Purchasing a BP/W

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I bought a bp/w at a similar point in my diving (stek). Only comment is that it was a bit tough to get the tank band working correctly with the trim weights the first time out. Went to dive shop, took 5 minutes to adjust. If you can, make sure it sets up fully (including with a tank) before flying out. But there is basically no adjustment. It’s like diving downhill.
 
I wouldn't worry too much about the adjustment period/difficulty. It's not like you have a lot of dives in a jacket. Diving is diving (breathe, swim around, surface, repeat). I think you will really like the snug fit/stability, bias to correct trim and modularity (ability to change wing capacities) the BPW affords. The BPW is designed to make good trim easier, but that also requires using the correct amount of weight correctly distributed.

Getting the harness adjusted properly for you/your wife may take a little while and it's best to get help in so doing. Find someone (if you can) who has dived a BPW for a long time to work with you. It's not hard, but the world is full of good idea fairies (including on SB) who don't know what they're talking about. A dive shop might be able to help, but it depends on whether the person working with you dives one (ask/never assume). A few pool sessions are always a good idea.

The proliferation of BPW designs means a lot of extraneous crap has been added to the original minimalist design. Things like chest straps, quick release ("QR") plastic buckles, cinches, danglies, bungies on wings, long inflator hoses (e.g. >22") and other contributions from the diving peanut gallery are just that. Simple/streamlined is better and often cheaper. Getting a well designed simple rig out of the box (including, but in no way not limited to DGX, HOG) is the best way to go. They're much cheaper (like half) than the XDeep NX, BTW. Be suspicious of "features." Less is more.

There are some differences from a jacket that will take getting used to: 1) the position of air cell in a wing is designed to trim you face down instead of feet down/head up. This will be most noticeable at the surface when the wing is fully inflated. You will need to lean back on the wing to keep upright. That might take you a few dives to get used to. 2) The waist strap/crotch strap means use of a standard weight belt gets tricky (e.g. weight belt over or under the crotch strap). You're diving in warm water (in the Phils) so the weight belt/ditchable weight issue is less critical than diving with a thick wetsuit or dry suit. As such, it's possible you can do away without ditchable weight altogether and mount weight on the cam strap. Alternatively, distribute weight in different places/use a combination of ditchable/non-ditchable weight to maintain proper center of gravity/trim. For example, a few pounds ditchable on the waist strap and a few pounds non-ditchable on the cam strap can give proper fore/aft trim and ability to dump weight without becoming a Polaris missle. Bottom line you should be able to hover motionless in a horizontal position indefinitely without having to fin, scull or other. If you can't, weight needs to be added/subtracted/shifted until you can. Any problem will be you/your weighting, not the rig.

XDeep for sure makes very good side mount gear, but I don't like the NX harness or wing sizing: plastic QR buckles, dangling straps and the wing size advertized (42 lbs) is too large for warm water/3 mm suits/aluminum 80 tanks. The harness is an example of corrupting a good simple design (continuous 2" webbing) with unnecessary "features" for the recreational tech wanna be market at a premium price. The wing size is more than enough for steel tanks using a drysuit if you intend to do that, as well. The amount of lift should be enough to offset the wetsuit compression/weight of gas in the full tank plus give you the ability to float head above the water, and no more. It should be enough to float a full tank rig at the surface. There are disadvantages to using a wing too big or too small. More lift isn't necessarily better. My suggested wing lift capacities are:

Warm water/3mm wet suit/aluminum tanks 20-25 lbs
Cold water/7 mm wet/dry suit/steel tanks 30-35 lbs

For reference, diving the Phils/Indonesia I use 4 lbs on the upper cam strap (no ditchable weight/AL80/ aluminum plate/3 mm suit). In that rig an 18 lbs wing is ample lift. I recommend you use a bit more weight/lift capacity starting out, but not much.

Modularity means that any wing (brand/size) will fit on any BP so you can mix brands. If it doesn't, find a different design/brand. Avoid anything brand specific/limited. It's either modular or it isn't. Flexibility is key. You can go with smaller wings as you gain experience, but work up to that.

Sorry if this is more than you wanted, but you asked.


Have fun in the Phils.
Thank you so much! That basically answers any questions that I have had. I appreciate you taking the time to do this.
 
When you want to keep trim pockets, weight pockets and other things in place on your waist belt, cam belts, and shoulder straps use strips of mountain bike inner tube described in this thread.

 
Trim pockets are good because they can double for other things and put on a cam strap. Pockets with velcro strap loops can be mounted without reweaving straps. An alternative are weight plates (pic) which are good (typically cheaper than pockets), stay in place without mods and can be mounted on waist or shoulder strap without weaving/undoing straps/buckles.
 

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I find these work well for soft or hard weights, and stay in place fine on the waist strap using the innertube, or the larger plastic trigildes. On the tank band, the trim pockets stay in place simply by the tension of the cam band on the tank. 😀
 
Sorry..here's the link i meant to include in post #26.
 
When I got my used BP/W rig it had two small weight pockets on the waist band, each large enough to hold a standard 5# hard cast weight, maybe a little more in a soft weight. They were made by XS Scuba, and I found a second pair just like them on eBay, so I bought them to put on my lower tank band to carry trim weights, I’m about where I need to be weighted with a pair of twos in the trim pouches and a pair of nominal fours in front. All of these numbers are higher than the actual weight. By comparison I had 13# on my weight belt the last time I dove my old BCD, and that was marginally sufficient.

I’m still pretty early in my learning curve, but I’m starting to catch on. Talk to me next Fall after I’ve got more quality ocean time in with this plate. I actually think I’m going to like it. I’ve still got a (proper sized) BCD in reserve just in case I decide this wasn’t a good idea... when I travel by car I believe in total redundancy, a luxury I don’t have when I’m flying!

🐸
 
Just one comment. Buy a good wing.

While the nylon 2" webbing and aluminum/stainless steel backplate may be similar, it's crucial to note that the wing, even in cutting-edge products from reputable manufacturers, is susceptible to tearing.
Fortunately, all the recommendations provided in this discussion are excellent.
 
Agreed @faye. There are a bunch of good wing makers out there. As luck would have it, my “package deal” included an OxyCheq wing and it seems to be pretty much a well regarded one. Maintenance and parts are readily available and reasonably priced… a big plus.
you know what they say about blind squirrels and acorns! 🐿️
🐸
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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