Marcel Vysudil
Registered
Hi,
I've decided to buy finally some SM equipment and I'm looking for some feedback on UTD Z-system. Particularly if anybody has some negative experience or can pinpoint weaknesses of this system or why not to go for it. Question is only harness + BC related, I'm not thinking about the manifold/isolator for the reasons mentioned a million times on this forum, mainly tons of additional o-rings, QC6 connectors and other failure points.
I dive BM for years but I'm tired of bagging dive centers in tropical destinations to put me a twinset together, tired of packing backplate in my baggage, handling twinset on the boats, etc, etc. So I have taken UTD sidemount course last year, the tec one with isolable manifod. I have done only 3 dives on top of the course dives and UTD is the only equipment I have tried. Here is my thinking and why I'm looking at the UTD gear:
I like the way how the BC is attached to the harness on the sides. This seems to be a nice and clean solution which keeps my chest free just like in the traditional DIR backmount. Looking at Xdeep having 3 bungees wrapped around my chest is not an option for me. Standard Razzor is a bit better attachment solution, but I'm not a big fan of double bladders either. On the other hand UTD doesn't have any sophisticated weight system AFAIK so the other option would be to combine for example the Xdeep harness with UTD BC (Z-Tec probably). If anybody tried such combination or have some experience any advise is welcome !
To clarify what kind of diving am I looking for: wet suit with only 2xAL80 (typical "fishy" tropical destinations) as well as dry suit with 2xAL/steel plus max 2 stage/deco tanks (TMX dives let's say down to 50-60 meters). Both warm and cold waters.
thanks
Marcel
I've decided to buy finally some SM equipment and I'm looking for some feedback on UTD Z-system. Particularly if anybody has some negative experience or can pinpoint weaknesses of this system or why not to go for it. Question is only harness + BC related, I'm not thinking about the manifold/isolator for the reasons mentioned a million times on this forum, mainly tons of additional o-rings, QC6 connectors and other failure points.
I dive BM for years but I'm tired of bagging dive centers in tropical destinations to put me a twinset together, tired of packing backplate in my baggage, handling twinset on the boats, etc, etc. So I have taken UTD sidemount course last year, the tec one with isolable manifod. I have done only 3 dives on top of the course dives and UTD is the only equipment I have tried. Here is my thinking and why I'm looking at the UTD gear:
I like the way how the BC is attached to the harness on the sides. This seems to be a nice and clean solution which keeps my chest free just like in the traditional DIR backmount. Looking at Xdeep having 3 bungees wrapped around my chest is not an option for me. Standard Razzor is a bit better attachment solution, but I'm not a big fan of double bladders either. On the other hand UTD doesn't have any sophisticated weight system AFAIK so the other option would be to combine for example the Xdeep harness with UTD BC (Z-Tec probably). If anybody tried such combination or have some experience any advise is welcome !
To clarify what kind of diving am I looking for: wet suit with only 2xAL80 (typical "fishy" tropical destinations) as well as dry suit with 2xAL/steel plus max 2 stage/deco tanks (TMX dives let's say down to 50-60 meters). Both warm and cold waters.
thanks
Marcel