Just because someone is a LDS does NOT mean they know everything...
Now compare this to the LDS owner... I told him I wanted a new mask as I couldn't see very well downwards... his responce.." well theres a trade off .. you can either see good down or up but not both" and thats it. His responce should have been well I have a few masks in the shop that might help you out ... stop in and we'll see what will work for you...
guess this is off the left or right question sorry
Tom
Actually, I think this does have something to do with the right or left question, or at least why the OP got conflicting info from the DM and the LDS. A lot of LDS owners are simply not good businessmen/women, they just want to mix diving and making a living. They are not necessarily good communicators, or even like people. Some of them are more like fish. That does not make them evil, it just means that we should learn how to deal with them. Sometimes that means smiling politely and saying "OK", then going home, checking it out yourself (like you did by posting here), and then getting out the wrenches and doing it yourself, if you feel confident enough to mess with your "Life Support System®".
Some of us don't have the luxury of being within a close drive of several good shops to choose from, so "keep looking until you find a shop that isn't owned by a jerk" just isn't an option. Sometimes we have to learn how to get the jerk to do what we want. It's amazing how well the "Wow, you really know a lot about this stuff! You must be a real expert!" line works to get a puffed-up blowhard to soften up and do it your way despite what he thinks he knows.
This is another example where standards, like DIN, ISO, ANSI (why are there so many different standards organizations? Hmmm.) would come in handy. Not having guv'mint intervention in diving is probably good, but chaos, confusion, and crap is not much better.
I use a Hog rig with my primary looped around on a 5' hose, and my secondary slung under my chin on a necklace. Both second stages are on the right, and the inflators and gauge are on the left. In the absence of standardized configuration, communication with your buddy and DM is called for. And that means before the OOA situation comes up.