Help Choosing The Best Harness!!!

[Razorista]

Razorista you are certainly entitled to your opinion but if your basic premise is that there is one sidemount harness that is the best for any choice of exposure protection and tanks I feel that you are sadly mistaken and I believe most sidemount divers who have been diving in many different regions and under different conditions will agree.

The best choice for any exposure protection is no harness at all.
Magically attached tanks would work best.

Sidemount systems in general work better the more minimalistic they are.

 

[DevonDiver]

Razorista you are certainly entitled to your opinion but if your basic premise is that there is one sidemount harness that is the best for any choice of exposure protection and tanks I feel that you are sadly mistaken

Whilst everyone is entitled to an opinion.... opinions born of ignorance are still ignorant.

The history of sidemount is relatively well cataloged... and the developmental trends can be seen progressing on different tracks according to regional diving demands and practices. Evolution occurs for a reason - and that reason is necessity, trial and error and 'survival of the fittest'.

The use of sidemount has been developing for decades. Long, long before any of the modern commercial branded rigs were available. The lineage of those rigs, however, can be traced back to the practices of those sidemount users who constructed their own rigs to suit their specific needs according to the location and type of diving they conducted.

Constructing 'opinions' based on reading some internet marketing and a very blinkered experience of sub-optimal sidemount use in a single geographical location where sidemount has no historical heritage is going to lead to some very flawed ideas.

 

[Razorista]

Power plants and thermal springs, Spain and Italy?
What does any of this have to do with sidemount?

If you where to simply read the threads before you comment you would know.
Temperature and exposure protection is not a reason for an assumed different SM style in the US, conditions are comparable regionally.

A side note for the casual reader. When he says "German viewpoint" he is actually trying to say "in his humble opinion...". Let me assure everyone that he has no authority to speak for Germany or any part of the EU.

You are the one always assuming some authority you do not have.
Again you do not know what you are talking about but think you have a special licence to get loud and aggressive.
Always showing your narrow mindedness this way does not help your argument, nakatomi.

Say what? So you're saying American divers are fat and the Hollis rigs work for them but not for the smallish/skinny men and small/slender women in the EU?

Nope, I am saying sidemount early adopters come from a different background in Europe.
A higher percentage needs it because they cannot carry doubles well.

The main issue with the Hollis rigs is always size.
Small people can dive them, but either they need more modifications with the help of experienced users or will have a hard time adjusting.
A bigger problem than size is narrow shoulder width and limited flexibility and strength.
You could put two of me in a single SMS75 and with full weight plate pockets I have a hard time lifting it and getting my arms into the straps.

Experienced sidemount divers can always dive most systems easily.
Becoming experienced is easier with less 'sidemount system' to worry about, however.

I have seen hundrets of harness and Hollis divers on their first sidemount dives, I think I am entitled to have an opinion.
Hollis divers often require less preparation to get into the water, but have a hard time getting their tanks decently positioned.
Harness divers you just drop into the water, always works well enough.

Most prefer aluminum tanks. Getting those in shape takes a single dive with most harness systems, dozends in a Hollis, both with video feedback or help.

It certainly is easier to get started in a dedicated harness. That much is obvious.
It also does not change if you add heavy steel tanks into the equation.
On a harness adjusted for that you cannot dive aluminums without experience, but you can certainly dive with (almost) any type of tank in most harnesses.
A Hollis by contrast will not work well with aluminums without adding at least a pair of D-rings at front of the belt.
With a good teacher, video feedback, etc.. no problem at all, but lacking that...you can see the results in hundreds of youtube videos or live at a lot of dive sites everywhere Hollis is selling (so that means worldwide, more or less).

So naturally if there are no instructors (and shops do not offer any systems without first spelling out sidemount phonetically and waiting weeks for answers) the harnesses will have a higher market share than in an area where you have instructors for shop bought systems.

 

[The Laconic]

@The Laconic do you have a link to the article?

Yep, but you need to have a GUE membership to read it...

Quest Vol 17, No 1 | Global Underwater Explorers

 

[nakatomi]

@Razorista

Who wants to argue with that? Consider yourself as the winner and it will be a happy end for all of us.

 

[Razorista]

.. is going to lead to some very flawed ideas.

I do not want to sound like I am criticizing you @DevonDiver, but aren't you making the same mistake there?

Sidemount has not been around long enought for anything called 'evolution' to occur.
Even 'diving' has not.

We are in the second or third generation of sidemount cave diving and the first generation of divers visibly using sidemount in open water.
Even in wreck diving sidemount was not something used more than sporadically and unknown to the general public.
It has not 'evolved', rather appeared very suddenly, becoming globally known only very recently.

Isn't it logical that in an area where an experienced diver is using one type of system similar systems will appear more often than others?
The most simple (and cheap) solutions will appear more often if there are no experienced divers close by - if those work their users soon become the most experienced sidemount divers on site and systems like theirs will dominate the area.

 

[DevonDiver]

Sidemount has been around for decades. During the same time span the technical and recreational sports diving communities have seen:

- The introduction of nitrox
- The introduction of trimix
- The transition from ABLJ to jacket BCDs
- The development of Hogarthian and DIR philsosophies
- The rise and fall of SCR technology
- The development of CCR technology
- The development of diving computers

Evolution happens quickly....it's not a user generational timescale.

As I said.... opinions based on ignorance remain ignorant. It's unwise to confuse 'not knowing about something' with 'something not existing'.

 

[shoredivr]

Yep, but you need to have a GUE membership to read it...

Quest Vol 17, No 1 | Global Underwater Explorers

Thanks, thought that may be the case....I don't have one though.

 

[Razorista]

As I said.... opinions based on ignorance remain ignorant. It's unwise to confuse 'not knowing about something' with 'something not existing'.

When did you first realize sidemount existed, did a normal diver know what you where talking about then?

Sidemount technology has been around for a long time, use was rare and unknown to the general public however.
Do you have evidence of open water sidemount diving originating from before the current millennium?

 

[psdiver102]

Most prefer aluminum tanks. Getting those in shape takes a single dive with most harness systems, dozends in a Hollis, both with video feedback or help.

Took me one dive to setup AL tanks with my hollis. If it takes dozens of dives for these people you see, maybe they don't need to be diving sidemount.