X-tek form tek system bc

[Avonthediver]

Does anyone know if you can add the QR weight pockets to the X-tek: Form TEK BC? And what do you think of the new tec line from Subapro?

 

[SCUBAPRO Harry]

Our standard 'slide on' quick release pockets are designed for the PURE TEK harness, not the FORM although there are the XTEK counter-wieght pkts that could be used on the tank band.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Does anyone know if you can add the QR weight pockets to the X-tek: Form TEK BC? And what do you think of the new tec line from Subapro?

I'm assuming you are asking for technical diver's opinions of Scubapro's new tech line rather than Scubapro's as I'd expect they feel pretty good about it, or at least good enough about it put it in production.

I have not seen any of it in the flesh since DEMA in Las Vegas in November 2010, but I had mixed opinions about it then.

The most egregious issue at the Scubapro booth at DEMA was that I was advised the X-Tec Form was side mount compatible, but it became really evident that the folks there had no clue what side mount was when I asked them to describe it to me. (Short version: the rep pointed out the small 1" D rings on the sides of the back pad on the X-Tek Form harness, and considered that "side mount", apparently ignorant of things like tail plates, towel bars, bungees or how the whole side mount concept works. You could probably clip an inflation bottle to them (although it makes more sense to use the plate itself) but that clearly is not side mount.

(There was some irony there as in the really "old School" approach to side mount way, way, way back in the day, the Scubapro stab jacket was used by some of the side mount pioneers in conjunction with home made tail plates to create a pretty credible and usable side mount system. So Scubapro actually has some history in side mount - they just don't know it.)

I forgave that however, as side mount is a different animal, and there were some positives:

1) The back plate is a minor modification of the Halcyon plate, and the X-TeK Pure harness is a decent, no nonsense Hogarthian/DIR style harness with no issues. At the time they had what appeared to be prototype as well as production plate examples and I got the impression they were playing with the bend angles a bit, but I saw no issues and gave that a solid "A" grade. I got the impression that the plate was part of the reciprocity with Halcyon's branding of the Mk 17, Mk 25, G250V, and R390, and it makes sense.

2) The 60 pound Horseshoe wing was ok, but struck me as an upsized version of their older Rec Tek wing, which back in the 1990's was their version of the Dive Rite Rec Wing (to go with their Sonoform made version of the Transpac 1 at the time). It still uses a very similar bungee system but has a little heavier construction and a single rear dump. I used their Rec Tek wing for over a decade back in the day and concerns for single/dual tank wings aside, I have no real issues with it as a doubles wing. The bungees are on the bottom of the wing, and easily removable if you are a purist. If it has a downside, it may be the size of the wing near the top. It will probably trim a bit differently than the average 20 pound wing and the bulk could cause some competition for space with double hose configurations. The offset inflator location also suggests it's intended as a crossover single or double tank wing, and IMHO, the 45 pound Rec Tek wing was challenged in that role and a 60 pound version will be even less successful On the plus side, the Rec Tek wing (and Rec Wing) was narrow enough that it could be constrained between the tanks and a back plate, especially with 8" diameter tanks, so the extra lift will come in handy in that regard if the wing can't be fully inflated if used with a plate and 8" tanks.

3) Their donut wings look good and 40 and 60 pounds are decent lift options. They seemed well made and they again had a fairly standard single rear dump. The 30 pound wing is also fine, but with 30 pounds of lift, it's a warm water travel single tank wing for a BP/wing diver, not a tech wing.)

However there were some not so great things as well:

1) Their double bladder horseshoe wing with 90 pounds of lift was overkill and I don't like either the inflator or dump design/locations. It will do a good job competing with the OMS 90 pound bungee wing-o'-death.

2) The minor beefs with the HS wing are already covered above

3) The knobs on the rear pull dumps are too large and the strings are too long - but to be fair that's most likely done to meet CE requirements, and other technical diving gear makers have the same flaws/problems built in to enable them to sell the wings in Europe. My major concern is that I have doubts that the average Scubapro Dealer selling the X-Tec stuff will know enough to "unofficially" tell a student/inexperienced technical diver to shorten the cord and/or remove the knob (using just a knot) or use a smaller knob. The end result will be the knobs getting stuck under/between tank and plate and causing and uncontrolled loss of buoyancy.

