OMS wings

[cstreu1026]

I know they have been refered to as the bungeed wings of death, but how about the no bungee wings, are they any good? I have seen good deals on OMS back plates and was considering going with one but I don't know that much about BP/Wings so I am trying to get all the info I can.

 

[ColdH20diving]

There's a lot of DIR folks on this board, ( I don't have anything against DIR, they have a some good points I just don't buy all of it. ) There is nothing wrong bungied wings, I own an OMS banded wing and love it. I dive in various enviornments and I have never experienced any sort of problem. Buy the wing that's most appropiate for the gear and diving you do. Personally, I wouldn't pass on a bungied wing based upon the arguments I've read from some of this board. There's no proof to support the neg. opinions. And no, I don't own a dive shop or sell gear.

 

[AquaTec]

I own several Bladders,one of which is the OMS wings [bannded]
I love them, i will argue against any of the negative view points against them.

yes one paricular group is against them, thats ok...make your own oppinion and hear bothsides of the argument. not just the loudest side.

do a search to find many discutions on this issue

again i love them for the typeof diving i do, which requires good lift capacity

 

[O-ring]

cstreu1026 once bubbled...
I know they have been refered to as the bungeed wings of death, but how about the no bungee wings, are they any good? I have seen good deals on OMS back plates and was considering going with one but I don't know that much about BP/Wings so I am trying to get all the info I can.

...on a non-bungeed OMS 55# wing and found it to be a great wing.

 

[ericfine50]

This is a nice little write up on why the bungeed OMS wing is not the "best" wing to dive with: http://www.baue.org/faq/wing_size.html#bungied_wings



Eric

 

[cstreu1026]

I am thinking i might just get a bp/wing setup to try. I figure if i get a good enough deal I can always sell it. If I get one is 55lbs of lift too much for single tank diving. I do dive cold quarries but I am spending 2 weeks in the carribean this summer so I don't want something that is over kill. Alos, what do I need to get? BP, harness, wing and single tank adaptor, am I missing anything?

 

[O-ring]

cstreu1026 once bubbled...
I am thinking i might just get a bp/wing setup to try. I figure if i get a good enough deal I can always sell it. If I get one is 55lbs of lift too much for single tank diving. I do dive cold quarries but I am spending 2 weeks in the carribean this summer so I don't want something that is over kill. Alos, what do I need to get? BP, harness, wing and single tank adaptor, am I missing anything?

IMHO, 55# is too much for single tank diving. I would look at something more in the 20-40# range. I don't think the excess lift will be your main problem with a single and the 55#, but more the problem of the excess wing material all over the place and possibly trapping gas. If all you dive is singles, I would go with a smaller wing. If you dive both, I think Dive Rite makes a wing that is dual purpose, but I can never keep the wing names straight (I wanna say it was Rec Wing, but I am not sure). You may or may not need an STA depending on your choice of wing, but a weighted STA is also a good option to get some weight off your belt depending on what type of tanks you dive. Other than that you have it...bp/wing/harness is about it..

 

[metridium]

cstreu1026 wrote...
If I get one is 55lbs of lift too much for single tank diving.

IMHO, yes. I used to dive a 55# with STA, and while it was functional, it wasn't nearly as good as the 36# singles wing I acquired later.

cstreu1026 wrote...
Alos, what do I need to get? BP, harness, wing and single tank adaptor, am I missing anything?

The Halcyon single wings don't require an STA, so that's one less thing to buy and keep track of.

 

[ScoobieDooo]

No, but an STA makes mounting a single tank much more solid. Some folks have said that w/o the STA its not rigid enough to keep the tank firmly in place. I agree. STA only adds about 2# to the rig, I believe.

 

[Scubaroo]

Okay, I've seen an incident on a boat involving an OMS bungeed wing. Diver was using a large 55 or 65lb wing with bungees, and double steels. In the process of gearing up, the pull dump cord got tucked under a bungee while the wing was deflated or something, and he does a gaint stride off the boat without fully inflating the wing, grabs his videocamera, and heads down. Once he had to start adding air to his BC to stay neutral, he discovers the pull dump is now stuck open. Dropped like a stone until he was able to finally figure out what was causing the problem, and then be able pull the dump cord and plastic ball on the end of it out from under the bungee, which was now tight against the wing because he was putting air in it to try and control his descent.

One of either a) more careful gear prep including a buddy check, b) removing the plastic ball from the dump valve, or c) getting rid of the bungees, would have avoided this near miss. Point still is though that the bungees allowed it to happen in the first place.