Well, that's all I had to compare it to. I'm just an old scuba diver, not
Rondales for Christ's sake. What's been changed?

   Jim

 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Learn About Trimix at http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/

> From: "Thomas Tukker" <tukker@be*.ne*>
> Reply-To: <thomas@ha*.ne*>
> Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 07:03:55 -0500
> To: "Jim Cobb" <cobber@ci*.co*>, "Tech Diver"
> <techdiver@aquanaut.com>, "VB Tech" <vbtech@ci*.co*>
> Subject: RE: OMS Wings review
> 
> Actually what you did is compare the new OMS wing to the old Halcyon wing.
> Halcyon introduced it's new wing at DEMA, an improvement over the last
> version.
> 
> Later,
> 
> TT
> 
> 
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Jim Cobb [mailto:cobber@ci*.co*]
>> Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2001 9:16 PM
>> To: Tech Diver; VB Tech
>> Subject: OMS Wings review
>> 
>> 
>> As many of you know, I have no great love for OMS. Their products were
>> designed many years ago and, until now, they have done nothing to update
>> them to current standards. One of their products is so patently stupid and
>> unusable, the infamous stuporwings (double bladder wings with
>> elastic "auto
>> deflation" bands) it boggles the mind that anybody who has not lived in a
>> cave for the past five years is still using them.
>> 
>> With the market filled with used stuporwings selling for practically
>> nothing, OMS has finally realized that they have to come up with a
>> marketable item. Currently OMS is getting it's ass kicked by fast moving
>> companies like Halcyon and DiveRite. Even huge Scubapro has gotten in the
>> tech thing. Frankly I'm surprised the OMS is still in business.
>> 
>> After a couple of false starts OMS has finally come up with a set of wings
>> which are done correctly from top to bottom. Plus they come in at
>> over $100
>> less than those of the competition. Northeast scuba supply can set you up
>> with a pair, ask John John@No*.co* and he will
>> fix you up.
>> 
>> John sent me a pair of 55lb wings to take a look at. I laid them
>> out next to
>> my Halcyon 65lb wings and took a look at the differnces. First
>> off the hose
>> and overpressure valve are in the correct places, OMS finally got
>> it right.
>> The overpressure valve and inflation valve are identical to the
>> Halycon. The
>> overall shape of the wings are identical, but as you might expect the 65lb
>> Halcyon's have a larger cross section when inflated.
>> 
>> For years OMS boasted of it's "high volume" inflators, exactly the wrong
>> thing on a tech wing, and now they are using proper OEM "low
>> volume" units.
>> And it only took them 15 years to figure this out. OMS could not resist
>> leaving the huge knob hanging off the overpressure valve, an easy thing to
>> fix (snip-snip). The OMS inflator hose is about 4" longer than the Halcyon
>> and is of the flat corregation style.
>> 
>> On construction details you can see where OMS cut some corners to beat the
>> competition on price. Some examples:
>> 
>> -The Halcyons have a flaps at the bottom of the wings with a mesh inserts
>> for water drainage while the OMS makes due with two grommets on each side.
>> -The Halcyon has a reinforced seam on the edges while the OMS has a plain
>> seam.
>> -The Halcyon has a reinforcing web strip running down the center
>> tank mount
>> area while the OMS has none.
>> -Halcyon has a canvas loop which helps keep the hose from getting stressed
>> at the top, the OMS does not.
>> 
>> On the inside the OMS has a rubber flap to keep the bladder away from the
>> zipper just like the halcyon. The rubber flap is sheet rubber rather than
>> the bicycle tube Halcyon uses. Don't think this makes any practicable
>> difference but it looks better. The OMS has 4 grommets to the Halcyon's 2
>> for mounting to the backplate to give you a bit of adjustment.
>> 
>> The bladder material on the Halcyon is a urethane impregnated fabric while
>> the OMS is straight urethane. With such a rugged container (both are 1000
>> denier cloth) I doubt this makes much difference. The Halcyon material
>> appears to be more rugged but on the other hand you can see into the OMS
>> bladder (the material is clear) and check out what biological horrors you
>> have growing in there after a long dive season.
>> 
>> All in all the OMS 55lb wing is a good effort, overall quality of
>> construction is good. They are the Chevrolet wings while the Halcyons are
>> the Cadillacs. The Halcyons have more details in construction
>> which show up
>> in the price, but if you are not a "hard corp" diver and want to save a
>> sawbuck you may want to give them a try. I would choose them over the
>> DiveRite standard wings.
>> 
>> Oh, and did I mention that there are no bungees on this model??? I thought
>> that bungees were God's Gift to scuba divers, but low and behold not a
>> bungee in sight. And only one bladder. Hmmm, could it be that bungees suck
>> and that dual bladders are useless? Apparently OMS thinks so. But
>> OMS won't
>> kill the stuporwing until the clueless idiots out there quit
>> buying them as
>> they have warehouses full of them.
>> 
>> Jim
>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Learn About Trimix at http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/
>> 
>> 
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> 
> 


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