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...."
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...."