Side-mounting pros and cons for Open Water?

Side-mounting obviously has its place for solo caving and technical diving in vertically tight quarters. And there's a sub-culture of "Monkey Divers" who side-mount an AL-80 and use a scooter on shallow dives without a wing.

I am just idly wondering about side-mounting a single tank on normal open water dives. No penetration, no scootering, just diving. What are the benefits? What are the drawbacks? Off the top of my head, a side mounted tank is a little cumbersome out of the water, but in the water you have easier access to the valve(s). You could mount a gauge right up top like a stage bottle.

Of course, isolated doubles are a whole different story. But for singles, how does side-mounting compare to back mounting?

Well, you have to have a stage-rigged bottle, so that you can clip it off at nose and tail, and you have to have a BC setup that allows you to secure the bottle top and bottom. You'll be off balance a bit, until you get used to it. If you wanted to have a donatable reg, you'd have to play with the configuration -- I know the monkey divers usually don't have one.

I've never done monkey diving, but the people who do, say it's a more streamlined configuration and they can go faster with the scooters.

The one time I tried a sidemount rig, the "wiggliness" of the tanks was a bit off-putting. I understand one gets used to it.

I don't wear my sidemounted tanks out of the water, but I also don't dive off boats. All of my diving is from shore. If you do a lot of boat diving, getting back on the boat might be an issue. Many gates aren't wide enough to accommodate a sidemount diver to walk straight through. As for in the water, I prefer sidemount to any other configuration. It's much more stable than any other set up I've been in and much easier to deal with issues. The gas donation isn't a problem. I keep a long hose on my right tank and donate like anyone else with a long hose.

Good question
I'm toying up with sidemount for independent doubles, as i don't go much on my backmount doubles and like the ease of access to the cylinders in a sidemount config.
I only dive ocean, from shore and boats and i look forward to hearing some more responses.
I'd be getting an armadillo setup if i went sidemount

Not to get off topic, but what's an armadillo setup?

Golem Gear, Inc. - Armadillo Sidemount Exploration Harness A2

Enjoy!

I was thinking about buying one a while back, then the dollar went through the floor.

What are your reasons for choosing the Armadillo?

'cause it rocks.

Dive-aholic:

What are your reasons for choosing the Armadillo?

Click to expand...

I haven't really 'chosen' as i haven't bought anything yet... but i've always been interested in sidemount as it seems like a great way to run streamlined, independent twins and allow easy access to valves, first stages etc.

*Disclaimer - i'm not a cave diver and i've never seen either of these rigs in the flesh.

I would go the armadillo over the nomad. The armadillo has been designed from the ground up as a sidemount harness and the people designing it and using it regularly have put some series time into it and then on it. The armadillo looks very 'clean' and simple, very streamlined and doesn't seem to have any excess faff.
The nomad looks a lot more busy and a bit like a whole heap of parts stuck together. There looks to be a fair amount of connections on it and it just doesn't look to be put together as well as the armadillo (see disclaimer).
The bungee attachment for the nomad differs from the armadillo and looks like it could slip out more easily than having the bungee loop around the valve knob (although i think this may have changed and it's now recommended to have short bungees on the nomad and clip onto them via a choker?).

The one thing is that the armadillo only has 30 odd (34? 38?) pounds of lift compared to the nomads 51, which for heavier steel cylinders would be a bonus on the nomad, especially for ocean diving and long boat retrieval waits.

As i said, i haven't seen either of these in the flesh and i'm always interested in other opinions!!

I haven't seen an Armadillo in person, but my reason for choosing the Nomad was the extra lift. As it is, I'm pretty close to neutral at the beginning of a dive in a dry suit, with sidemounted 108s and 2 stages, with the wing almost fully inflated. In a 'dillo, I'd be crawling through the silt during the first part of the dive. I have the old style bungees (no choker) and haven't had an issue with the tanks slipping out. Like I said, I haven't seen a 'dillo in person, but I don't consider the Nomad to be busy at all. While it's "busier" than my hog harness, it is still pretty streamlined and tight.