Purchasing a wing for cold water diving (Single Tank)

[Bowers]

i like my hog 32lbs wing. perfect lift for a heavy rig and no need for STA

 

[ams511]

BTW the Oxycheq and Dolphin wings require the use of a single-tank adaptor, as they only have bolt holes. They may or may not line up with your Hollis plates.

The Apeks does have slots to thread the cambands through the plate, but as to whether they line up with the Hollis plate slots or not? Who knows
The DR/DGX wing will fit anything pretty much due to it's design, I have no experience with them. Other options might be HOG or Deep6.

Even with shipping they'd can work out cheaper than buying local. Are you looking on Scubadoctor by chance? They're the first hit I got on those Dolphin wings.

I have 2 oxycheq wings. Neither requires an sta. There are slots through the wing.

 

[2airishuman]

Hello Alekath

Welcome to Scubaboard

Can i Have a smaller wing as when correctly weighted surely the amount of lift required is very minimal. eg 18 pounds lift??

I have various wings. 17, 30, 45 pounds

It is my experience that a 17 pound wing is simply not adequate for cold water diving, at least in a wet suit. Not enough buoyancy at the start of the dive at least when diving wet. For diving dry it would not be enough to recover from a drysuit flood.

So, yes, you would want to look at wings in the 30#+ range. Larger is not necessary unless you will be diving a twinset.

 

[happy-diver]

Here's a current Oxycheq bladder, welded fittings, black and clear, they can't even make their mind up
Yuk!

Next to it, current VDH, fantastic wings, threaded repairable replaceable fittings, inner removable bungee
Beautiful!

Just made 8 sets of MMO STAs for some boat people, can't get firmer or closer to your back than with these

Lovely!

 

[ams511]

Here's a current Oxycheq bladder, welded fittings, black and clear, they can't even make their mind up

Whether welded fittings are good or bad depends on your point of view. Welded fittings make bladder repairs easier because you only need to remove the inflator and dump and unzip the wing. With the fittings you need to use a tool to unscrew the fittings and take them apart.

 

[Alekath]

Done some more research with consideration to the points above and now leaning towards a HOG 32 pound wing.

I was looking on more local dive stores in Australia and came across the HOG 32 for a reasonable price, reading reviews appears to be no issues with them, just not as streamlines as the VHD or Oxycheq. Anyone had any experience with these?

The VHD and Oxycheq are not readily available in Australia, and taking into account exchange rates and international shipping an Oxycheq is double the price and a VHD is 50% more. Apeks or Hollis don't seem worth the extra money and seem to have some issues with different valves etc then standard.

 

[ams511]

Some of the older reviews on Hog wings may not be applicable because Hog changed the design a few years ago. I believe the newer design with the bungees is more streamline. Ask @Jim Lapenta he is a dealer.

I would check out eBay also. There is someone from Australia selling a complete Halcyon Eclipse package for under $800 US. Unfortunately they don't ship to the U.S.

 

[Griffo]

Done some more research with consideration to the points above and now leaning towards a HOG 32 pound wing.

I was looking on more local dive stores in Australia and came across the HOG 32 for a reasonable price, reading reviews appears to be no issues with them, just not as streamlines as the VHD or Oxycheq. Anyone had any experience with these?

The VHD and Oxycheq are not readily available in Australia, and taking into account exchange rates and international shipping an Oxycheq is double the price and a VHD is 50% more. Apeks or Hollis don't seem worth the extra money and seem to have some issues with different valves etc then standard.

I still dive my HOG 32# wing. It is however the older model.. the only complaint I'd have was the inflator hose was probably 1" shorter than ideal for me. Still looks like new after 100 or so dives.

HOG used to be the raison d'etre round these parts till Chris left to start Deep6.

 

[diveKi]

Sorry for reviving this old thread.
I got hold on a Polaris wing, which is the same as an IST Dolphin wing, just relabeled.
I want to dive it with a mono and would like to use a soft STA or even none at all.
Unfortunately the wing doesn’t have slots for the tank strap.
So I thought I could cut the slots by myself.
Is there any reason, that this is not a good idea? Has anyone done this before and could give some advice?