The Ultimate Guide To Backplate and Wing BCDs - Modern Diver 

You actually sold me my first halcyon backplate BCD at DDS and been using it for two years now and love it. Awesome video!

That’s the best overall Bp/W guide I’ve seen! Thank you! I myself dive the DGX bp/w

Good video. As someone just getting into the sport, clear and concise information where you keep it simple without talking down to the viewer always wins. Well done.

The community needed a video like this. Great work.

A very informative and well presented explanation of the use and benefits of a backplate and wing BCD system. Much thanks.

Incredibly detailed! Great help to us new divers

Thanks for the video! I'm a relatively new diver and your video will help transition from a jacket to a single tank/sidemount harness/backplate!

Great video, I'm a new diver getting ready to purchase my first BCD and you answered many of my questions, thanks

Great video Chris! I had a great time getting my AOW from you and another great time watching your videos. Keep it up man.

Great job, thanks for all that important information. I will be moving to a backplate now!

Sweet guide man, thank you! Just getting into this and you gave a lot of seemingly great information! Subed!

Really informative and thank you for taking the time to make this video and sharing you knowledge.

Awesome and informative video! Thanks for putting in the effort to post!

Thank you for this video! Exactly what I was searching for. I want to get into tech diving this year and wanted to upgrade my bcd to a backplate and now I have a better idea of how everything works and what to look for!

A great presentation which was very thorough! Thank you.

Holy cow. This video has so much information. I'll have to finish it on a later day.

Thank you so much for this lesson on BP. Wonderful presentation.

Wow... That was probably the best video that gives all of the necessary information on backplate/wing BCDs... I feel much more confident about spending money on this type of system.

Great video! Thank you so much for this knowledge! Wow all my questions answered.

amazing source of complete infos about backplates on DIR thx!

Thanks for the video. It really helped me to purchase my first BCD!

Thank you very much for a very informational and insightful video! You've gained a subscriber.

Great video. Very informative and well explanations. Thank you!

Great vid and subscribed! Second the tech short pockets. It’s really nice keeping the BP&W very minimal. You know exactly where your SPG or knife is attached and there’s nothing else bulking you up to get in the way. Diving a Hollis SS BP and DGX wing. I travel a lot but my airline of choice gives you 2 checked bags for free. I won’t bring my lead, but that 7 lbs isn’t a deal breaker, and it’s less lead I need to figure out how to mount. I keep 4 trim pockets on the tanks straps, if I’m extra buoyant and salty there’s enough room on the straps to just thread some weights onto the waist strap. I’ll have to re thread the buckle, but that’s fast and the straps let you know where it was placed so you don’t have the guess work like when you first set it all up. Bonus pro-tip, if you’re threading lead onto your waist strap, give it a double twist before you pass it back through the weight to keep it from sliding around

Awesome video. Very informative!

Thank you so much for your great video and advice. Appreciate it.😊

Great video Chris! I created my own BP/W set-up last year using a DGX Wing - combining that with parts from four other manufacturers, and I love the modularity, customization and just how well it works. That said, it sure would have been nice to have this video then, as it would have saved me MANY hours of research!! Another great video; keep up the great work..👍

Mr modern diver, that was a brilliant video. Thanks.

Amazing video!

Very informative!!!

Great video!

Great video. I dive a Zeagle Ranger right now but my Halcyon BPW is on order (along with my DUI dry suit ). Looking forward to trying it out.

Nice overview. Thanks!

im trying to decide between the halcyon infinity and eclipse. great video, thanks

thorough & clear

Nicely explained.

Great video.

Really informative, thanks

Great vid. Thanks man!

Great video Chris! Informative and to the point. Not sure how one would make a BP/W video much under 30 minutes, given the necessary content requirements. It really helped me to decide on BP/W vs a jacket BCD on my next purchase. I really feel I should go the BP/W route, but am daunted by all the choices and the complexity to set the system up once I have all the components. Oh and by the way you have a new subscriber!

