soggybadger
Contributor
Hi guys. I just wanted to ask whether you favour having your spg's up or down and if you have any reasons for this? Thanks.
Lollipops or not?
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Down. Strealined, protected, much less likely chance of entanglement or doing anything to the cave.
The curb feeler thing in a training issue that shouldn't exist, but it happens anyway, so no point in even advocating for it if people can't be bothered to take the time to do it correctly. Nothing like seeing a set of drag marks through a clay bank.....
The curb feeler thing in a training issue that shouldn't exist, but it happens anyway, so no point in even advocating for it if people can't be bothered to take the time to do it correctly. Nothing like seeing a set of drag marks through a clay bank.....
Caveeagle
Contributor
Neither.
This method puts the gauges right in the chest area gives me the best visibility of the options I have tried.
This method puts the gauges right in the chest area gives me the best visibility of the options I have tried.
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soggybadger
Contributor
I was taught to bungee them down but had seen a few sticking up and wondered if this was beneficial. Thanks for the reply.
Neither. SPGs bungeed to first stages. Perdix on my wrist and a transmitter on each SM tank.
If you bungee them behind the first stage like a deco bottle, you have to pull the whole tank down and away to read your pressure. If it's on a 6" or 9" hose routed down, you just reach back and bend the hose out to read.
If your tanks are so far forward that you can read your SPG's that are bungeed behind your first stages, your tanks are not rigged correctly, and are too far forward and down. They should be back and high, basically behind your armpits, in which case your SPG's shouldn't really be visible.
This works with AL80's and steels of all types.
If your tanks are so far forward that you can read your SPG's that are bungeed behind your first stages, your tanks are not rigged correctly, and are too far forward and down. They should be back and high, basically behind your armpits, in which case your SPG's shouldn't really be visible.
This works with AL80's and steels of all types.
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I use transmitters now, no analog SPG's.
Before I've gone back and forth with up and down. I can't stand down. Checking spg's is a two handed operation with the tanks as far back as I put them and 9" lollipops are the only way for me to read them. Definitely don't drag, but I'm quite anal about tank positioning. Lollipops do NOT work with one piece bungees like the Razor, or the old single bungees like Dive Rite used to use and Hollis still uses because the tanks can't be pulled up high enough.
This tank positioning can only be done with loop bungees and the gauges here are sticking up. The port orientation keeps the hose pressed against my arm pit and there is no dragging going on
Before I've gone back and forth with up and down. I can't stand down. Checking spg's is a two handed operation with the tanks as far back as I put them and 9" lollipops are the only way for me to read them. Definitely don't drag, but I'm quite anal about tank positioning. Lollipops do NOT work with one piece bungees like the Razor, or the old single bungees like Dive Rite used to use and Hollis still uses because the tanks can't be pulled up high enough.
This tank positioning can only be done with loop bungees and the gauges here are sticking up. The port orientation keeps the hose pressed against my arm pit and there is no dragging going on
lollipop, but...
as @tbone1004 says you have to use loop bungies, nothing else gets the tank high enough
If you can see a gauge bungied to the 1st stage like a stage bottle, Imma go out on a limb and say the whole tank is riding too low.
as @tbone1004 says you have to use loop bungies, nothing else gets the tank high enough
If you can see a gauge bungied to the 1st stage like a stage bottle, Imma go out on a limb and say the whole tank is riding too low.
broncobowsher
Contributor
Where are you diving at? What is the dive plan? HUGE part of the question you left out. Now if you want to make ASSumptions that everyone only dives sidemount in a cave, you will see a bunch of people doing it wrong.
But not everyone sidemounts only in caves. I did it for logistics. I can rent single tanks and go diving and not have to find that set of doubles. I'm not going through tight squeezes. Really, a set of doubles would be fine for me. Well they are very heavy and my back doesn't like them, sidemount is much friendlier.
With that out of the way, Lollipop them gauges straight down! Well they are pointed in a little, but still they stick out like curb feelers. Don't care if it pisses off the cavers, I'm not in there cave. They are right in front, easy to read, easy to know when to change regs.
Now if I started getting into places with tight restrictions, the gear would be configured differently. That would be part of configuring the gear correctly for the dive planned.
But not everyone sidemounts only in caves. I did it for logistics. I can rent single tanks and go diving and not have to find that set of doubles. I'm not going through tight squeezes. Really, a set of doubles would be fine for me. Well they are very heavy and my back doesn't like them, sidemount is much friendlier.
With that out of the way, Lollipop them gauges straight down! Well they are pointed in a little, but still they stick out like curb feelers. Don't care if it pisses off the cavers, I'm not in there cave. They are right in front, easy to read, easy to know when to change regs.
Now if I started getting into places with tight restrictions, the gear would be configured differently. That would be part of configuring the gear correctly for the dive planned.
I don't use lollipops. I use the tiny little button gauges on my deco bottles. My reasoning is that I don't want to look down and and mistake a deco bottle spg for my back gas. Granted, if you have two/three gauges near each other, it should be easy to figure out which one is which (e.g. the two 3k ones should be the deco bottles and the one that reads 2.7k is likely your back gas). But add some task loading and a little narcosis and I'm not 100% confident that I would always make the correct assessment in a quick glance.
I plan my deco gases for the dive I'm doing; I should have plenty in reserve, such that looking at a gauge on my deco bottles isn't an absolute necessity. On a recent dive, I lost some of my 50% O2 deco gas. I knew I had lost gas, but not how much. During deco, I just swung the 50% bottle around and verified on the button gauge that I was way lower than planned, due to the lost gas. I had two contingencies in place for this lost gas and all worked out fine. The button gauge just gave me a heads up to plan for my contingencies before the tank went dry.
With that said, I'm not a cave diver. Depending on the kind of diving you do, YMMV.
I plan my deco gases for the dive I'm doing; I should have plenty in reserve, such that looking at a gauge on my deco bottles isn't an absolute necessity. On a recent dive, I lost some of my 50% O2 deco gas. I knew I had lost gas, but not how much. During deco, I just swung the 50% bottle around and verified on the button gauge that I was way lower than planned, due to the lost gas. I had two contingencies in place for this lost gas and all worked out fine. The button gauge just gave me a heads up to plan for my contingencies before the tank went dry.
With that said, I'm not a cave diver. Depending on the kind of diving you do, YMMV.
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