The Halcyon Eclipse single tank wing

[ElectricZombie]

They guy who wrote this review doesn't have a clue.

"Well, you will need to dump water out of this after a dive, because the only way to dump air from the wing on ascent is to raise the corrugated hose and let it out through the manual inflation valve. This, of course, lets water back in the other way."

I guess he never heard of horizonatal bouyancy and using the rear left dump valve. "the only way"...lol...someone needs a refresher class.

"Don't expect to get anything as convenient as a toggle on the end of the lower dump's pull-cord either, even though it would have made it easier to find it to dump air during a fast head-down descent in a strong current."

My advice is to learn how to use a dump valve properly. All a plastic pull knob will do is get twisted up and release air when you don't want it to.

"However,I had to be circumspect about positioning my body in such a way that I could dump all my air on ascent."

You should be horizontal anyway...learn to use the rear dump!

"The cambands were not as easy to tighten as in a conventional set-up, and I strongly advise the user to wet them thoroughly before fitting to a tank. Webbing stretches when wet. The Halcyon type are not as easily threaded as ordinary cam-buckles and you wouldn't want to have to try to tighten them up under water."

The Halcyon buckles are easy to adjust and use. Adjust the cams properly on land and you won't have to tighten them underwater.

"The front crotch-strap D-ring is for hitching to a tow-behind scooter only, so will become rather redundant when we are all using JetBoots!"

I guess people dive JetBoots in the Bizarro world.

"My opinions may be heretical to the devoted followers of DIR, but I am equally devoted to the principles of JDI (Just Do It)."

Yes, this guy is such an expert...I'm going to be a JDI diver from now on. Apparently JDI promotes poor skills and lack of familiarity with your equiptment.

"If this BC had an upper dump valve, I might well have loved it. If you dive only in a drysuit and use the BC for surface buoyancy, its absence may not be a problem."

Every "problem" this guys cites is the result of his poor skills. Who uses a drysuit for bouyancy anyway?

"There may be merit in having a continuous loop of webbing and only one buckle rather than a couple of pinch-clips, as with most other BCs, but I missed the convenience of conventional shoulder buckles."

Right...we should JDI...meaning do whatever random technique we happen to invent that particular dive...great advice.


The author really showed the merit of his review by his numerous nonsense statements. I think most people reading the review would notice this immediatly and keep an open mind regarding the Eclipse.

 

[detroit diver]

......................

The author really showed the merit of his review by his numerous nonsense statements. I think most people reading the review would notice this immediatly and keep an open mind regarding the Eclipse.

EZ,

While I agree with almost your whole post, the last part above is way off. Most people don't care to do research and rely on folks like this guy to tell them what to buy. Doesn't matter if the guy knows wings from winos, but he's now the expert.

 

[Dan Gibson]

The amount of water in the bladder is generally a sign of the diver's experience.

They guy who wrote this review doesn't have a clue.

"Well, you will need to dump water out of this after a dive, because the only way to dump air from the wing on ascent is to raise the corrugated hose and let it out through the manual inflation valve. This, of course, lets water back in the other way."

I guess he never heard of horizonatal bouyancy and using the rear left dump valve. "the only way"...lol...someone needs a refresher class.

 

[ElectricZombie]

EZ,
While I agree with almost your whole post, the last part above is way off. Most people don't care to do research and rely on folks like this guy to tell them what to buy. Doesn't matter if the guy knows wings from winos, but he's now the expert.

Yeah, you're right...most people probably don't do any research. For the people that do, it should be obvious that this guy isn't qualified to write a review.

 

[fins wake]

They guy who wrote this review doesn't have a clue.

He's pretty experienced and easily the best-recognized diving journalist in the world as a whole, syndicated in other languages than English as well.

I guess he never heard of horizonatal bouyancy and using the rear left dump valve. "the only way"...lol...someone needs a refresher class.

Or perhaps he prefers to ascend differently or is just used to different choices with his regular BC. Not everybody dives wings, and right or wrong, these were his points of view ...

My advice is to learn how to use a dump valve properly. All a plastic pull knob will do is get twisted up and release air when you don't want it to.

Twisted up in what? Where does the writer mention deco tanks or scooters? He's talking about his preferred way of descent in a swift current. Horses for courses.

