STEALTH 2.0 Sidemount - Try Before You Buy in US & Canada

[DiveAv8r]

Greetings all,

I was able to test dive a rig with Aqua Sport in Calgery, AB. First and foremost, a huge thank you to the staff there for accommodating me at the last minute and letting me not only try out the rig, but also sit in on a sidemount cave diving session. The staff at Aqua Sport were extremely friendly, patient and professional and I highly recommend anyone try diving the rig with them.

Quick disclaimer about me: I have very little experience in diving in general (100 dives), and even less in sidemount. With that said, I love the configuration and dive it exclusively whenever possible. All of my dives have been in the Hollis SMS 100, and I am certed through PADI tek and rec sidemount. My goal is to get Tek certed and start thinking in the future about caverns, caves and wrecks. I tried the XDeep because I am looking for a travel rig, and I am not a fan of the Razor nor the SMS 50.

My own observations of the Stealth is that it is very comfortable and seems really well built. Once the instructor cinched the rig to fit my body exactly, it was also one of the tightest (read: no slop) rigs I have ever dove. The bottles (AL80s) stayed cinched to my sides regardless of my orientation in the water - swimming horizontal, vertical or on my side. I did notice the wing moved around my body very slightly, but re-adjusting it around my midsection was easy enough and I only had to do it once. I attribute that to my inexperience and user error. Having an experienced instructor who knows the rig well was extremely helpful, as he had it fit precisely to me in just a few minutes.

My biggest concern, as a few have mentioned here are the bungees used to attach the wing around my body. While we can go around in circles discussing the various design characteristics of bungees vs webbing, I am just uncomfortable with the concept: I don't trust the knots I might tie, and how I might adjust should the bungee or knot fail. Swimming in the pool with just a swimsuit, I could feel the bungees and the bolt snaps holding them in place, but I wouldn't call it uncomfortable - I was aware they were there. the whole thing just seems "klugy", and for a $680 unit I guess I expected something as innovative as the rest of the rig.

I hope that helps! I loved diving the XDeep, I think it is a great product - especially for those of us who must travel by air to get to a descent dive site - I just have this little voice in my very inexperienced ear going "uuuuhhhmm...."

 

[gearhound]

Hey Noam,
You're in luck. XDeep is in the process of making a Stealth with the wing permanently attached, for those of you so inclined.
I still prefer the bungee attachment because, as a cave diver going into tight places, I want everything as streamlined as possible. The bungees hold everything in close, while not taking away the potential lift of the bladder. That, to me, is the trade off with the wing permanently attached with webbing. It'll either float up off the body, or if you strap it on tight, you'll lose the lift of the wing.
As for the bungees themselves, they're there to hold the wing to my body. The wing has 37lbs of lift. I have the utmost confidence that three loops of 5/16" bungee doubled over will support that. And the bungee is easily replaced if it ever starts fraying.
One other clarification, that was a cave prep workshop that you sat in on. The boys are going to be starting their actual cave course with Patrick Widmann next week. Since Patrick is the designer of the Stealth, and we have limited time in Mexico, I thought it'd be good for the boys to be very prepared before they got down there so that they could hit the ground running.

Thank you for your kind words and your unbiased review of the Stealth. As you found out, we're dealers for the Stealth, Razor, Hollis, Dive Rite and even the new Halcyon sidemount rigs. I believe we can give a fair assessment of each rig and give you access to each of them. Our sidemount instructors are actual cave divers that sidemount extensively and are not the "two day wonders" that you find at other shops. I hope that our experience showed.

 

[DiveAv8r]

Hi Chris,

I cannot say enough good things about Aqua Sport Calgary and your own instruction. Your collective experience as a shop and individual knowledge was quite educational, and I learned a ton about gear and diving in the short time I was there. I also really appreciated your feedback and teaching style - especislly your patience with my many questions - which was some of the best I have experienced in my short diving career.

I wish to stress to anyone reading this thread that I thoroughly enjoyed diving the XDeep, especially under Chris' knowledge and guidance. My question of the bungees is from an inexperienced view - I have never been in a cavern, cave or wreck - but I think it is quite telling that very experienced cave divers and cave diving instructors designed the XDeep and use it exclusively with the bungee system. Perhaps if I was more experienced I would not be as uncomfortable...

Dive safe and happy exploring in Mexico!

Kind Regards,

Noam

"I know nothing and I can prove it".