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Got a friend looking for a really cheap sidemount rig he's new and doesn't know if he wants to do it. Looking for something equivalent to a nomad size large or extra large. Would prefer a Normad of some sort but mostly just something cheap. Let me know what you have thanx
Nomad JT's are pretty cheap, Edd sells them and I've seen some on scubaboard
Have your buddy call Edd and see about seeing up a sidemount class using a rental rig. Sidemount can be incredibly frustrating if the set up is wrong and will immediately turn him off. I was VERY interested in diving SM and still almost gave up.
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Yes, if they are not sure, best thing is to "test dive" one, plus if not done correctly I'm almost sure they won't like it.
Yah I live in ny and my friends not a cavediver by any means thought I might be able to get a old one chewp
I have an armadillo I'd sell for $150.00 (buyer pays paypal fee and shipping). I put new bungees on it and haven't sized them yet. I extended the waist and crotch strap and haven't sized them yet either. I was going to do all this last year, then bought a new hollis sms 50 instead.
It's either a Large or Xlarge, but I'd have to check to make sure.
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My buddy is looking to stay under or around 200
Only problem with that is the whole: GIGO thing. Garbage in, garbage out. Any diver that starts off with a cheap SM rig with no mentorship or training is going to have a bad experience and be turned off to SM fairly quickly. I knew for SURE I wanted to dive SM and still almost got turned off by the frustration. If he does try a cheap rig, just remind him that it will take a LOT of time and mentorship to get where he needs to be to feel comfortable in SM and truly start enjoying it.
I tried the 'cheap' route, making my own SM rig from a Zeagle Express Tech following instructions here and on another board. Tried it out and had all manner of trim problems. Took a class. The instructor didn't throw up his hands in disgust, but despite lots of trial-and-error we were unable to get it to trim out well. On the second day of class he was able to borrow a Nomad XT for me. Made all the difference in the world -- trimmed right out. So I bought one and have few regrets. The Nomad is a little bulkier than I might prefer, and it comes with unnecessary parts and padding, but I'm a happy camper. Maybe I could have gotten the Zeagle to trim out with some more work, but now that someone else has already figured this stuff out, it's worth it to me to spend the extra cash for their expertise. I'll probably convert the Zeagle back to a back mount travel system, what it was designed for.
I tried the cheap route as well. I took my BPW and modified it with the help of two "experienced" (I thought they were at the time) SM mentors. Not only did it never work right, it was a LOT more work than I should've had to put in it. One dive with a PROPER SM mentor/instructor in a PROPER rig is all it took to get me set up right.
I've heard that the Armadillo is a "proper" SM rig....but will still take some tweaking, work, diving, and mentorship to get it just right.