Kiss sidewinder scrubbers.

[J-Vo]

@rddvet I appreciate the comments and admit plenty of deficiencies In the unit. My instructor and I did have a long conversation about pros and cons. In the end my complete lack of back mount experience was a huge factor in the choice. Being in the tech industry also had me leaning hard toward manual units, so that was not a detractor.

 

[JonG1]

I too love manuals and in all honesty if god forbid I had to replace my KC I don't know what I'd go for because there are so few options out there, but the updated KC seems overpriced.

 

[rddvet]

@rddvet I appreciate the comments and admit plenty of deficiencies In the unit. My instructor and I did have a long conversation about pros and cons. In the end my complete lack of back mount experience was a huge factor in the choice. Being in the tech industry also had me leaning hard toward manual units, so that was not a detractor.

Good to hear the instructor discussed it with you, because that's not the norm sadly. And thanks for understanding the comment wasn't directed at you. Your comment was just a good segue to that topic

 

[rddvet]

I too love manuals and in all honesty if god forbid I had to replace my KC I don't know what I'd go for because there are so few options out there, but the updated KC seems overpriced.

I can not say a bad thing about my Fathom. Manual unit with a needle valve. Multiple ways to configure (sm bailout with onboard suit inflation, onboard bailout/dil, onboard bailout with separate suit inflation, hard attachments for onboard bailout for added security if you don't ever take your 50s off, normal attachments for all tanks to allow them to be removed as much as you want). The thing dives like a dream, has excellent wob, is highly flood tolerant, and is pretty hard to destroy. There's lots more pros, but I'll just come off as a fanboy.

 

[JonG1]

I know but sadly not in the UK.....as yet rddvet

 

[rjack321]

Last October I was diving my sidewinder in MX. Around the 2.5 hour mark I went close to vertical in the cave. I hadn't done any special moves/motions beforehand and didn't really think about it. Unfortunately 2+ hours of condensation in the inhale loop hose ran backwards down the inhale hose, and naturally splashed on the back sides of the cells. Of course they went crazy - one went high, the other two low. I knew exactly what I had done seconds afterwards, but the deed was done. With no reliable O2 data anymore, I had to bail to OC. We turned and swam out the 45mins from Tortuga for just over a 3hr dive total.

• Exhale scrubber was soaked
• There was about 100ml of lung buttery water in the CL
• Inhale scrubber sorb was basically dry except for about 1cm of the bottom of the scrubber being wet
• There was a partial half-moon wet spot on the top of the inhale scrubber sorb from the condensate runback
• The center section of the inhale scrubber was totally dry which confirmed that what I thought happened with the inhale condensation is exactly what happened.

I dried out the backsides of the cells on the AC unit in the apartment overnight. They were about 11mV in air before this dive and the next day were 9 to 9.1mV in air (so just barely within spec). I dove them 3 more days then replaced them when I got home. A vacation dive cut short and $280 in cells fried. It's not always a "flood" that ruins your CCR day.

Unless you legitimately *need* a sidemount CCR I would advise against them in general. The sidewinder is great at times and totally miserable at others. A well rounded unit with positives balanced by minor negatives it is not.

 

[Long-John-Silver]

After taking the sw course because so many people talked about how it was the second coming of Jesus, I left the course hating the unit for many reasons. It wasn't until I wrote a long explanation of my issues that the experienced rb divers started coming out of the woodwork to tell me they have the same issues with the sw. Of course, the grand majority say it in PM's or in person because they don't want people to know they're bad mouthing the sw.

Hi, I agree with you that it is not ideal as a first unit.
From the comments I've read over the years, it sounds like there are construction differences between the 2020 and 2021 units.
Now that they have been acquired by the same company that has the XDeep, I think there will be more overhauls.
Could you explain better what you think are the cons and what you could not stand about the unit during the course?
In the end which unit did you choose?