My Short Review of the Kiss Side Kick Rebreather/Class with Jon Bernot

[midway]

Actually the SideKick can have a NEGATIVE WOB. If you set it up right, and roll a little as you breathe, the counterlung will be below your lungs on inhale, and above your lungs on exhale. I have very little problems in chimneys. ...

I'm guessing that how Tamara Thomsen rigs her unit facilitates a similar effect, perhaps not negative WOB, but enough reduction in the pressure differential which leads to the improved WOB she has indicated. I thought switching to OC in chimneys is the way to go but the discussion suggests that there may be at least a few ways to cope with breaking horizontal trim.

[midway]

... You go into it knowing that it's not going to breathe perfectly at certain orientations. No unit is best for everything. ...

Agreed. The thread that you started shows that there are subtleties in how one can go about effectively managing WOB issues.

...
Oh, and the statement about not having weight on the sidekick helping with WoB.... I had no weight. Just the sidekick and LP85. I'm going to try it with no weight and an AL80, but this will require several bottles for bailout... which sucks.

Would be interesting to hear what you find. How the sidekick is attached to the harness may make a difference but that's just speculation.

[FW]

And the ADV works on yours? We're going to need to get together when I get mine.

Sure, no problem.

Sent from my PantechP9070 using Tapatalk 2

[atedeschi]

Here are two right ups on the sidekick:
http://www.narceddiving.com/2014/10/...r-buildup.html
http://www.narceddiving.com/2015/01/...iguration.html

I have used it both in caves and wreckdiving and enjoy this unit very much. I never had a issue in any position, grant it being straight up is harder to breath but manageable. My ADV fires fine, you can adjust the height to make it fire easier or harder and I even have a slide switch on the hose to prevent accidental fire. You can also easily manually press the ADV. I have mine setup on the right and scooter no problem.

[atedeschi]

O and I'll be testing it out as my BOB down in cave country in April with my kiss classic.

[trout]

Thanks Anthony for your very useful write-up on the build, and details on how you've configured your Sidekick. I've been considering trying something similar to make it easier for jumping out of boats with mine. I have had no problems with my ADV- it fires at just the right point. Though it does make a rather distinctive honking noise.

[atedeschi]

Yeah my oneway valve on the O2 addition does the same, my ADV one does not. I have to take it apart and look at it prob just needs a little lube.

[Speleo99]

I've been playing with my sidekick for the past while, and I think it might just be coming together. I bought it when only the SCR offering was available, so did do a few dives in that configuration until I collected the necessary bits to convert it to CCR. I found the honking that Trout mentions to have been really annoying in SCR...nearly every breath would get a honk. To my delight, the noise disappeared when I changed the Omniswivel male plug on the head for a 6" hose and a QC6 - way easier to connect the supply gas and it was silent diving again!

Another positive change was to replace the hoses that came with the unit with longer ones - this gives a bit more distance under the arm and less torque in the DSV. In the course of switching to CCR, I replaced the DSV with Golem Gear's quite lovely version and pair of 90 degree quick-connects. A huge improvement that adds a bit more to the length and also reduces jaw twisting.

Now it's about experimenting with places to best mount the O2 and dil. I've tried mounting both on the sidekick, and I might well stay with that for a while.

Oh, and about the ADV firing - I just moved the paddle to the top of it's track and it seems perfect - easy to trigger on inhalation and doesn't fire unexpectedly. I guess it should be clear to anyone thinking about getting a sidekick that they'll be spending some time doing some tweaking.