Help Choosing The Best Harness!!!

[Patoux01]

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.

You should go and teach Edd Sorenson then, as it seems he's unable to make them work. Same with Netdoc who's gone with "I'll just add a bunch of weight on the tanks".

Not dissing or hating any of those 2, just something I've noticed... Now you can go and clame that is a proper setup, but it's not, it completely defeats the purpose of neutral tanks.

 

[Razorista]

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.

Congratulations to you. But I am sure you weren't statisfied with everything after one dive, nobody is, in a harness system or anything else as well.

I see a lot more having a hard time, but of course there are always those to whom everything in the water comes easy.

 

[tbone1004]

edd has a solution for the SMS75/100 with aluminum tanks for the record, it's relatively new, but that's mainly because the only time he needs to use them is in the Bahamas which is a once a year ordeal for him

 

[bamafan]

edd has a solution for the SMS75/100 with aluminum tanks for the record, it's relatively new, but that's mainly because the only time he needs to use them is in the Bahamas which is a once a year ordeal for him

I was headed to Mexico about 3 years ago and he told me to just put weights on my cam bands. It wasn't a real cave diving trip so luckily I only did 3 dives. When I got back I told him that sucked big time and I was never diving my SMS 100 with aluminum tanks again. I told him he could bash the Stealth and Razor all he wanted but for aluminum tanks they were much better. He mumbled yeah you are right. I seriously doubt it is an optimal solution and makes the SMS better than a Stealth or Razor for aluminum tanks. Without using the brain dead method of putting weights on the al 80's you have to have a high and low attachment point with aluminum tanks. The wing covers up the waist strap on the SMS so a high attachment point is impossible on the waist belt. You could hook to the rails then move the tanks to the waist belt but then you are shifting your anchor point forward. I guess you could rig an anchor point up on top of the wing in line with the waist belt but this would be odd. The next issue would be attaching weight to the harness. There isn't a quick method gor this without a weight plate. Sure you can zip tie weights on or undo the harness and thread weight on but that is a pain. I think trying to dive aluminum tanks with an SMS , Nomad, Contour or Armadillo style rig is very inefficient. Sure it can be done but there are way better rigs for it. Plus traveling with one of those rigs is way more bulky and heavy than a Stealth or Razor style rig. Do what you want but thinking one rig is optimal for all tanks and conditions just isn't true from my experience.

 

[tbone1004]

oh it is certainly not better than using a razor or stealth, but like I said in the bit you quoted, when you dive it once a year, it doesn't really justify having a second harness, especially at the insane prices the stealth and razor go for. I built my own for $200 and it works perfectly well for this, but there is a way to get them to work. It may not be nearly as graceful as the razor or stealth, but comparable to using these rigs for backmount, if you are doing that type of diving infrequently enough to the point that you can't justify a dedicated rig, they can be made to work.

No weights on the tanks. I'll try to get a picture of it when I head down there in a few weeks, it's difficult to explain

 

[Reku]

I dive an sms75 with steel tanks - and just ship my tanks wherever they need to go. at <=$50 per tank shipped its a minuscule amount of money. I hate al tanks for main bottom gas. they are amazing for deco or stages but that's it. Then again I dive dry even in warm water so I basically need steel tanks.

That said - just try a bunch of them out and you'll either hate it or you'll like it. It really doesn't matter - just go dive. Or you can pull a tbone1004 and frankenstein something together - that works too, and it's fun.

 

[kensuf]

This thread is awesome. The OP has around 25 dives under his belt and everyone is weighing in on what rig he should use to go lay thousands of feet of line in caves.

 

[ZzzKing]

This thread is awesome. The OP has around 25 dives under his belt and everyone is weighing in on what rig he should use to go lay thousands of feet of line in caves.

What can you say. It's the Scubaboard way.

In the new diver section, a freshly minted diver asked about regulators and was repeatedly told that he should get regs that he can work on himself so in the future, when doing technical diving, he can do his own servicing.

 

[Razorista]

This thread is awesome. The OP has around 25 dives under his belt and everyone is weighing in on what rig he should use to go lay thousands of feet of line in caves.

Nope!
I am not, at least!

That's what I am always saying and am being ripped to pieces frequently:
It is not about caves, or trimix, wrecks or depth.

A decently modern sidemount system and a Razor2 or 2.1 in particular (or most copies as well) is already superior to every conceivable other concept in the first pool session (if the instructor knows what he is doing).

And it will stay superior everywhere, including (probably) any cave.

 

[Kronek]

That's what I am always saying and am being ripped to pieces frequently:

That's not why you keep getting ripped to pieces bud