Is it worth it!

[Crock]

Hey everyone,

Just wondering if it is worth it to buy a Hollis SMS 50 for 200 dollars?

I will be using it in the cold waters of the great lakes for open water and wreck diving. This will be my first side-mount setup.

What are your thoughts on this?

Thanks

 

[Ken T]

Depends how much weight it takes to sink you and your drysuit.

The SMS 50 has 23lbs of lift. It was designed for AL80's and wetsuit use in warm water diving.

 

[Crock]

Depends how much weight it takes to sink you and your drysuit.

The SMS 50 has 23lbs of lift. It was designed for AL80's and wetsuit use in warm water diving.

Using 14mm wetsuit and 80s

 

[Patoux01]

Depends how much weight it takes to sink you and your drysuit.

23 is a bit on the light side if you plan on carrying stages, because you can't have 20# of gas with you due to the fact that you don't have redundancy. In case of a problem, your buddy would have to lift you up, and you'd have to lift him up as well if he's in trouble. So you'd have to use at most half the wing. If you (and him) get a redundancy for buoyancy somehow, then you're fine.

At least, that's my view on things. I'm not considering here that you could ditch a tank or use a lift bag as I don't consider those good solutions.

 

[DevonDiver]

The SMS 50... was designed for AL80's and wetsuit use in warm water diving.

Which is why it has rails and no forward d-rings...

DOH!!!

 

[tbone1004]

14mm's on a wetsuit regardless of the tanks is a death sentence in that rig. It doesn't have the lift required to use safely in those conditions. It would be fine if you never went deeper than 20ft, but anything deeper than that and your wetsuit will be loosing too much lead. 10lbs of that lift are eaten up by the air in the tanks, so you only have about 10lbs of lift left for the exposure suit.

Devon, doesn't mean it was a good design, but it was still designed for warm water al80 divers....

 

[decompression]

Totally agree with Tbone........the SM 50 for $200 isn't a great deal if you add the $1500 for a drysuit. If you look you can find a HOG rig for under $300 or a dive rite set up for a bit more. Regardless, deep dives (40' and below) are a bad idea in thick wetsuits.


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[Subcooled]

A 14mm wetsuit? That is utter madness. You should get a drysuit, really. Any cheap used drysuit. A lot less than It is probably warmer, certainly more comfortable, does not loose buoyancy with depth (adjustable volume)...

How much weight are you carrying?

You have some droppable weights, don't you?

I have seen people with a drysuit and an SMS 50 (and dual steel tanks in freezing water). They floated pretty deep and have SMS 100 now.

 

[a878bob]

+1, I have 3 different sidemount rigs, each for a particular type of diving. No one unit can do it all. My Great Lakes rig is a Manta wing, advertised 50lb lift. And I have my drysuit for backup buoyancy as well.

That being said, $200 is a good deal, for warm water diving.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

Agreed. For the type/configuration of diving you are talking about, you are well into SMS100/Nomad XT/JT/EXP territory....even with 80's.