just finished SM course

[KentB]

this past weekend I did my sidemount course, most people locally seem to be tec divers and the vast majority seem to dive SM over backmount doubles so I thought Id give it a try. i used an Xdeep stealth tec 2.0 with RB and a pair of al 80s......... wow all I can say is im sold! feels so much more stable in the water I liked everything about it. I wasnt as task loaded as I thought i was going to be. I had some trouble in the confined water dives rehooking lower bolt snaps on tank back up, was taking 20-30 seconds but today in the ocean i got both sides down to 5-10 seconds in trim so I think some more practice and Ill have it down pat.

Im defiantly going to be switching over to SM.
theres no point to this thread but im happy and hooked!!!! and soon to be probably $4000 poorer haha

 

[SquareJ]

I just did mine as well. I went down this path due to heavy doubles being hard on the lower back and found SM a much more comfortable way to carry twice the air. But what i found to be most amazing was the ease of horizontal buoyancy, i am always feet heavy but with SM i was able to be horizontal effortlessly.
Jason

 

[rjack321]

this past weekend I did my sidemount course, most people locally seem to be tec divers and the vast majority seem to dive SM over backmount doubles so I thought Id give it a try. i used an Xdeep stealth tec 2.0 with RB and a pair of al 80s......... wow all I can say is im sold! feels so much more stable in the water I liked everything about it. I wasnt as task loaded as I thought i was going to be. I had some trouble in the confined water dives rehooking lower bolt snaps on tank back up, was taking 20-30 seconds but today in the ocean i got both sides down to 5-10 seconds in trim so I think some more practice and Ill have it down pat.

Im defiantly going to be switching over to SM.
theres no point to this thread but im happy and hooked!!!! and soon to be probably $4000 poorer haha

al80s are pretty easy to dive but buoyant! And not very much gas for actual cold water tech dives, and once you add deco bottles and gloves the easy and fun factor declines quite a bit lol

in salt water how much lead are you carrying and where are you putting it?

 

[pconsidine]

welcome to the dark side, and would go with steel tanks for SM- either HP100's or LP 85's

 

[KentB]

I just did mine as well. I went down this path due to heavy doubles being hard on the lower back and found SM a much more comfortable way to carry twice the air. But what i found to be most amazing was the ease of horizontal buoyancy, i am always feet heavy but with SM i was able to be horizontal effortlessly.
Jason

It’s unreal I was super blown away

 

[KentB]

al80s are pretty easy to dive but buoyant! And not very much gas for actual cold water tech dives, and once you add deco bottles and gloves the easy and fun factor declines quite a bit lol

in salt water how much lead are you carrying and where are you putting it?

I had 42 lbs
Spine pouch 2 waist pouches and a belt.
I’m a fat floaty bastard. Swimming in shorts I can breathe out completely and I don’t sink.

 

[KentB]

welcome to the dark side, and would go with steel tanks for SM- either HP100's or LP 85's

Doing a liveaboard in Egypt in Jan so I’ll learn on al80s for time being

Vancouver has a huge sidemount crowd and very very few dive steels
Why lp85 over al80? Wouldn’t steels feel like big ass weighs most of the time?

 

[rjack321]

lp85s aren't 8lbs (total) buoyant when they are both near empty. You have small tanks, without much gas, and a ton of lead. Switch to lp85s, have more gas, and less lead too.

in lp85s (which actually weight about the same as al80s) you would be using about 35lbs of lead - a significant drop and have more gas (if you could get them filled right would help too)

 

[JBFG]

Congrats and welcome to SM!!

 

[pconsidine]

Doing a liveaboard in Egypt in Jan so I’ll learn on al80s for time being

Vancouver has a huge sidemount crowd and very very few dive steels
Why lp85 over al80? Wouldn’t steels feel like big ass weighs most of the time?

steel is neutrally bouyany- you are going to have to add lead for alum. tanks which become positive bouyant. Also in cave country lover LP85's -small size and since steel they jack them up to 3500 PSI, you cannot overfill a alum. tank.