"The harness padding is unnecessary, it's big time expensive, and the appeal for a backplate and wing is it's modularity... if I choose to dive doubles, I just swap out the wing. You can't do that with a Jet Harness."
As far as padding on our shoulders, well need to agree to disagree on that one. It may not be strictly necessary, but its pretty nice nonetheless. Well build a harness without, if thats someones wish.
$359 (ebay price) for the entire setup including wings, harness, tank straps and stainless plate is hardly 'big time expensive'.
Our plate will accept any brand of wing, which has slots for tank straps. Swapping out the wing is as simple as rethreading the straps. Many use our wing for warm water, and swap out a larger one when more than 26 pounds of lift is needed.
We also make custom fit harnesses for diving with doubles, as posted on our site.
http://www.jetharness.com/page_templates/index.cfm?page_id=60
One may also simply use our plate, and thread whatever harness style they want with it. We even offer a 'bare bones' kit for those who insist on the one-piece concept.
" Not only does he completely flatten the backplate, taking out the nice comfy curve but he makes it so it can never be upgraded to doubles. But the real funny part is the "history" of his plate. He takes credit for the idea of using a bp/wing for recreational diving as well as the sta-less bp/wing."
Perhaps you misread or misinterpreted the page. While it is true that once our harness is fitted to the plate, it is permanent, there is nothing there that said I take credit for "the idea of using a bp/wing for recreational diving." What is posted there is "I knew I needed to try recreational diving using my single tank with my harness I do however take credit for the flat backplate, and as I said, we also make doubles harnesses.
Our humble opinion is that STA-less BP/Wing combinations are even worse than the STA setups, functioning less than optimally for both singles and doubles. Our philosophy is to use the best tool for the job at hand. A classic deep profile doubles plate when diving doubles, and a singles plate when diving singles. 'Adapting' a doubles plate to do a job that it wasnt originally designed for is less than ideal.
"Give me 12 feet of nylon webbing and some D-Rings. No failure points, no stitching, no cost, no muss."
Great! Sounds like you found your ideal setup, congratulations! Comfort is highly subjective, and opinion based, there is no right answer. If you think that the one piece is comfortable, then go with it. I know that for me personally after a day in doubles with one, my rotator cups felt like broken glass, and I had chaffing under my arms that took a week to go away. If you think that a BCD vest is comfortable, then go with it. There is nothing 'wrong' with them, and many people find them perfect for their needs. I sometimes use one, because that is what my students may be wearing. Even as a manufacturer of backplates & harnesses, I'd never be so foolhardy as to suggest that there is one setup or methodology to fit everyone.
There are no failure points on our harnesses. If you count the chest strap buckle as a failure point, I'd argue that one may continue to dive normally without the chest strap buckle, in the incredibly unlikely situation that it were to spontaneously break. Our stitching and doubled design will not break, and is stronger and more importantly wear resistant than any one-piece setup. We tend to discourage it, but well add extra buckles wherever someone wants them. We trust our customers to make their own decisions about their setup.
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