SINGLE CYLINDER WING AND SINGLE TANK ADAPTOR: HALCYON V LIGHT MONKEY

After being lucky enough to get a sweet deal on a Light Monkey single cylinder wing and single tank adaptor (commonly known as a STA) for the wife I thought I should compare it to my Halcyon Equivalent.  Both are ‘DIR’ style wings so they should work with any standard backplate.  A few specs are as follows:

	Halcyon	Light Monkey
Lift Capacity	30lb	28lb
Shape	Donut	Donut
Outer Construction	1680 denier nylon	1680 denier nylon
Separate Inner Bladder	Yes	Yes
Dumps	Left kidney	Left kidney (no toggle)
LPIs	Shortened plus 2 innertube lengths	Shortened plus 2 innertube lengths

Some comparison pictures can be found below (the spine weight and the trim weight pockets on mine are extras).

Un-inflated from the front.

Inflated from the front

 Inflated from the rear.

LPIs.

STAs from the front.

STAs from the rear.














Overall, both are very similar in appearance and both seem to have a similar build quality.  The Light Monkey has no toggle (although these are often removed off the Halcyon anyway) or no rear grab handle however the joins of the LPI to both the wing and power inflator are shrink wrapped.  The Halcyon has the option of a 3kg spine weight and both can take trim weight pockets as an optional extra. 

If I had to make one complaint about the Light Monkey it would be that the cam bands on the STA appear a little cheap (the Velcro is removable) however if this bothered you replacements are cheap.  But for less than half the price of the Halcyon it is excellent value for money and if I were buying again; either for me or for my student kit I would be hard pressed not to buy the Light Monkey.  It really does look like top kit but time will tell; it’s yet to get wet!

The boring bit!

All opinions expressed in my articles are my own and may differ to other instructor’s and agency guidelines; by no means are they wrong and I would not wish to disrepute any of them.  This article is for information only and should not replace proper training.

Safe diving!

Timothy Gort

BSAC, PADI and SDI/TDI diver training
l Mob: 07968148261 l Email: tim@rectotec.co.uk l