My personal experiences with the Hollis SMS 100 vs Dive Rite Nomad

[corvettejoe]

I dove both the Nomad and a Hollis SMS100D (D=dual bladder) before buying a sidemount rig.
I found them both comfy enough, but had more time in on the Hollis and eventually bought that one (got a GREAT deal on a barely used one)

I have absolutely no complaints. The main thing about it is I liked the donut wing vs the horseshoe wing (my first OW rig was BP/Donut Wing, so I was very used to this already).

I can dive whatever, but I prefer my SMS100

 

[tracydr]

Would the Hollis SMS 100 with CA mods work for cold water diving? I assume it will since folks are diving with double steel 100 tanks and drysuits but I just want to make sure. Considering buying one this winter, getting some pool hours, then hopefully going somewhere for a sidemount class, Florida or Mexico I assume. But, a lot of my diving is coldwater.
I want to do a sidemount, Cavern and maybe Intro to Cave week although that's probably too much for one trip so I'll probably break it up into two trips. I'd really like to do the training in Mexico because I've fallen in love with Mexico caves from videos. I know the pros/cons of training in Florida but I really want to go to Mexico and see myself doing more dives in Mexico in the long run, unless Joe ends up with a job in the SE. Then, well, I'll regroup and go to Florida!

 

[ColdH2O]

I have a CA SMS100 and thats all I am using it for is cold water, double 119's.

 

[victorzamora]

Yes, the sms100 is great for child water diving. The mods make it harder to back mount a single tank, but I haven't needed to in years. I've completely converted to side Mount now. However, the CA guys tend to recommend the single bladder rig because the dual bladder rig had weird lateral trim issues. Feel free to call them about it for now details.

Tracy: if you do your training and do mostly fun dives in Mexico, maybe a stealth would be a better option? I like it better than the razor, and it has its definite advantages over Edd's rig in the tiny Mexican caves. It works, but it's harder to deal with and is definitely better suited to Florida, steels, and a drysuit.

Having said that, if your Foundation is good then you should have no problem doing cavern into and side Mount in a week

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk

 

[rjack321]

Would the Hollis SMS 100 with CA mods work for cold water diving? I assume it will since folks are diving with double steel 100 tanks and drysuits but I just want to make sure. Considering buying one this winter, getting some pool hours, then hopefully going somewhere for a sidemount class, Florida or Mexico I assume. But, a lot of my diving is coldwater.
I want to do a sidemount, Cavern and maybe Intro to Cave week although that's probably too much for one trip so I'll probably break it up into two trips. I'd really like to do the training in Mexico because I've fallen in love with Mexico caves from videos. I know the pros/cons of training in Florida but I really want to go to Mexico and see myself doing more dives in Mexico in the long run, unless Joe ends up with a job in the SE. Then, well, I'll regroup and go to Florida!

I've used mine with lp45s, al80s, lp85s and hp100s in 48-52F water. No concerns or issues whatsoever.

In MX with Al80s I went with lead on the cam bands. There's not a very good way to put front Drings on the waist and the distance from the neck bungies to the waist is different than the distance from the neck bungies to the rear door handles. So the whole "front clip the AL80 to keep the tail down" doesn't work so well. The way the neck bungies route makes static (heavy) tanks much more stable and the neck bungie stays put better. If I had the patience I could probably rework something between my tail clips and waist bands to be able to front clip al80s. But I was only in MX for a week and I didn't want to spend 1/2 my vacation screwing with rear clips and front drings when I could slap 3lbs on the cam band of each al80 and wham they sit just like any steel tank.

 

[johnnyblackau]

My Small input -

Just completed the TDI Sidemount course with LDS (Blue Label Diving) and had an absolute ball. Daren showed the Hollis SMS 100 / 50 and the Dive Rite Nomad and went into detail of the differences of the systems, and really highlighted the advantages of the ring bungee system. Personal preference is that it really sped the donning of the system and gearing up a lot, being able to clip the tanks on with a metal on metal connection and leaving it as is... impressive! again personal choice.

 

[DevonDiver]

.... really highlighted the advantages of the ring bungee system.

Out of interest, what were those advantages?

Did they list disadvantages too? If so, what? (If not, why not?)

 

[victorzamora]

Johnny, a solid connection can be achieved on any rig. I do so on every one of my SMS100 dives. In fact, the SMS100 kit comes with the option for that. On a Razor/Stealth, this can also be done even if it's not the "norm". I'm with Andy on this one.

 

[johnnyblackau]

Like I said in my post... I've only just completed my course.... And it was my opinion as to what felt comfortable to me....

 

[DevonDiver]

Surprised no-one is talking about this "traditional" Florida sidemount configuration (according to the dive pro concerned, offering sidemount experience at his resort here in the Philippines..)

:dunce: :fail: :headscratch: :huh: :acid: :signofcross: ​