Sidemount Rebreather

[Wibble]

Would a chestmount rebreather — Triton, ChOptima — be considered as a viable option?

 

[Garth]

I would be between two rebreathers as a personal opinion if I had to start over:

XCCR if you don’t require sidemount.

Gemini if you require sidemount.

Only two options for me. The XCCR is built with high quality iQSUB parts and has incredible work of breathing. Two shearwaters and it’s a solid machine for really deep diving. If I didn’t require sidemount I would get this rebreather first.

If I had to have sidemount I would go with the Gemini. It has all the best options for marginally higher price than the sidewinder. I dive a sidewinder and like it but to be honest I think you have to consider the dsv isn’t as good on the kiss compared to the golem dsv. There have been plenty of documented issues with fisher cables compared to higher quality connection, the towers aren’t as solid as could be on sidewinder. There are a bunch more debatable upgrades but having potted electronics given the location of cells and electronics seems like a great idea as the design of both the sidewinder and the Gemini could get wet easy without much of a water trap before the cans compared to most backmount setups.

My opinion is only one opinion and so I’m looking forward to reading other people’s comments. I’m pretty certain these are my personal two options.
The chest mount optima might be good but if you are doing scientific diving requiring you to work directly in front of you I would probably want my chest clear of items or rebreather bits to keep that area free.

 

[ntlhui]

Definitely check with your DSO, as well as anyone else in your organization that uses a similar setup. You may also need to figure out who else will be diving with you when you need a sidemount rebreather, as the DSO may require that you both dive the same setup to minimize confusion and streamline processes.

 

[rjack321]

I would scratch all those choices off your list and get a backmounted CCR. Someday years from now the specialized pluses and minuses of a sidemount CCR *might* justify getting a SM unit.

 

[grantctobin]

I would scratch all those choices off your list and get a backmounted CCR. Someday years from now the specialized pluses and minuses of a sidemount CCR *might* justify getting a SM unit.

This. But if you’re going to throw this advice away, defer to TBone/Garth/I suppose myself

 

[broncobowsher]

I would scratch all those choices off your list and get a backmounted CCR. Someday years from now the specialized pluses and minuses of a sidemount CCR *might* justify getting a SM unit.

That's what I would say as well. There is enough to learn in just going to a rebreather that you don't need to make it more difficult because you may want to go a specility route sometime in the future. One of the common backmounted rebreathers and go spend a few years diving that and getting proficient at normal rebreather stuff. It's probably what you want if you want to go deep as well. The uses of a sidemount rebreather where it is an advantage are pretty rare. Photography and deep stuff are not either of them.

 

[Tracy]

It is your first unit, not your last. Make it easy on yourself and go with a backmount unit.

 

[GiraffeMarineSalvage]

I replied to the post that seems to have been deleted as a duplicate original post, but if I were you I would consider the Triton (my first and currently only CCR, highly recommend with a few caveats which are expressed in other scubaboard threads...) or Choptima (no experience with, but it made my short list based upon many similar considerations).
A few personal idiosyncratic details (like preferring mCCR to eCCR and subtle form factor preferences) made Triton be my choice for first CCR (and potentially, if my CCR diving were to get more technical beyond it's limitations, my backup CCR which will then be what I will be most familiar with...).

 

[Wibble]

Question for the more experienced CCR divers: do chestmount rebreathers (Triton, ChOptima) work well in caves, better than backmount and comparible to sidemount rebreathers?

 

[GiraffeMarineSalvage]

I'm not currently experienced enough in CCR to weigh in on that question, but in OC cave/close confined experiences I can't imagine choosing to deal with backmount, let alone backmount doubles if given a viable alternative... I'm looking forward to learning from more experienced CCR's opinions but my relative newby CCR understanding is the vast majority of sidemount CCR options currently available have terrible work of breathing relative to viable alternatives, but I say that based on armchair reading vs personal experience.. (All I can say for sure is I personally love my Triton's WOB...).