Six Feet Under
Contributor
Anybody diving a Nomad LS? I'm set to try one out this weekend (with proper instruction), if I can find a rental or loaner unit. Made the decision to go ahead and switch to SM before I take advanced nitrox/deco procedures and full cave (currently Intro level through TDI). I've never done any blue water diving but I may end up moving to South Florida in the future for work so I want something that will work for both cave and wreck environments. Currently diving Worthington HP100's and PST LP80's but I'd like to switch to Faber LP85's if the buoyancy characteristics work for me... If I'm able to find an LS rental harness this weekend, I'll rent a set of Fabers too as my steels are all banded together as doubles and filled with 32% still.
Just looking for any pluses or minuses of the rig, if you've got any experience with it, specifically the dual bladder model as I dive wet in a 5mm suit. I'll be swapping the ring bungee out for a floating loop style attachment a la the XDeep Stealth. I like that the dump valve and elbow for the inflator are on the underside of the bladder so they won't catch on rocks in the cave environment.
My only real concerns are the amount of adjustability, whether or not the wing will "beach ball" when it's fully inflated, and if it will provide the necessary lift for two steels, an AL80, and an AL40 (all I see me using in the near future - if I need more gas than that, I'll likely have to switch to something else).
The other option is to make my own and buy a Sump UK wing, which has 15kg/33lb of lift, and make my own harness. This is honestly the route I would rather go, but I won't rule out the LS until I try it just out of convenience. The Sump UK option would be great because I could change out the wing if I needed one with more lift, or add a second wing for redundancy as others have done. It would also likely be cheaper, and set up exactly how I want.
Just looking for any pluses or minuses of the rig, if you've got any experience with it, specifically the dual bladder model as I dive wet in a 5mm suit. I'll be swapping the ring bungee out for a floating loop style attachment a la the XDeep Stealth. I like that the dump valve and elbow for the inflator are on the underside of the bladder so they won't catch on rocks in the cave environment.
My only real concerns are the amount of adjustability, whether or not the wing will "beach ball" when it's fully inflated, and if it will provide the necessary lift for two steels, an AL80, and an AL40 (all I see me using in the near future - if I need more gas than that, I'll likely have to switch to something else).
The other option is to make my own and buy a Sump UK wing, which has 15kg/33lb of lift, and make my own harness. This is honestly the route I would rather go, but I won't rule out the LS until I try it just out of convenience. The Sump UK option would be great because I could change out the wing if I needed one with more lift, or add a second wing for redundancy as others have done. It would also likely be cheaper, and set up exactly how I want.