Suggestion for a BP/W setup that can carry me for the future

[Hartattack]

Here are my thoughts on the Carbon Fiber Backplate from someone who regularly dives in 40F/4.4C-degree water with one as my primary.

Does the Backplate look badass? Yes. Yes, it does, and I also feel like a badass even when my skills go to ****, and I blow through stops with reckless abandon because I was focused more on how cool I look and not on the task at hand.

With all of that said, the CF plate does have some notable wins under its sleek and smooth skin. It is light like all of you have stated, but the material's ability to flex is something you haven't said. While this is more noticeable in a carbon fiber bicycle, I noticed this while getting my 104's dialed into a greater degree than its predecessor, the ALU plate. Moreover, while some might say this is negligible, the process was more comfortable to carry the weight of the 104's on dry land in the CF plate than it was in a more rigid steel or ALU version. All in all, the plate seems to be more forgiving and gives that extra millimeter of flex when one needs to reach their valves.

Nevertheless, yes, I'm sold on my plate for all applications, and yes, it is true—I probably am internally justifying the cost of this absurd little piece of bling with this write-up. Nevertheless, I encourage one to try it out if given a chance.

 

[lexvil]

For warm water traveling I just use the standard long freedom plate with a wedge on the bottom, it’s less than 5lb, this past June took it to curaçao using the sort of floppy orange poly-something webbing and the VDH 18 lb wing, light and compact. The advantage of stainless, for me, is it’s weight is all negative so it made it easy to only add a few more pounds and once I ditched the 1mil suit just using a task guard and shorts I ditched another two lb.

 

[BoltSnap]

For warm water traveling I just use the standard long freedom plate with a wedge on the bottom, it’s less than 5lb, this past June took it to curaçao using the sort of floppy orange poly-something webbing and the VDH 18 lb wing, light and compact. The advantage of stainless, for me, is it’s weight is all negative so it made it easy to only add a few more pounds and once I ditched the 1mil suit just using a task guard and shorts I ditched another two lb.View attachment 681905View attachment 681906

NICE fins, I especially like the color

 

[Joris Vd]

Hi!

I recently gained interest in technical diving (I'm currently a CMAS **) and I've decided to finally make to switch to BP/W setup, but since I would like to make a purchase that can carry me for the future I'm here looking for your advices! I was also interested in doing (maybe in 2022) a GUE Fundamentals course so if I can buy a BP/W setup that will work for this it would be better (I know that with a Halcyon setup you can't go wrong regarding GUE requirements, but honestly at this moment I would like to spend less )

At this stage I have found 3 setups which to me look good enough for what I'm looking for, but of course before buying it I would like to hear the opinions of people more expert than me!

Thanks in advance!

View attachment 680569
Apeks WTX-D30 (in this case I'm already looking forward in removing the side pouches)



View attachment 680570
Tecline Donut 17



View attachment 680571
XDeep Zeos 38

Since you are living in Italy where basically of the world's high quality wings and jackets are produced. I'd get a no name bp+wing from the small subcompanies you have in Genoa.

I bought my bp+wing there for 240 euros. (it's been three years so not sure about the modern prices)
It's been going 250 dives strong with no issues whatsoever.
It has a ridiculous logo with two dolphins on it which you can remove easily if it bothers you.

the company is called bags-sport. It's basically a tiny company from someone who works or has worked in many of the factories on site there.
It's the best price/quality on the market in my opinion. bags-sport.com

They have a 30 lbs and 40 lbs wing. I use the 40 lbs for anything up to d10 the 30 for single tank.

I'm not affiliated to this person in any way, just a happy customer.
You could do fundies easily with their bp+wing setup. The only thing you'd have to remove for GUE iirc is the right hip d-ring.

I also have xdeep and OMS wings, and ofcourse the quality is a tiny bit better, but you're paying double the price ofcourse...

If you want to go the 'quality' route I'd just go with xdeep. The quality / price is very good.
Or if you have money to spare, go for the Halcyon for stylepoints. The tecline's also have a good track record, so I'd honestly just go for the cheapest one.

 

[Polarorbit]

Personally, the answer to this question is strictly a matter of personal preference and convenience. I currently have two backplates:
1. AL BP/W setup for single AL80 for warm water travel
2. SS BP/W (with STA) setup for single AL80 for cold water teaching

I also have a doubles wing that I put on my SS BP for technical diving. I teach far more often than I get to do technical dives for fun so switching wings isn't a big deal to me. Having said that, the cost of a SS backplate is less than pretty much any other piece of kit I have, so I'll probably pick up another before long and avoid the need to reconfigure my rig.

My suggestion is to not worry too much about "future proofing" your rig. You will likely want to change things anyway as you get more experience and learn new skills.

 

[BlueTrin]

It depends if you plan to dive singles or always doubles.

If you don’t just get trained for doubles and buy a doubles wing kit.

Personally I never dove a single cylinder after I got my twinset except for the odd pool club dive.

If you can find one second hand wing and backplate that would be even better and more money for diving/training other things.

For double cylinders, you probably want a euro 12l flat bottom twinset. That is versatile, fit most people, and you should be able to find a second hand one.

 

[happy-diver]

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