Sidemount BC Styles

[beanojones]

After those very, very, very useful pictures, I hate to ask but is it possible to see them on a person?

Sometimes straps can be misleading in terms of where things end up on a person's body.

Seeing these pictures says to me that we need a specific sidemount gallery, because those are about as useful a set of pictures as I have seen about sidemount gear.

 

[MScorpa]

Most of my side mount diving is in the XDeep but the XDeep wing was overkill of couple AL80 in warm water diving so my solutions was to come with different wings.....it would be nice if manufactures of sidemount BC would support the concept of using different size wings just like they do in back mount instead of saying that one or two complete different BC to fit all you requirements. Plus BC are expensive and lot cheaper to switch wings. The key is making the harness easy to swap out wings like the XDeep.

Anyone agree?

I can see where you are coming from and think you just hit the nail on the head! If a manufacturer could have one or more great harnesses with multiple options for interchangable buoyancy/weight systems that are easily swapped then they would corner the sidemount market. This accomplishment would allow sidemount divers to stay loyal to a company with a one-stop-shop making it easy to pick and choose your gear based on the types of dives you perform.

As it is now, divers have to buy equipment from multiple manufacturers to construct thier own perfect design based off of experience, informational networking and just trial and error to fit their application specific needs (which are typically always changing). Many people just make thier own stuff...true pioneers!

 

[mulla]

Can I take it you meant to write... You do NOT need fifty pounds of lift in Mexico?

I suggest waiting to see what Chris at HOG comes up with... And the SMS75 from Hollis

i have yet to need fifty pounds of lift for anything, but at least now I think it's clear what you would like.

Do you not find the Xdeep profile unwieldy. Looks to me like the lift is on the back and not on the hips

SMS 75? Is there something we need to know about? I am guessing it's something between and SMS 50 and SMS 100 in terms of lift capacity?

 

[flots am]

I can see where you are coming from and think you just hit the nail on the head! If a manufacturer could have one or more great harnesses with multiple options for interchangable buoyancy/weight systems that are easily swapped then they would corner the sidemount market.

I'm not sure that's useful.

If you remove the bladder from an SMS50, for example, all you have left is some webbing, a buckle and a few d-rings. There's no backplate or anything significant to swap.

flots.

 

[Instructor_Tom]

have you tried the Dive Rite nomad. the latest version of the nomad xt allows you to adjust the wing to adjust to the lift required with a max lift capacity of 60lb. Since the system is based on the transpac harness it can also be used with cam straps to dive a single back mounted tank.



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[MScorpa]

I'm not sure the SMS50 harness would be the ideal platform for such a system. I am hypothetically speaking about a new design here. However, if that's your idea of a perfect harness then anything could work with a wing attachment like the Stealth 2.0, just attach a few bungee straps on different sized wings and you're good to go in just about any harness under any dive parameters.

Personally I would like a minimalistic Razor style harness that has at least one solid attachment point for the wing, but with easy size adjustment. Maybe a cross between the Razor and the xDeep?

 

[Doppler]

SMS 75? Is there something we need to know about? I am guessing it's something between and SMS 50 and SMS 100 in terms of lift capacity?

This is where Nick Hollis phones me up to tell me to keep my mouth shut.

The SMS75 is due sometime around DEMA and has some design changes that promise to make it a pretty fine harness.

I still believe the SMS50 is a great travel harness, and the 100 works fine with a few adjustments... but looking forward to the 75 AND the SM harness from HOG.

 

[flots am]

This is where Nick Hollis phones me up to tell me to keep my mouth shut.

When he calls, tell him his bungees are too strong. On the SMS50, it's like wrestling an alligator out of the mud trying to wrap the bungee around the tank and clip it off.

flots.

 

[CWSWine]

You are comparing the SMS50 to Harness and wings system that is like comparing a recreational BC to Black plate and wing. The SMS50 is based on open water recreational BC concept with the straps attached to the wing and is basically a one-piece system. Systems like the XDeep, Razor, and UTD compares more to backplate and wing system where the harness and wing are two separate pieces and harness can be worn without the wing.

The XDeep Stealth is lot more then just buckle and couple d-rings, as you can see below it complete harness, weight system, bungees and are all separate from the wing. Most of the harness that can be purchased separately cost between 250.00 to 350.00 so the harness is a major purchase costing more than majority of the back plates and harness system on the market. You can say that’s lot of money for some webbing and d-rings but the cost of the complete XDeep is just 69.00 more than the SMS50, so you could say the SMS50 is over priced wing with a couple buckle and d-rings. Now, if we have nice selection of size and shaped wings like the backmount guys we would have what I believe is a perfect system.



Dive Right In Scuba has the best description of the standalone Stealth harness I have seen and here link to it.
xDeep Stealth 2.0 Side Mount Harness - Dive Right In Scuba - Plainfield, IL

Few years ago I contacted a cave instructor about taking cavern training and he told me that my Diverite Transpac with OxyCheq wing was made for Rec diving and would never be suitable for Tech/Cave Diving and listed failure points, limited d-ring, excessive material requiring more weight to sink and spent 10 minutes listing all the reasons. Today the same instructor is promoting sidemount cave training in either the DriveRite XT or SMS100 which basically have the same defects of Rec Back inflated BC. Guess times and attitudes change.

 

[Doppler]

When he calls, tell him his bungees are too strong. On the SMS50, it's like wrestling an alligator out of the mud trying to wrap the bungee around the tank and clip it off.

flots.

None of the out-of-the-box bungees are worth a crap in my opinion... but easily fixed

---------- Post added June 28th, 2013 at 11:34 AM ----------

You are comparing the SMS50 to Harness and wings system that is like comparing a recreational BC to Black plate and wing...

You mean a stab jacket? Obviously, I disagree.

My first SM harness was a full climbing harness for which there was no need of a "wing." But times, attitudes and applications change. I am no longer a dry caver. With that said, I do not like the position of the harness or the bungees on the Stealth, nor am I convinced of the value of the hardware holding the whole issue together. And that's fine, you don't need to convince me otherwise.

I agree that the SMS100 has issues with too much lift in the shoulder and neck area (I think that's what you mean) but those shortcomings can be easily fixed.