4) The X-Tek Form harness made we want to cry and underscored the probable lack of real world active technical diver involvement in the development process. It's overly complicated, festooned with useless and non-moveable D-rings, has too many screws to come loose and has all the disadvantages of a quick release harness with none of the benefits that you could get with a pivot ring style "deluxe" harness with quick releases. In short it has all the bad features of a Transplate style harness, the long since obsolete Transpac 1/Rec Tek harness and a pivot ring harness, but with none of the benefits. I felt like they took the Transpac 1/ Rec Tek harness from the early 90's, gave it a translate'esque treatment, hung a half dozen 1" D-rings on it and totally ignored 20 years technical diving harness evolution. I got clear indictions however that they were not interested in hearing negative feedback on it. Perhaps worst of all, I was left with the impression they'd be pushing the X-Tek Form with the 90 pound double bladder HS wing as the ultimate technical diving setup.

5) They possibly could have corrected that impression but when we started asking questions, the reps - all of them - got busy with something else and pointedly ignored us, displaying no interest in being informative, nor displaying any interest from taking input from the people who are supposed to sell this stuff for them. I was not impressed. Not knowing something is fine, but when someone tries to fake it, and then is not interested in LDS feedback, it really makes a bad impression on me.

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In summary, their X-Tek Pure harness is great, I have no problem recommending that. And their 40 and 60 pound donut wings will work great on it as well - with the proviso that the end user fix the dump cord/knob issues. And the 30 pound donut wing along with their travel plate or X-Tek Pure harness would make a great travel BC for a BP/Wing diver. Personally, I'd like to see Scubapro keep these items, after it discontinues the rest, and not repeat the pattern in the 1990's of killing the true tech stuff when the wannabe products fall on their face, as the above items are quite good and could compete with other brands.

The rest was pretty "meh", and I would not mourn it's loss. The exception is the X-Tec Form harness that earned a firm thumbs down. I'd like to seem them recalled and burned as they negatively impact the credibility of the entire "tech" line.

 

[tripntx]

Our standard 'slide on' quick release pockets are designed for the PURE TEK harness, not the FORM although there are the XTEK counter-wieght pkts that could be used on the tank band.

Slide on pockets can be used on the FORM harness, place them on waist strap, and line them up with hip padding. Pull harness back through front edge of hip padding buckle, slide pocket on, then push harness strap through front edge of buckle. This will give you two pockets, one on each side, and they will be held inplace by the buckle slots. (not really sure my explanation will make sense because I don't know what actual terms are the parts)

With that said, I own:
40 lb Tek donut wing
Single tank adapter
FORM harness with SS backplate
and I own a PURE harness with SS backplate.

I bought the FORM last summer, but realized it had too much junk on it (excess padding, QD plastic buckles, etc.).
This summer I bought PURE harness with SS back plate, moved STA onto it, and LOVE IT. I also remove the STA and dive 80 AL doubles with PURE and 40 lb donut wing. The PURE is great, the FORM is wanna be tec gear that isn’t.

In other words, buy a Tek donut wing, PURE harness with SS backplate and use it with doubles or add a STA for single tank.

When diving with Single tank, I have a MK25/A700 Blk Tek with C200 octo setup. When diving doubles I have two MK25/S600 setup. Still debating which ScubaPro or SubGear 1^st/2^nd combo for 100% O2 deco bottle.

Hey Scuba Pro, I'm also using a Luna with xmitter, subgear mask, and white nova's (orange gorilla's on order). To say I like your products is an understatement. PLEASE read what DA Aquamaster said above, reread it several times until it sinks in. You make a very good Tec setup, the PURE harness with any of your Donut wings; these are what you need to focus on. Stop pushing the frivolous FORM harness with all the un-needed fluff on it.