SMS100 / Nomad XT / or wait SMS75

[gearhound]

I'm curious as to where people are going to clip the al80 off for single tank side mount on the SMS100 or the SMS75? On the butt rings? What happens when the tanks get tail happy? Add some weight to the tank? Wouldn't it be off balance?

The original criteria was travelling and renting al80's to dive as a single.

 

[ffdiver]

Just add a d-ring to the harness where you need it when the tank gets light.

 

[gearhound]

But you're moving from your butt plate to your waist strap. Which means you're pushing the whole tank up a few inches. I know some divers do that, but it's less than ideal.
Anyway, we're humans. We can adapt. Hence the SMS100 modded to be an Armadillo, now marketed as a SMS75. So buy whatever you want. Adapt it to work for you. I'm a believer of gear can help, but a good diver will be a good diver whatever gear he wears. I don't make any money off any of the gear that's sold. But having owned and dove many of the systems out there, I'll recommend the Stealth 2.0 to my students.

 

[SanDiegoSidemount]

I'm curious as to where people are going to clip the al80 off for single tank side mount on the SMS100 or the SMS75? On the butt rings? What happens when the tanks get tail happy? Add some weight to the tank? Wouldn't it be off balance?

The Z system has a sliding rubber front ring for when the tanks get light. As long as your stage harness is properly adjusted (lower band and clip nice and tight, and as low as possible) it's easy to keep the tank tails down by switching to this ring and sliding forward as far as needed. (You could add this type of setup to any harness.)

The original criteria was travelling and renting al80's to dive as a single.

I have done this a lot. All I dive is AL80s. Usually doubles, but singles when traveling, or when my buddy is diving a single. A nice travel stage harness helps a lot: something you can slap on to a rental tank in a minute or less.

 

[gearhound]

SanDiego, you do realize that UTD copied the sliding rubber ring off of the Stealth don't you? And that the UTD harness is a direct copy of the Razor harness? There are many things I respect about UTD. Fantastic training programs and commitment to skills. But they are new to sidemount and it is definitely not their forte. And yes, I am quite aware of where their sidemount roots come from. The manifold system is expensive and creates more problems than it solves, but I think that's outside the scope of this thread, and there are many other threads on the forums dealing with this issue.

 

[Tmontuori]

Good to know that would make sense from what I understand its also smaller. Don't let all the nonsense fool you on this post it just goes to show it comes down to preference and need. I think of the sms100 as a tech rear inflate that can back mount thats what separates it from the rest you can put steel doubles on your back with a H valve and string bottles under your arms if need be. So its really up to what you need and what you can afford. Myself if I keep side mounting I will invest in a single purpose side mount rig down the road and keep the 100 for tech back mount and back up side. Good luck again let me know how you make out. (I also think there are a lot of Hollis haters out there)

 

[victorzamora]

I'm curious as to where people are going to clip the al80 off for single tank side mount on the SMS100 or the SMS75

I just added a couple of d-rings to my waist strap for when I travel with alu tanks. I'm currently trying to purchase the sliding rubber d-rings from the Stealth, but I've also got my own work-around with a bungee. It works alright, but I've since moved back to two d-rings.

On the butt rings? What happens when the tanks get tail happy?

If you add weight, clipping to the butt rings is no issue. If you add weight, they don't get tail happy.

Add some weight to the tank? Wouldn't it be off balance?

Yup. About 2# will do. The tank will start going wonky when you get REALLY low, but I rarely if ever get my tanks that low. As for balance, not really. I dove with single AL80 with lead and it was fine. I dove AL80 without lead, and it was fine. I preferred without lead better, hence why I'm currently using two d-rings ($3 total).

The original criteria was travelling and renting al80's to dive as a single.[/QUOTE]

And I do this frequently. All of my diving for two years has been in SM. I'm not saying that the SMS100 is the best for it. If I had the money, I'd probably buy a Stealth for my travelling.....but I'm not giving up my SMS100 for steels in FL Caves.

---------- Post added January 22nd, 2014 at 07:42 AM ----------

The manifold system is expensive and creates more problems than it solves, but I think that's outside the scope of this thread, and there are many other threads on the forums dealing with this issue.

The rest of your post I agree with, but this ESPECIALLY stands out to me. I have yet to hear of a good reason to use the manifold, or a real way in which it helps. It's funny to note that the only two people in this thread in support of it push the UTD brand heavily. There are, I think, 4 people I know of on this board that really push the Z-Manifold....and they're all HEAVY UTD supporters. Nobody outside of UTD recognizes any benefit to it.

 

[Shurup]

Great I found this topic so I don't need to start another one, I'm choosing, or was choosing before I read all 4 pages, between the SMS100 and Nomad XT. Mainly because of their lift capacity, which is 50lbs for the Nomad and 52 lbs for SMS100.
Not much has been said about the Nomad system so any user comments are appreciated, in particular, can the Nomad system be used with BM single/twin or CC rebreather? SMS 100 can take all of that.

Nomad, being a modular system, will allow me to replace bits and pieces to fit my needs, wondering if it will take the wing from other manufacturers?
Will I be able to replace pieces of SMS 100 as easy as it can be done on the Nomad? Will SMS take a different size/ different brand of wing?

A few questions on the previously mentioned STEALTH and RAZOR systems. What is their max lift?

The rig I originally designed was from OMS, based on a backplate with 60 lb lift Tesseract wing, was unfortunately told they're going out of business and was advised to look into other systems. It aint going to be pure caving rig and I will need to be able to carry more than 4 bottles + some other gear. To be able to strap twins on a back is a bonus, as well as I may get a rebreather in the future, or may not, haven't decided yet. In any case, the rig needs to be able to take more than 4 bottles, can STEALTH and RAZOR do that, what's their max lift?

 

[gearhound]

The max lift on the Stealth is 35lbs. The max lift on the Razor is 45lbs. The Stealth is more streamlined when full. Where in Alberta are you? Aqua Sport in Calgary has a Nomad in stock if you want to have a look at one. There's a few divers out of our shop diving most of the sidemount systems out there. Even had a look at the new Scubapro rig.

 

[Shurup]

Thanks gearhound, stealth doesn't have enough lift for what I will be doing, even a razor is on a short end.
Do you know if nomad can take the backmount singles, twins or CCR rebreather?
I'm from Edmonton but now live in Thailand and only come home fir a short time to visit. I'll be back end of the month for a few weeks and have a meeting in red deer so may as well drive all the way to Calgary after the meeting, and check the nomad system. It would help to know before hand if it can take BM bottles or a CCR rebreather.