Unbranded "Scuba Diving Donut Wing"

[kruegra1]

I was looking for an Apeks donut for a backplate rig I'm finishing and I found on ebay these unbranded donuts at $161. You can search for "scuba Diving Donut Wing" and find them. So now I'm just curious, has anyone actually seen or used one?

 

[M-Cameron]

buying chinese mystery gear always gives me the heebie-jeebies.......even if it performs fine, im always going to have "what if" in the back of my mind while diving.....100ft underwater is really not the place i want to be second guessing my equipment, or wishing ide saved a few bucks.

i mean for $50 more you can get a HOG wing which has been tested and has local customer support if you have an issue.

i dont have any experience with the wings in question....but with cheap unbranded Chinese anything.....corners are almost always cut everywhere they can be.......they like you to think that " its made in the same factory as big name equipment so its pretty much the same thing without the label and markup"......but that is hardly if ever true. it may very well be made in the same factory, and it may be the same design....but that doesnt mean anything. almost always the materials, manufacturing, and QC are significantly inferior to the real product.

and in the event that they are "the same as the big name without the label", they are almost always factory rejects that didnt make it through QC, and rather than toss them, the factorys sell the them as unbranded.

its probably fine if youre looking for something for pool or 30' reef dives....a wing failure probably wont be too hazardous.

but i would thoroughly test and inspect one of those wings if you wanted to due much more than that.

 

[kruegra1]

Yeah, you sum up some of my underlying thoughts as far as using one goes. Really, why bother. Curious as to who buys them as backplates are common with my dive buddies, yet, I've never seen one, nor heard of anyone diving with one. Quiet thread so far too.

Funny, I have a buddy that decided to play "mystery gear tester" for a while, lights received a bit of enthusiasm, they didn't last more than a dive or two.

 

[runsongas]

Just get the dgx donut. It is imported too, but you get support from dgx which is worth the extra 30 bucks. I would rather deal with them than hog.

 

[runsongas]

buying chinese mystery gear always gives me the heebie-jeebies.......even if it performs fine, im always going to have "what if" in the back of my mind while diving.....100ft underwater is really not the place i want to be second guessing my equipment, or wishing ide saved a few bucks.

i mean for $50 more you can get a HOG wing which has been tested and has local customer support if you have an issue.

i dont have any experience with the wings in question....but with cheap unbranded Chinese anything.....corners are almost always cut everywhere they can be.......they like you to think that " its made in the same factory as big name equipment so its pretty much the same thing without the label and markup"......but that is hardly if ever true. it may very well be made in the same factory, and it may be the same design....but that doesnt mean anything. almost always the materials, manufacturing, and QC are significantly inferior to the real product.

and in the event that they are "the same as the big name without the label", they are almost always factory rejects that didnt make it through QC, and rather than toss them, the factorys sell the them as unbranded.

its probably fine if youre looking for something for pool or 30' reef dives....a wing failure probably wont be too hazardous.

but i would thoroughly test and inspect one of those wings if you wanted to due much more than that.

if you are willing to diy fix it in the future and are getting a hefty discount getting it directly from the factory, it can make sense. the factory direct price is lower than what you see on ebay as ebay and the seller are both getting a cut there. might as well go with an importer like DGX/DRIS/etc at that point.

 

[Diver below 83]

I know the ones your talking about on eBay. There are tons of them on their and every color scheme you could want. I specifically wanted a multicam or woodland camo wing and no one from the major manufactures makes them. I came across a bunch on eBay cheapest being $147 shipped. I do plan to buy one to try as I have my own salt water pool but as my primary I chose the dgx. That one I know I can use without worries. Dgx also always stand behind their products. I’m also local to them too.

 

[MEmersonC]

I indeed have the el cheapo donut wing from eBay you speak of, and use it on my travel rec setup. As others have mentioned, I too was skeptical but said "what the hell" and put my life in the hands of a 7 year old sweatshop worker. I couldn't be happier. The donut itself is zipped into the cover like all the major brands, and uses the same material as my Scubapro donut. The corrugated hose is a good length, and the eyelets line up on my X-Tek form harness perfectly. Eyelets are stainless. I did replace the power inflator with an Gen 5 Air2, so cant really speak on its performance. I did test the power inflator when I first received the donut and it worked fine with no leaks. The dump valve works as intended, and releases pressure as it should when over-filled. I've done about 30 dives with no issues.

All in all I'd give it a solid "wont kill you" when you dive rating.