Unless they changed the design, the Apeks WTX3 wing is single-walled. Also the wing on the Zeagle Express Tech is single-walled.
---------- Post added May 9th, 2013 at 02:22 PM ----------
I don't think the "time" had anything to do with it. The difference was early BP/W users were experienced technical divers. If you are selling to more experienced divers you do not need to hold their hand as much as newbies. Your challenge is that your plate is only for single tank diving. As such it has limited appeal to experienced technical divers that primarily dive doubles and have been increasingly moving to side-mount. So your market is primarily single-tank divers which may or may not be experienced and may never have seen a BP/W setup except on the internet.
Thanks for the info on the wings.
Believe it or not, seasoned tech divers or former tech divers are one of my customer bases when they single tank dive. Probably because of their experience levels they are able to visualize what the concept is.
I don't know anything about side mount, we don't do anything like that here on the west coast in the ocean as far as I know.
The new breed of tech diver doesn't have any use for my product.
I sell a lot to old school divers who started a long time ago with back packs, then followed the trends and went jackets like everybody else, and now see the Freedom Plate with modernized features and it fits their style.
Other than that it's a random assortment of divers who buy the plate.
There are a few new divers who buy the plate but mostly those are divers who have seen one or maybe have tried a friends and fall in love with it.
It definitely doesn't fit the mainstream heard mentality.
The heard mentality would be the LDS diver who gets sold a jacket or back inflate and told that's how it is.
The other heard mentality is the internet diver who gets into a conventional BP/W because everybody says that's what they need to get.
Dive shops won't carry it for political reasons.
So yeah, it's a tough sale. But I believe in it and so do many other users once they try one. It's going to be reserved for people who like something very special and very nice.
I know it will never be what DSS or Halcyon or Dive Rite, or any of the other conventional plates are in sales and popularity, but that's OK because I can only make so many and I like being different.
Like I said, over 90% of people using BP/W units are diving single tanks so I think I can have a little piece of the pie.