Back plate/wings or BCD

[eelpout]

I have been looking at the forum and some people like to post about DIR, and or Hogarthian method of diving. What are your opinions on diving a backplate w/ wings or a standard BCD. It is really strange to see that we have come full cirlce in the BC scene. From the AT Pac, horse collar, Scubapro jacket, Seaquest ADV, Zeagle Ranger, Halcyon system. Has anybody dove both and if you have what is your opinion. ???

[Chris]

I dive a ScubaPro KnightHawk myself and never used anything else. I like it, it works for me. I'm tempted to try the BP/Wings, etc but spent too much on gear last year to even think about buying anything new for a while. I'll get a drysuit before anything else...

You should get some good comments on your question though... One member here (GP) recently switched to BP/Wings from a Zeagle Ranger and loves it.

[cdtgray]

I did about my first 20 dives with the standard rental style jacket bcs. When I finally picked up my own bc several years ago I went with a ranger.

The ranger worked great for most of the diving that I did, however as I've moved into technical diving the ranger simply wasn't meeting my expectations. It couldnt hold doubles stable enough and the cumberbund never seemed to fit right while wearing a front entry drysuit.

I swtiched over from a ranger to a zeagle bp/wings setup recently. It took me a little while to get it adjusted exactly how I want it, but now I wouldn't want to switch back.

[Groovekitty]

eelpout,

I dove a wrap around BC while taking my open water training -it was the worst dive gear experience of my life - it almost scared me away from diving. I figured if the gear was so ill fitted and uncomfortable, why the heck would I want to keep doing this? Needless to say, my fearless personal dive guru - who you may know as DRE - introuduced me to a backplate/harness system.

Once you dive a backplate/harness you won't even ask this question. It is without a doubt the most comfortable system available.

If you think about the components used to make a BP/HRNS, it makes sense.

First, You have one continuous piece of webbing, (I personally don't endorse a quick release as this is a failure point) which will pretty much never break, that is fitted to your exact specifications. You can adjust it as your diving needs change, and if it ever wears out, you can replace it for less than $10.

Secondly, you have a backplate - I dive a stainless steel BP since this adds 6lbs of weight - which will last forever, is very comfortable, and allows your rig to sit snugly on your back.

Finally, diving a BP/HRNS simply makes diving easier. You don't have to deal with your tank shifting which has the potential to cause injury, especially when entering or exiting the water - ever tried to walk up the beach at the Madiera with your tank sliding all over the place? Sucked - didn't it?

I absolutely LOVE my BP/HRNS and will NEVER dive a wrap around BC again if I can help it. I know a Ranger is similar in inflation, but you can't beat a steel plate on your back to keep your rig snug - and it looks sexy in the shower - j/k ;D

Anyway, if you want to try one out, I believe SD&T is hosting pool time to do so. I promise you that once you try it you will sell that Ranger on Ebay as fast as you can and make the switch - you won't regret it!!!

Safe diving,
~groovekitty*

[LKunze]

Yes...I dove a Ranger for a year and then switched to Halcyon BP/Wing setup last fall. I love the BP/Wing setup! It's so much more streamlined and I can really feel a difference in how much better I glide through the water. One of the best benefits I find too is the tank stability. There is no shifting from side to side or up and down with the BP/Wing. I highly recommend the BP/Wing. Like Groovekitty I use a stainless steel 6 lb. plate. I also use the Halcyon 36 lb. Pioneer wing.

[jasondbaker]

Hey eelpout, welcome to the forum. I too am intrigued by the notion that BCs have come "full circle". Obviously BP/wings are not as popular as vest or back inflate BCs yet. I had never even heard of a BP until a year ago and I've been diving for several years. I first heard about backplates on the net.

From a historical perspective I would be interested to know why divers switched from a BP to vest BCs years ago. A BP has obvious benefits in terms of performance and durability. The BC has the advantage that it may be initially easier to use.

Did the dive industry figure out that they could make more money producing BCs? Were the backplates and wings really poor quality? Were divers bored with the simplicity of backplates and jump on board the BC bandwagon because they were new and cool?

[eelpout]

As I mentioned earlier, the At pac system which was a back flotation system with intergrated weights which came out in the mid-70's. Back them the only bc's people were wearing were horsecollars. Horsecollar BC's were used with a plastic framed back packs, which the present backplate sytem mimics very closely. If you know anybody who got certified before 1980, they would know what a back pack was. The backplate/wings combo was developed by the cave diving community. Actually BC's in general were first used by cave divers.
Backplate/wings combo allows people to go from single tank diving to doubles real easily. All it takes is a couple of wingnuts.

[DRE]

Cavedivers actually invented the very first boyancy device, which were milk or water jugs they carried with them and filled with gas - then the belly bag (kinda like a horsecollar but not as comfortable) and the Scubapro Stab jacket. The problem with the Scubapro was that there was no place to clip off lights, stage bottles, etc. It was a guy Flannagan who made the first backplate out of a stopsign in the 1979 and mated it with a wing. Bill "Hogarth" Main jumped on the idea and used it as the basis for the Hogarthian gear configuration. Diverite started producing the first commercial plate in the early 80's.
The reason why the system wasn't any more popular was that it wasn't actively promoted (nor did Diverite have the ad budget of Scubapro)> Furthermore, in those days the cave community was very hush hush about all of their activities, as to not attract divers who shouldn't be in a cave. Don't also gorget that as recent as 1993 technical diving was banned from DEMA (guess who played a big role in that?), so that a lot of the major gear revolutions never even saw daylight. So in a sense we never came full circle - it's always been there.

[eelpout]

What I meant by going full circle is the design of the back flotaion system ie. wings, Seaquest Balance, Scubapro Knighthawk, etc. coming from the original Atpac system. If you walked into a dive store in 1978, most of the BCD's were horse collars, but years before that the Atpac (they claim to be the first back flotaion system made commercially) was already being made in California to sell to recreational divers. It started there and we are back to it again, back flotaion systems.

It wasn't technical diving that was banned but Nitrox. I don't even think that techinical diving was evne used a a term back then. The birth of the Tek conferences by Aqua
Corp journal coined the phrase techincal diving if my memory still serves me right. By the last tek conference even the big boys Scubapro, Aqulaung etc. were present with their products. The market for technical diving is minimal compared to the recreational market. Business wise, the big boys tried to get into it but the market was not there. So we have to do most of our own research and find companies that cater to what we need .

I would suggest that anybody who wants to try a backplate/wings combo call their local dive store. If they don't have one for you to use, call around and I am sure you will find one.