Here's my goals, how do I get there?

[kensuf]

Well, that was pretty much what I did. I took a sidemount course with about 50 dives, in preparation to do cavern / Intro soon thereafter in Mexico. I struggled a bit, but the problem was mostly with the sidemount course, which had been taught by an instructor who didn't cave dive and my cave instructor didn't approve of some of the things I had been taught. So if I would do things differently, I'd take a better sidemount course from a cave instructor. I would not want to start with doubles and then switch over shortly thereafter. Nor would I want to take cavern in a single-tank configuration. That's why I would start with the end goal of diving caves in mind, and get proficient with an appropriate configuration for that as soon as possible, and then get started on cavern and cave training.

Backmount doubles are a very appropriate gear configuration for cave diving. People have been cave diving for years in backmount doubles and the safety record is much higher than sidemount.

Name one person that has died from a manifold failure. You can't, it hasn't happened.

Now let's talk about how many people have drowned doing gas switches in sidemount. We can start with one about 11 months ago here in Florida...

 

[kafkaland]

Backmount doubles are a very appropriate gear configuration for cave diving. People have been cave diving for years in backmount doubles and the safety record is much higher than sidemount.

Name one person that has died from a manifold failure. You can't, it hasn't happened.

Now let's talk about how many people have drowned doing gas switches in sidemount. We can start with one about 11 months ago here in Florida...

I never said that backmounted doubles are not appropriate. If you read my first post above I said: "That can be backmounted doubles or sidemount (either way is fine - but it should be a deliberate choice)." I chose sidemount to start with, I have not regretted it, and it's a path that is not uncommon these days.

 

[chrisreedrules]

A lot of great advice here and a lot for me to digest. Thank you all for the replies so far! Just from my little bit of knowledge and the few books I've read on tech, I feel a little pre-disposed to back-mounted diving. But it certainly seems that side mount is more the norm (at least from what I've seen here in FL in my limited experience). I might try both a bit and see what I feel more comfortable with.

 

[Lorenzoid]

One doesn't need a dry suit for a Tech pass, and I agree, that would be too much.

True, but at least in Florida divers who plan to move on to Cave 1 after Fundies almost without exception take Fundies in doubles and drysuit.

 

[_Ralph]

Please explain why?

Simple answer, why not? Gives the skill required to handle the cord during situations. As trivial as it sounds, that cord is a PITA for divers who don't realize it.

He mentioned eventually getting into caves ... well, a canister still is king here (yes, some cordless are getting up there in the burn time and output ... but at a price ... size and cost)


_R

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Simple answer, why not?
_R

Because it's not necessary. I have both, dive both in caves. The cordless is my preference, opinions vary.

 

[chrisreedrules]

Excuse the ignorance here, but what are you referring to in regards to cordless etc?.. Lights?

 

[kensuf]

In this photo you see two Dive Rite HP50 lights. They both have the same emitter (light head), but one has an external battery pack that connects the head to the batteries via a cord (more capacity = longer burn time) and the other is a cordless with the battery directly attached to the head.

 

[decompression]

You're in Florida? There's a bunch of instructors and gue divers and we all dive a lot.

Read up on gue a bit. Take fundies. You might change your mind about what agency you think you want cave training through.

I wouldn't trust GUE guys in caves...............lol.

 

[Caveeagle]

Excuse the ignorance here, but what are you referring to in regards to cordless etc?.. Lights?

For a long time, the corded canister light was pretty much standard for any cave diver. Canisters have gotten much smaller than the 5"x18" lexan versions from the 80/90s. And withnLEDs and better batteries, burn times are better too.

"Handheld" dive lights are not new, but options are better and several versions are now available that have great brightness and burn times to rival all but the newest/ bestest can light.

Kensuf posted the newest "convertible" model by Dive Rite. I personally own three can lights, but have been using a dive rite handheld LX20 for most dives as it has plenty of burn time for most of the diving I do.