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I've been sidemount diving since 2009. Back then our options were extremely limited and were essentially the Dive Rite Nomad, Hollis SMS100, Golem Gear Armadillo, and the Razor. Over the years I have owned many rigs, been given many rigs, and done prototype work on many rigs but I have always come back to the Dive Rite Nomad that I purchased back in 2009.
The Armadillo had the corrugated hose coming up from the right hip.
The Nomad and then the Hollis answer to it with the SMS100 had the corrugated hose coming from the top with a left hip dump per traditional wings which resulted in what was called the "Sorenson Swap".
Razor was up from the left.
Since my original rig was left hip as the only option and most of the rigs that are sitting in my garage were either iterations of that original Dive Rite rig or iterations of the Razor, they have always come up from the left and I don't know if many people have ever really messed with it.
Why are we discussing this? Well I have the one Nomad that I'm convinced works properly because I have an extra long Transpac attached to it that had to be special ordered and that crushes the top of the wing and fully protects the dump valve from abrasion. They discontinued that option many years ago, but it was time for me to get a new wing and just picked up a Nomad XT wing. The new XT wing has dumps on both sides so it has me re-evaluating whether the corrugated hose on the right is a better option.
Arguments for:
Consistency with doubles where the drysuit hose comes from the left and inflator hose comes from the right. Not a really strong argument, but it's an argument for consistency since I dive both rigs regularly.
When diving sidemount CCR, I would not need an inflator hose on my distribution block and would always have my wing inflator on my right side bottle and if I'm diving dry then I could either add an inflator hose to the distribution block or more likely would have an inflation bottle for drysuit.
Argument Against:
Goes against what is now the "standard" for sidemount rigs
Breaks 12+ years of muscle memory which would take time to figure out
Left shoulder is really busy since the loop is over on that side as well as the O2 addition. Not a problem from a "busy" perspective but it may make inflating with my left hand rather difficult to get around the loop hoses *only a nuisance when on a DPV, but I can scooter lefty so only a minor nuisance*. Could also sort by going the original Armadillo route and use a short corrugated hose and have it come up to the right shoulder d-ring instead of crossing to the left d-ring.
If I run it Armadillo style then I have to get really creative with ports because I already have long hose and QC6 whip for the rebreather going "down" and have the drysuit hose going out, but would have to swap the QC6 and inflator whips and figure out what to do with the QC6 when I'm OC diving.
The good thing is it takes all of 45 seconds to swap from left to right so I'm going to try it out and see, but curious to see what some of the other guys out there have for an argument if you got to choose where it comes from.
The Armadillo had the corrugated hose coming up from the right hip.
The Nomad and then the Hollis answer to it with the SMS100 had the corrugated hose coming from the top with a left hip dump per traditional wings which resulted in what was called the "Sorenson Swap".
Razor was up from the left.
Since my original rig was left hip as the only option and most of the rigs that are sitting in my garage were either iterations of that original Dive Rite rig or iterations of the Razor, they have always come up from the left and I don't know if many people have ever really messed with it.
Why are we discussing this? Well I have the one Nomad that I'm convinced works properly because I have an extra long Transpac attached to it that had to be special ordered and that crushes the top of the wing and fully protects the dump valve from abrasion. They discontinued that option many years ago, but it was time for me to get a new wing and just picked up a Nomad XT wing. The new XT wing has dumps on both sides so it has me re-evaluating whether the corrugated hose on the right is a better option.
Arguments for:
Consistency with doubles where the drysuit hose comes from the left and inflator hose comes from the right. Not a really strong argument, but it's an argument for consistency since I dive both rigs regularly.
When diving sidemount CCR, I would not need an inflator hose on my distribution block and would always have my wing inflator on my right side bottle and if I'm diving dry then I could either add an inflator hose to the distribution block or more likely would have an inflation bottle for drysuit.
Argument Against:
Goes against what is now the "standard" for sidemount rigs
Breaks 12+ years of muscle memory which would take time to figure out
Left shoulder is really busy since the loop is over on that side as well as the O2 addition. Not a problem from a "busy" perspective but it may make inflating with my left hand rather difficult to get around the loop hoses *only a nuisance when on a DPV, but I can scooter lefty so only a minor nuisance*. Could also sort by going the original Armadillo route and use a short corrugated hose and have it come up to the right shoulder d-ring instead of crossing to the left d-ring.
If I run it Armadillo style then I have to get really creative with ports because I already have long hose and QC6 whip for the rebreather going "down" and have the drysuit hose going out, but would have to swap the QC6 and inflator whips and figure out what to do with the QC6 when I'm OC diving.
The good thing is it takes all of 45 seconds to swap from left to right so I'm going to try it out and see, but curious to see what some of the other guys out there have for an argument if you got to choose where it comes from.
