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After following messages on techdiver and studying various websites including gue, I was beginning to think that there might be something in the DIR movement for a non-technical diver like myself. But owning what I believed was a perfectly good setup, I was reluctant to admit that I could have made a costly mistake. This past weekend I had a chance to test out a DIR setup. I went diving with Claudia at the Blue Hole in New Mexico. To establish a frame of reference I did the night dive on the evening we arrived and the first dive of the morning in my existing gear. During our surface interval, Claudia helped me setup and configure a Halycon steel backplate, Halycon 36lb wings, OMS single tank adapter, Halycon pocket (since I was not using a canister light). The webbing on the plate I was using was extremely stiff, which made adjusting the straps a pain in the ass. Claudia kindly lent me one of her regulators with a 7' hose. Then we configured my primary regulator as the secondary with necklace. From the moment I submerged I could notice major differences, which only became more apparent the longer I dove. First my body position was perfectly horizontal. The system has a nice "righting movement". After rolling on my side (which was a stable position as well) I would return to a perfectly level position. My current BC, a Zeagle Ranger often feels like it has a slight list. Plus with any minor body position change there is a rush of air movement. The Halycon does not exhibit this tendency. The only position the Halycon does not accommodate is swimming on your back (not that this is overly useful). You can roll, but the tank down position is unstable. Hovering head down was stable. I didn't extensively test the system on the surface, but was more comfortable on the surface than my Zeagle. The most enlightening experience was performing an out of air drill. It make *perfect* sense to pass my primary regulator. And finding my secondary required zero thinking and was quite natural. The long hose made it easy to swim while sharing air. While I didn't make any serious efforts to measure the difference in drag, it felt like I could glide further between fin strokes. With the long hose tucked below the side pocket, the long hose never was in the way, yet was easy to deploy. I'm not sure how the OMS single tank adapter compares to the Halycon, but I never noticed that the tank was offset from the plate. My only complaint about the backplate and wing configuration is that it is awkward to use with a conventional weight belt. I didn't want to put the backplate waist strap over top of the weight belt. On me the backplate waist strap rides right over top of my hip bones (where it correctly belongs). This made it difficult to fit in the weight belt without interfering with the various buckles. When I get my own configuration I'll go with the Halycon integrated weight system (until I start diving doubles!) David -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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