Great info, thanks

excellent overview

Great video, thanks for the explanation! Know i feel even more confused🙂🙂

I came here to find out how many cam bands I needed but I got way more, 10/10

This is THE MOST complete overview of BP&W setups and options on RU-vid. The only mistake/oversight is that a DIR setup has 5 D-rings, not 3. There are also two D-rings on the crotch strap. My BP&W setup is as follows (including accessories on the harness) - 3mm stainless steel backplate (Apeks). - Single piece harness (Apeks). - 40lb single tank PSD wing (Apeks WTX-D40 PSD). - Stainless steel single tank adapter (Apeks). - 2 griplock cam bands (Apeks) threaded on the single tank adapter. - 2 trim weight pockets (Apeks WSX) threaded on the cam bands. - Hose retainer (Apeks). - 2 line cutters (EezyCut Trilobite), 1 on the waist strap, 1 on the right shoulder strap. - Serrated folding knife (Spyderco Salt 2 C88SBBK2) clipped to right shoulder D-ring. - (Backup) dive light (Apeks Luna Mini) clipped to left shoulder D-ring. - Emergency whistle (Storm whistle) split ring on left shoulder bungee. - Trauma shears (XShear) in a pouch (DiveRite) bungeed to the corrugated hose. In my tech shorts (Fourth Element) I carry: - 2 dSMB's, one yellow, one orange (both Apeks) in left pocket. - 2 spools, a 15m (Apeks purple), and a 30m (Apeks Halo orange) in left pocket. - Wetnotes (Apeks) in my left pocket. - Snorkel (XS Scuba Cargo) in my right pocket. - Spare mask (Apeks VX1 UV Cut) in my right pocket. - Mesh clean-up bag (SSI Ocean Blue) in my right pocket. - Spare double-ender bolt snap in my right zippered pocket. The regulator is in a long hose configuration: - Apeks MTX first stage - Apeks MTX primary second stage on a 210 cm rubber hose and small bolt snap. - Apeks MTXV secondary second stage on a 65 cm rubber hose with 90° elbow and bungee necklace. - Apeks brass & glass SPG on a 65 cm rubber hose and large bolt snap. - Shearwater Swift transmitter on a 7.5 cm rubber hose (ScubaPro). All bolt snaps are XDeep NX bolt snaps, except the spare one because I might not get it back. - Small bolt snaps: Primary second stage, dive light, pocket knife, and wetnotes. - Large bolt snap: SPG - Double-ended bolt snaps: Both spools, spare mask.

Great video! Thanks for putting it together! I was wondering how you adjust the weight so that when you surface the BC isn’t pushing your forward in a more horizontal position? Tank weights maybe?

May I ask where dis you get the tank belt (brown looks like). Looks good

Very informative, thank you! I know you can mix and match components, but from your experience which brand take the cake DR or Halcyon when it comes to complete classical BP/W systems (none of this travel stuff).

Very informative information, thank you for your knowledge share! Cheers, #SeattleRingHunter

I’m torn. New diver who wants a bpw as my first bcd. I plan to travel to where it’s warm and do some cold water diving (Lake Michigan, hopefully with a drysuit eventually). Is it reasonable to get one bpw to cover both situations? I’m thinking stainless with 30lb lift..

what about the single bladder design, for example the ghost from xdeep or the peanut from tecline. the air travels throug the wing whey faster and easyer and it has no external and internal bladder but is still very durable. i am not moving away from those systems.

Great video, very informative. BUT are you saying that you only dive with 4lbs of dumpable weight? That doesn't seem like much to be safe. I like the idea of no more weight belt and weights trimmed up higher. But if I strap more than half of my weight to the BCD (single tank adapter and tank strap weights) then only 4lbs left to dump doesn't sound safe to me. Am I not thinking correctly on this?

Hello, I'm a novice diver. I'd like to ask if the wing BCD can be easily taken off underwater when trapped. In addition, can I quickly abandon the weight in an emergency Or just open the pockets one by one and pour out the weight blocks

How do you drop lots of weights with a backplate when an emergency occurs?

Looks like a new channel I hit that S button

Real divers use a backplate and wing Congratulations on making it, precise and to the point. Plastic ❎ Metal ✅ Minimal failure points ✅ Better trim, cheaper replacement cost, modular ✅✅✅ Why would you buy anything else? 🤷‍♂️