offer any personal recommendations. As you will have an opportunity to dive them both before purchase, I'm sure you will choose the right one for you. Good luck with your new purchase!

Wayne

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Halcyon seems to have a few 'recalls' and I think that bothers me - a lot. See the 'sticky' at the top of the forum plus you can get more info on other recalls at their web site. Not a good thing...

Unless there are 2 rump dumps, you can always roll to a position from which it is difficult to vent the wing. This isn't unique to any particular type of wing, it's based on the idea that the bubble tends to rise. In a heads up position, the rump dump may not work at all if there is very little air in the wing. I think in any BC, there is a certain amount of effort required to manage the bubble.

In one of the other threads we have been discussing the Deep Sea Supply LCD-30 wing, which is a horseshoe, and comparing it to the OxyCheq Mach V, which is a torus. There are a lot of divers using the LCD-30 (including me) and they ALL like it a lot. Then again, the Mach V users like their wing - a lot! I don't think there is much substance to the debate re: torus vs horseshoe.

The neat thing about the BP/W is that you get to choose. If you want a torus wing, no problem! They're all over the place. There are 9 single tank wings available from Deep Sea Supply https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?category=wings Some are horseshoe and some are torus.

Some wings, like the DSS, have the top outlet at the center of the wing. Others have it over on the left. It could be argued that the center outlet design will be easier to vent.

When you look at the various outlet locations, you will note that most wings have them on the back, somewhat below the very top edge of the wing. The OxyCheq Mach V is different in that the outlet is at the very top edge of the wing. It's over on the left but it is at the very top. There won't be much air trapped when descending vertically.

There are so many choices a person could spend days trying to sort them out and still not come up with a 'perfect' answer.

Have fun!

Richard

Hey Richard,

Not to nit pick, but as far as I know the name "Torus" is a name that Tobin came up with for his full circle wing. I think the general term for a full circle wing would be "donut".
You might be stepping on some toes calling one of Patrick's wings a Torus and using one of Tobin's names to describe an Oxycheq product.

I'm just sayin'

 

[deepseafalcon]

Hey Richard,

Not to nit pick, but as far as I know the name "Torus" is a name that Tobin came up with for his full circle wing. I think the general term for a full circle wing would be "donut".
You might be stepping on some toes calling one of Patrick's wings a Torus and using one of Tobin's names to describe an Oxycheq product.

I'm just sayin'

While Tobin may or may not first have used "torus" in context of diving wings, it in fact is the much more "general term" than "donut".

A torus is simply the expression for a ring-shaped surface generated by rotating a circle around an axis that does not intersect the circle.
see also Torus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Interestingly, if you look up "donut" in wikipedia, it is explained using the term torus
"A doughnut is a sweet, deep-fried piece of dough or batter. The two most common types are the torus-shaped ring doughnut and the filled doughnut..."

So I would be surprized if someone feels stepped on his toes when people refer to a ring-shaped wing as "torus", as it was actually the Romans who "invented" the term (Latin "torus").

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

OK, fair enough.
I wasn't up on the origin of the word or exactly what it meant, but I've never heard any other company call one of their full circle wings a torus except for DSS.