I can only speak for myself. I do not do caves or wreck penetrations. Sidemount for me is a way to carry sufficient gas and redundancy to undertake longer deep dives without having to carry doubles on my aging back. After all, I'm an old geezer!
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So here is my question for both of you: Will my training on the stealth 2 with Patrick cross over to all other SM harnesses? I assume I will need a day or two to learn a new harness but the skills would be the same, right? If so, I might wait on buying the Stealth 2.0 to figure out where I wil actually be diving - right now I live in NY, but want to study in FL so then would be diving there obviously. If I end up going to FL maybe it would make sense to try out Edd´s SMS100 to compare to the stealth and maybe I can try some other harnesses. Or even if I bought the stealth and ended up needing something else, then I could just have different set ups for different places like dive-aholic. What do you guys think?
Tphelps is correct about the SMS 100 sucking for diving Al80s. It's just too much. The UTD Z trim and Hollis SMS 50 (which is just a copy) both put the air in the wrong place IMO. The air always congregates to the shoulder blade area. When you're in the prone position, your shoulder blades are higher than your waist. In the water, air likes to go up to the highest point, this throwing your trim off. You then have to compensate for that by adding additional weight up high in the shoulder area.
The Edd mods are to set the SMS 100 up like the Armadillo. Why not save money and buy the Armadillo?
Dive-aholic, that´s what I was worried about, I feel like I am rushing into this ( I am starting tomorrow morning.. ) without knowing much about the options. I´ve pretty much only heard good things about the stealth 2, though.
So here is my question for both of you: Will my training on the stealth 2 with Patrick cross over to all other SM harnesses? I assume I will need a day or two to learn a new harness but the skills would be the same, right?
I wouldn't bother with the IANTD Nitrox manual. If you want something to read, pick up a copy of the TDI Advanced Nitrox text when you get home. Instead of paying for paper tables, spend the money on a copy of VPlanner or MultiDeco for your platform of choice. Ultimately, posture is going to play a role with your trim, and that will take time. I'd try a pair of Slipstreams too.
(I spent some time in the pool today practicing breathing off a bare tank valve in anticipation of underwater regulator swaps--not easy with a sticky valve.)