Versatile Sidemount Rig?

I'm getting into sidemount diving, and currently taking the class. Now I'm trying to decide which harness system to buy. Unfortunately, my LDS has only one to try, a DiveRite Nomad XT, which I'm using for the course. And in terms of what to buy, my instructor is not of much help as he has no experience with other rigs, either. So I'm turning to Scubaboard...

The main reason why I'm getting into sidemount is that I will be taking cavern / intro cave in Playa del Carmen in January, and had to get into a technical rig for that. I preferred sidemount over backmounted doubles because of all the flexibility sidemount offers. So the rig has to be suitable for cave diving in warmer waters, presumably with Al80s. But I would also like to be able to use it for local Great Lakes wreck diving, which generally requires a dry suit, with my HP119s. I could imagine that the day will come where I will also want to carry a deco bottle, but not more. Which still is a broad range of uses for a single rig, but I really don't want to get two - one for warm-water caving, and the other for cold wrecks.

I have been looking at the XDeep Stealth 2.0. I like the minimalist concept, and the fact that I can simply add a second bladder if I'm worried about redundant buoyancy. However, a friend of mine has one nad warns me that the weight system doesn't work for him and he is no switching to a Halcyon Contour. Unfortunately, he lives on the other side of the pond and can't just lend me his Stealth to try. I have also looked at the RiveRites, but found the many different models a bit confusing. The new LTZ seems attractive, but it's not as modular and if I get the dual bladder for redundancy, I can't just take one bladder and inflator off when I don't need it. And always carrying both seems like a pain. And, with all of the rigs it is nearly impossible to tell just from the descriptions whether the dump valve locations will work for me or not.

Are there any other systems that I should consider? Any other thoughts? I'd hate to buy something just to replace it after a few dives.

The Stealth works very well in the Mexican caves, low profile, more than enough lift for the aluminum tanks/stages that are used there. One of the designers was Patrick at Protec. I started off with the Razor, but like the Stealth wing much better. I did replace the OPV with the one from DeepSeaSupply. Who are you taking your class with?

There's the Hollis one and multiple home built models. Without getting into cave specific models.

I started sidemount on a farrworld harness. It was ok, but I've since made my own off the plans available on sump 4. But these aren't really open water systems.

Out of all the open water sidemount systems I've seen the xdeep and diamond systems seem the best.

The dump valve on the diamond is a bit awkward to reach sometimes on the right hand side.

The xdeep dump sits on my tailbone (I use this bag as well as my homemade ones, depending what I'm doing) and is very easy to reach. The corrugated hose is quite long for me though (skinny). Xdeep wing is bombproof. You get your hands on it you'll realise you'd have to be very very paranoid to want another bladder in it.

Harnesses I've used less of. But I know the xdeep is highly thought of, and you don't have to use the integral weights if you don't want!


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I like the UTD set up. Either a small 20lb wing or swap out for a larger 35 or 50 wing. The most versitile wing for me is the 37 alpha/delta as I can cinch it down so it's super compact or leave it at 37 for my steel 110's. that works great for me when I go to Mexico. The harness and wings can come as a package without the isolator manifold as many prefer traditional side mounting.

http://utdequipment.com/product_info.php?cPath=76&products_id=459

Buy your friend's Stealth from him. The weight system is fantastic! It needs to be set up properly to get all the benefits from it though.

May I ask who you are doing your Cavern/Intro with in Playa? I would suggest doing it with people that know how to set up the Stealth properly. There are many people out there claiming to be sidemount instructors, but fall short on knowledge about sidemount. If you're going to be paying relatively the same price taking the course, why not go to the best? Suggestion would be to take it from Patrick at ProtecPlaya, since he's the one that designed the Stealth.

I started out with the Armadillo and have ventured on with Nomad style rigs and Razor style rigs. I prefer the Stealth. It's fantastic for the caves in Mexico. And I do use it diving in cold water with steel tanks. It works for my hp100s, but I've never used it with the hp119s.

I'm taking the cave diving course with Nico Casella. I'm really looking forward to it. The basic sidemount training I'm doing right now with my local dive shop here in Michigan. They have only one sidemount instructor at the shop, but he has never been in a cave nor done any tech diving, so that limits a bit what I'm getting out of it. It's an ok way to get some basic skill training out of the way now instead of using vacation time to get used to switching regs and deploying the long hose, but not much more.

I have the stealth, and it works great, both for caves in Mexico. I use it with steels and a drysuit and it's not an issue. I took my cave course with Patrick and having him set it up for me made a huge difference. I looked at the razor as well which I liked a lot but found it to be less versatile if switching between different exposure suits etc. I echo the sentiments of others and highly recommend taking your course with Protec but regardless of who you take your course with if you do get a stealth it would be worth paying for a day with protec and have them for it and set it up for you.

Whatever shop you may use in MX, may have some different rigs to try our during your course. Try a bunch and then decide what you like.

lift bag is better than dual bladder, you can get small 22lb ones or bigger 50lb ones from Piranha for cheaper than the cost of a dual bladder system and they're useful anyway

If you're taking a course in playa it'll likely be with a guy familiar with the xDeep so I'm in the boat of buy your buddies rig from him and just go with that. It'll have 35lbs of lift on it, so you'll want a 50lb lift bag or so in case of catastrophic drysuit failure if you wear a lot of lead since your tanks are 21lbs negative when full on their own, so you're at 25lbs of regulators and what not, so if you need more than 10lbs of lead with your drysuit you'll need some sort of redundant buoyancy, but other than that you're better off for AL80's with that type of rig than you are with the others.

Halcyon contour would be where I'd direct you, and potentially the LTZ but haven't seen it fully inflated.

kafkaland:

I'm taking the cave diving course with Nico Casella. I'm really looking forward to it. The basic sidemount training I'm doing right now with my local dive shop here in Michigan. They have only one sidemount instructor at the shop, but he has never been in a cave nor done any tech diving, so that limits a bit what I'm getting out of it. It's an ok way to get some basic skill training out of the way now instead of using vacation time to get used to switching regs and deploying the long hose, but not much more.

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Good luck with your cave class... I think you will have a blast.

LOTS of scope on kit. It certainly would help to get a chance to try out some options. If you intend to dive SM in caves and Great Lakes conditions from time to time, I've had students squared away very easily and quickly using the Hollis SMS75. It's designed to fit and deliver good profiling with a minimum of screwing around.

Too bad that you are taking a "SM class" with an instructor who sounds like he/she got their cert card with little or no experience... sounds like a bit of a dodgy affair. Sorry if this seems negative. However, the bottom line is take any advice they give with a pinch of salt and look forward to getting proper instruction in Mexico. Have fun!