That's a very florida-centric statement. Yes the majority of florida exploration is done in these types of rigs. I believe much more line is laid on a daily basis in mexico than is laid in florida, and they're not using combo rigs.
Help Choosing The Best Harness!!!
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That's a very florida-centric statement. Yes the majority of florida exploration is done in these types of rigs. I believe much more line is laid on a daily basis in mexico than is laid in florida, and they're not using combo rigs.
Even in Florida I do not believe many dives are really done in 'combo-rigs'.
Most divers even outside Florida heavily modify their systems and many do not work as backmount rigs very well after those mods.
Since most of those modifications are called 'Edd-Mods', they seem to originate in the US and with the Florida cave divers.
For someone without experience it is next to impossible to set up the system different from the stock version without finding experienced outside help.
And they do not work nearly as good unmodified.
Most divers even outside Florida heavily modify their systems and many do not work as backmount rigs very well after those mods.
Since most of those modifications are called 'Edd-Mods', they seem to originate in the US and with the Florida cave divers.
For someone without experience it is next to impossible to set up the system different from the stock version without finding experienced outside help.
And they do not work nearly as good unmodified.
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what on earth does that even mean? the SMS100 was one of the first combo rigs out there and even with Edd-Mods is still capable of handling singles and doubles. How well they handle it has nothing to do with what they started out as, and very few of them will ever see use with backmounted cylinders, but that doesn't change what they originally started as. Sidemount focused systems capable of handling doubles by nature of their design
Mostly the way the wing is bungeed for sidemount optimization does not work well with backmount.
Usable perhaps, I personally do not like them.
But regarding the original question: the are not 'harnesses' they are 'jackets'.
The question was about using a sidemount harness like the XDeep Stealth as a combo rig and that is more or less conceptually impossible.
Usable perhaps, I personally do not like them.
But regarding the original question: the are not 'harnesses' they are 'jackets'.
The question was about using a sidemount harness like the XDeep Stealth as a combo rig and that is more or less conceptually impossible.
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they are anything but jackets, keep showing your inexperience. They don't work well with backmount period, they aren't designed for it, they just happen to use components that can accept a backmount cylinder or twinset if you are in a bind and have to put them on your back. They are perfectly usable even after edd mods
Now, tell me, what are they then?
If you remove all the paddings, you could probably call it a 'harness', but even then never with the same sentence mentioning the Stealth.
Combo systems work technically but are horribly complicated for someone with 25 dives.
If you want to get something out of the sidemount experience at that early training stage you either have to have excellent training or excellent equipment, preferably both.
My recommendation would not be any of the combo systems, he will just get the worst experience he can with both sidemount and backmount.
If he can find superior training for a combo system, the recommendations here do not matter anyway.
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bamafan
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If you are traveling I would not go with a combo rig. Like Tbone and others have said they are not optimal for bm diving. They are also heavier and the minimalist harness rigs such as the Razor or Stealth are a lot more travel friendly. You didn't say where you are from or where you will be traveling but from my experience most travel destinations have aluminum 80's as the most common tank that is available. The minimalist rigs work much better with Al80's than the SMS or Nomad do. Door handles on the buttplate work great for large steel tanks but suck for aluminum tanks. The aluminum tanks get light as you breathe them down and you have to move the rear attachment point down to compensate for this. The SMS has other issues caused by the wing being under the door handles so I would stay away from a donut style wing on a sidemount rig. I have had both an SMS 100 and a Halcyon Contour. The wing under the buttplate just doesn't work well.
As far as traveling going I think that once you start diving sidemount you won't be swapping back and forth like you think you might. You can either just dive 2 tanks or if you want just put one al80 on one side and a small weight on the other and single tank sidemount.
As far as traveling going I think that once you start diving sidemount you won't be swapping back and forth like you think you might. You can either just dive 2 tanks or if you want just put one al80 on one side and a small weight on the other and single tank sidemount.
bamafan
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I do have to agree with Richard as I would bet that way more line is being laid in al 80's using a Stealth or Razor type rig than is being done in the Florida style rigs. The majority of the big passage that is getting explored in Florida is in rebreather territory. It is generally really deep, reslly far back or both. Most of the stuff left in Florida within easy OC range is a few hundred feet at a time at most. In Mexico Ray Charles can find cave to dump a reel of line in.
nakatomi
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We've seen some great advice in this thread and a lot of very helpful comments.
@Kenner1 you just need to keep in mind that most of the folks replying are technical and/or cave divers.
Some of them with quite a lot of advanced dives and experience, both of which influences their recommendations.
In my opinion sidemount is of very little benefit to you unless your diving requires you to carry TWO tanks.
So as long as you just need one, for the shallow stuff, I would stick to a traditional jacket bc or singles tank wing.
Once your diving progresses and you venture into the realm of Advanced Nitrox/decompression procedures, you will end up needing two main tanks (backmount or sidemount). That's when you should begin to decide on whether backmount or sidemount is for you.
@Kenner1 you just need to keep in mind that most of the folks replying are technical and/or cave divers.
Some of them with quite a lot of advanced dives and experience, both of which influences their recommendations.
In my opinion sidemount is of very little benefit to you unless your diving requires you to carry TWO tanks.
So as long as you just need one, for the shallow stuff, I would stick to a traditional jacket bc or singles tank wing.
Once your diving progresses and you venture into the realm of Advanced Nitrox/decompression procedures, you will end up needing two main tanks (backmount or sidemount). That's when you should begin to decide on whether backmount or sidemount is for you.
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