Thanks for your input, you also covered another question I had brewing. You said you learnt side mount about 20 dives into your rec experience. Do you think that if I was to want to learn any kind of twin cylinder set up, to do it sooner rather than wait a while ? Is the learning curve as much to say you’re learning to dive almost all over again ?
Thanks again
It took a couple dives to be comfortable in the water. A couple dozen to be very comfortable gearing up.
I think that sidemount sets you up for the cylinder handling and gas changes of tech diving while also being easier than backmount in general.
Unlike some divers I much prefer it off boats of any size.
But demonstrates the point, at 20 dives you just don’t know if you would enjoy such places - or have the money and time to build up the skills. Best thing is to spend some time diving bog standard setup like single cylinder/backplate & wing and longhose, have fun, meet other divers, get 50 dives per year in and see if that’s interesting. OP is in the UK, I found it tricky to even rent proper sidemount cylinders unless it’s through a friend.
