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lerpy - 11/21/2013 5:31 AM 
The consensus so far up here is that sidemount is not as good for wreck diving and diving off boats. In wrecks in a lot of cases you have the hieght, but not as much width, narrow passageways, stairs, etc that you can encounter in a wreck. As well diving off boats sometimes requires a negative drop which would be difficult with side mount as from what I know you hook your tanks once you are in the water.
On the plus side, for me, when I am in Florida I am always looking at all the backmount gear that people are selling used as they switch over to sidemount.
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Over the summer i took the sidemount course, my instructor is a big, deep wreck diver who also has a bad back. Summer house in Key Largo too. With that being said he told us alot of people are going the sidemount route who have bad backs. Less weight and less strain on ur body. It felt awkward for me with the tanks on the side, u do have to get used to it. Also doubles on my back is alot of weight and awkward at first too. Im 5’6 140lbs. He mentioned it takes more help in and out of water but as far a penetrating wrecks he feels its easier since u can put one tank inside and then enter, less chance of overhead entanglement as well. Besides doing the pool and open water training dives the day we went out to the quarry i havent used the setup elsewhere. Such as everything there are pros and cons and personal preference but iam seeing alot more people with sidemount setups at the quarry by me.
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I dive pretty much exclusively sidemount. Steel 108’s. Im an avid wreck diver. I’ve had no issue getting in or out of the water with my tanks on. Just have to muscle up and do it. As mentioned by bronxdiver, you can squeeze through entry points on wrecks with much less chance of entanglement and its nice to be able to stay down an extra 20 or 30 minutes to explore.
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I am thinking to learn and dive with side mounts on "Far East" vacations (Malaysia, Atolls, etc. ,) where doubles may become difficult take along. (1) to transfer manifold by luggage bags, and (2) for boat operators to maintain. I am not a tech diver, so please advise.
Ok, some have said (a) specific gear for a specific task (b) after singles, go doubles on a manifold with wing and backplate (c) before starting sidemounts.
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