The Halcyon buckles are easy to adjust and use. Adjust the cams properly on land and you won't have to tighten them underwater.

The writer is expressing his opinion. You yours.

"The front crotch-strap D-ring is for hitching to a tow-behind scooter only, so will become rather redundant when we are all using JetBoots!" I guess people dive JetBoots in the Bizarro world.

May I suggest a crash course in British humour? Or, failing that, any sort of humour? Incidentally, not all divers use tow-behind scooters. In Bizarro world or the real world ... That said, the D-ring won't hurt those that do ...

"My opinions may be heretical to the devoted followers of DIR, but I am equally devoted to the principles of JDI (Just Do It)." Yes, this guy is such an expert...I'm going to be a JDI diver from now on.

Nah, judging by your reaction to Bantin's 'heresy', you'd be a devotee, good Sir.

Who uses a drysuit for bouyancy anyway?

A hell of a lot of European divers, whether they're CMAS, NAUI or PADI. It's SOP. (I prefer my wings, but to each their own.)

The author really showed the merit of his review by his numerous nonsense statements. I think most people reading the review would notice this immediatly and keep an open mind regarding the Eclipse.

You're disappointed because the writer has some objections - whether right or wrong in the big scheme of things - and voiced them? Look upon it as a great learning opportunity, see how a representative of traditional recreational diving gets to grips with the Eclipse. Incidentally, have you failed to realize that Mr Bantin actually lavishes quite a lot of praise on the wing, and in the process actually speaks quite well of DIR? Or is nothing but unqualified and hyperbolic praise acceptable? Do you think this was accorded the VR3 computer or Inspiration rebreather as well?

Plenty of people have opinions on Bantin's tests (I generally find them useful), but what makes you think he has some kind of anti-Halcyon agenda? Chill out ...

 

[chrpai]

Look upon it as a great learning opportunity, see how a representative of traditional recreational diving gets to grips with the Eclipse. Incidentally, have you failed to realize that Mr Bantin actually lavishes quite a lot of praise on the wing, and in the process actually speaks quite well of DIR? Or is nothing but unqualified and hyperbolic praise acceptable?

I have to agree here. I actually read, slowly, the entire review and I felt the glass was way more then half full. He did approach it (admittedly ) from a typical rec diver perspective, and seem to mostly enjoye iit. He didn't like the price that much, but everyone has their own value determination process. I agree with him, personally $500 is too much for a BCD for my budget, but I am interested in diving the rig.

 

[detroit diver]

Fins,

My problem with his review is that he analyzing something without knowing what it was built for. Kind of like reviewing how well a car handles while driving it to Hawaii from the mainland. Yes, it's a car. Yes, people are probably used to driving a car. But it's not made for driving to Hawaii! This wing is the same situation. It's a bouyancy device, but to criticize the way it dumps air, or fills with water is not fair except for someone that doesn't know how to dive the product.

The guy might be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but he needs to understand his product better before analyzing it.

 

[nalfein]

I think he did ok.... he does chalk a lot of the issues he has with the wing up to personal style. Not to mention the only downside he really finds with it is the price. Some of you guys were pretty hard on him, it's not like he was DIR or Halcyon bashing, he gives credit where it's due, just a different style of diving.... Not so bad really....

 

[chrpai]

The guy might be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but he needs to understand his product better before analyzing it.

This seems to be an interesting problem for Halcyon. *If* they are trying to expand their marketshare, how do they convince the average recreational diver who doesn't know anything about DIR that their's is a better product?

If they are sticking to their original mission of providing DIR gear for DIR divers then they don't have a problem at all because GUE solves it for them.

We can blame the reviewer, but isn't the typical diver going to walk away with the same misconceptions?

 

[detroit diver]

I think he did ok.... he does chalk a lot of the issues he has with the wing up to personal style. Not to mention the only downside he really finds with it is the price. Some of you guys were pretty hard on him, it's not like he was DIR or Halcyon bashing, he gives credit where it's due, just a different style of diving.... Not so bad really....

I don't think anyone suggested that he was DIR or Halcyon bashing. Just that he had reviewed something improperly without understanding the way it works.