Sidemount Rig - Dive Rite Nomad XT or Hollis SMS 100

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Philly_Diver

Contributor
Messages
106
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3
Location
Philadelphia, PA
# of dives
500 - 999
Hi,

I am getting ready to make the leap to seamount after a great deal of consideration, I have narrowed my focus down to two rigs for side mount and wanted to gather others feedback. I am looking at going with either the Dive Rite Nomad XT or a Hollis SMS 100 or SMS 75.

Here is some additional information that may help with the discussion:

**Most of the time I am diving with steel tanks 12L
**I plan to dive back on the East Coast of the US when I finish the project I am working on in Saudi, so I will be using my DUI Flex Extreme dry suit, unless I am in the southern US.
**Currently I am using a 1 mil to 3 mil wetsuit here in Saudi, but with the summer months, I will go to a rash guard unless I am doing a wreck dive.
* I am planning to use to Apex XTX50 regulators (din) for the side mount system.

Your thoughts

Thanks
 
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why did you narrow it to those two? For steel 12's I wouldn't choose either.

If going with Hollis, the 75 is much better than the 100, I prefer the Nomad to both, though I tend to be in the minority for that preference.

I would also recommend considering the Hollis Katana

Following pictures are of me in a 5mm wetsuit with the Katana and PST HP120's, or 240bar 15's. The wing here is almost completely full, and in a drysuit has considerably less air in it
13521843_10157082437055134_1904598610029687808_n.jpg


13063335_10156864321250134_3220391444075076606_o.jpg


13055743_10156864321125134_3138471002081582156_o.jpg
 
Take course with instructor that will let you try/learn with different set ups.

They are both good rigs. You will get answers on personal preference but one thing I've found with my tech/side mount diving is most tech divers and definitely with SM divers will modify/adjust little things.

I dive SM in:
-Hollis SMS 100 dual bladder with Ed Sorenson type mods. (PM and I can explain how to do those to Hollis SMS 100)
-2x HP100 steel (wish I had LP85 worthington) plus what ever extra
-usually Apex Regs
-DUI dry suit
 
I own a Nomad as well as a few other rigs and the Nomad is my last choice for a pair of 12 liter tanks.

The Nomad is a good choice if you're diving a pair of large sidemount tanks (LP 95s, LP 108s etc) and/or are carrying multiple stages and a deco bottle. If you're doing that you're diving in sidemount configuraiton, but probably not doing diving in a situation that requires the small size of a sidemount rig, which is good as the Nomad is fairly bulky.

The Nomad is also a good choice if you need one rig that can do sidemount with heavy bottles, or support a pair of back mount doubles, or support a single tank dive. It was designed to be one rig that you could take almost anywhere and do almost any thing, but it does none of those things outstandingly well.

The reason I keep it is that I like the ability to carry a pair of cylinders in back mount, along with an AL 80 stage, all as bailout gas on offshore dives with my sidmounted rebreather. It works surprisingly well in that very niche role.

For LP 85s, X7-100s etc, the Dive Rite LS is a much better option and 35 pounds of lift is plenty. It's a good balance between lift capacity and streamlining. It's also very amenable to rigging with loop bungees, which are much cleaner in the water for most people than a ring bungee.

The Hollis Katana also falls in that sweet spot, with a good balance of lift versus low profile.

I also like the Manta Industries side mount system. It's a razor style harness with a 45 pound wing that works well for larger heavier tanks and multiple stages as well, while still being clean enough for true sidemount diving.

I've recently tried the Scubapro Sidemount system, with both 25 and 45 pound wings and it works surprisingly well once you make some modifications to the rear dump pull cord arrangement, add heavier perimeter bungee and install loop bungees. The 45 pound wing is quite hydrodynamic in the water once you beef up and then snug up the perimeter bungee, while the 25 pound wing is adequate for a pair of LP 85s and a wet suit, and is about ideal for my side mount rebreather with an LP 85 and a smaller aluminum bottle for redundant diluent.

If you really need more lift capacity the X-Deep 2.0 Tech is also fairly clean in the water.

------

All of the above rigs trim easily for most divers - except for the Nomad, which carries too much air in the shoulder area, with the result that most people have to carry 4-6 pounds of weight o the shoulders to get good trim, unless they are using a dry suit with enough space in the boots to carry enough air to trim the feet up.

Adding an old school bungee system with 2" webbing across the top of the wing tho support the bungees helps, by reducing some of the air in shoulders, but it's still a long way from perfect.
 
For only sidemount style, love my Razor plenty of lift 45 lb, minimalist and you can modified the harness if you like, because the bat wing can be separate.
Cheers
 
All,

Thanks so much for the feedback, it nice to have so many people give their thoughts. I also had a chance to look at the XDeep models this weekend while I was in Dubai. Lots of options, so I am going to try a few out in the pool / local dive area and then pull the trigger.
 
I'll say that I use a nomad xt and love it. I haven't found a restriction that I could pass or needed a lower profile sm rig for.

I dive with Faber lp 85s and with the xt they trim out perfectly. I have not had any issues with trim or pitch.

I adjusted the bungies to loop bungies because the ring bungies had too much play.
 

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