Where/how to hang your gear on harness?

[fishchaser]

No, it's not. So maybe in the future I can look into finding a wrist mount for it.

You can suffer with a console until you get sick of it or find something better (VR3?), but having everything else squared away and having that issue still is akin to owning your own airplane but cutting off the wings and using it to go back and forth to the grocery store.

Bad analogy. An airplane without wings doesn't function as an airplane, but a computer mounted in a console still functions as a computer.

[Chris H]

Bad analogy. An airplane without wings doesn't function as an airplane, but a computer mounted in a console still functions as a computer.

Indeed the computer will funtion the same no matter where it is mounted. It functions as a computer in your pocket too, maybe that is a good place for it. It is the ease of use that suffers in certain configurations. I had a console mounted computer for 10 years. I switched about 100 dives ago and I will never again use that big, bulky console. It is much easier to access the information you need with it on your wrist. If you take up Greg on his offer to try a Halcyon single tank wing, and I highly recommend you do, ask him if you can try his digital bottom timer on your right wrist during the dive. When you need to know your depth and BT, see which is easier for you to see quickly and efficiently. I'm not saying to get a BT instead of your computer because that is an entirely different argument, it will just be an easy way to determine which mounting method is best for you.

Like Greg mentioned earlier in the thread, you need to get out and see what works best for you. We are telling you, based on our experience, why we dive the way we do.

[ethanb]

You don't have to "go the DIR way" to realize the benefits of streamlining and a hogarthian configuration. Looking like a christmas tree with retractors, clips and dangling thingies all over the place is something that every diver should strive to avoid.

You don't have to use a 7' longhose when diving without a light canister. Certain shops in our area and Milwaukee stock 5' hoses that are perfect for that use, especially if diving singles. Then you can bungy the mouthpiece and have that backup under your chin, where it belongs, not tucked in some pocket or stuffed somewhere where you and your buddy can't reach it.

Console gauges are clunky, a snag hazard and usually drag and destroy the area that you're trying to enjoy during your dive. Minimalize, and get rid of the boot and all the other stuff that could mount on your wrist. The Pressure gauge can remain bootless and clipped off on your left side, where you and your buddy can easily read it. Use a bottom timer instead of the booted depth gauge.

Small dive lights are easily manage with bungy or innertube fastening to your shoulder straps. Tie a small boltnap to the light and clip it on your chest d-rings.
Then the lights are easily accessible and tucked out of the way.

Knife and sheath can be attached either to your waistbelt or shoulder strap. I prefer a small Z-knife attached to shoulder or wrist myself. Shears should go in a pocket on your thigh or waistbelt.

Thigh pockets are great for other little stuff, like tables, extra finger spools, etc.

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Wow, this thread got a lot of traffic! While I mostly agree with Paul, there's a few spots where I will differ. Note that these comments are restricted purely to recreational open water diving - different gear configurations are appropriate to different environments and most of what I will say below has no applicability to tech diving. I don't personally dive with a BP/harness in open water, but I have a fairly minimal back-inflation recreational BC, with a d-ring on each side of the chest, a pocket on the waist, and not much else. While the idea of switching to a BP/wing does have some appeal, I'm also very comfortable in my current rig and don't really see any reason to change.

While I also dive with a wrist computer, I still have a console. I want a boot over my pressure gauge - while it doesn't need the protection in the water, it does (at least for me) in my bag, on land, or on a boat. I also want a compass, but I dislike having things on both wrists (though it is often unavoidable). A console seems to be the best place to keep the compass - clipped off out of the way when you're not using it, but easily accessible when you do want it. I don't have any problem navigating with a compass on a console. In the water, I don't really find a console to be "big", "clunky", or more of a snag hazard than a lone pressure gauge. I keep the console clipped off to a left chest d-ring - I can look down and see my pressure gauge then without unclipping it. But I virtually never leave it unclipped and hanging.

I think in the long term, the reliability of air-integrated computers or other wireless/hoseless pressure monitoring will improve, and the stigma associated with it will disappear. That will then be the ideal way to track tank pressure, and then I'd probably eliminate the console and have to find another spot for my compass.

Next, I'd highly recommend getting a five foot hose and using it on your primary regulator. It greatly simplifies air sharing, especially in real situations where everything isn't the way you plan it. A five foot hose is easy to route - with or without a canister light. The only inconvenience I'd had with it is that, when I'm putting my gear on, I'm more likely to drop my regulator all the way the ground, instead of being caught by a hose. With the five foot hose, anyone who wants to share air will be taking your long hose. Now put your backup regulator on a short hose, and hang it around your neck with a necklace.

Going to the long hose and necklace does wonders in cleaning up your chest. You now have all that space available for "other stuff", without concerns about items interfering with deployment of a backup regulator.

For your primary light - I'm guessing the "D8" model is a larger 8-cell UK light. While a HID canister light is nice, they also cost upwards of $500 - even if I did own one, I don't think I'd take it on every OW dive I did for fear of breaking it. I personally think handheld halogen lights are great for rec diving - I use an 8C light from Princeton Tek.

You've got a few options here. One is just to clip it directly to a chest or hip d-ring. If you're going to be using it for most of the dive, then it probbly won't spend much time there. I currently keep mine on a Princeton Tek "coil retractor" clipped to my right shoulder. I really like the fact that I can "drop it" without having to clip it off, when I need a free hand. I can use the light "clipped in" if I just need it briefly, or unclip it and have it at full length if I'm going to be using it for a while.

Again, using a canister light with a Goodman handle would mean I could use my hands without having to put down my light, but they're expensive and overkill for most recreational diving. I've never had the retractor snag on anything (and I could certainly cut it if it did), and I haven't found it to be an impediment to using the light in any way. However, the "coil retractor" does annoy me in that it allows the light to hang a bit (maybe 1-2 inches) lower than it would if I were just using a clip. It's enough of an annoyance that I often shove the light under my BC waist-band when I won't be using it for a while. I've thought about moving it to the back of my right - perhaps one of these days I will add a hip d-ring and start keeping the light there with a simple clip.

For your small light, I see two options. One is to keep it a pocket. The upside of that is that it's out of the way, but you also might not notice if it is switched on accidentally. I would recommend keeping it on your left shoulder or left abdomen. Tie a clip to the handle, clip the clip to your left chest d-ring, and stow the light underneath two loops of bungie cord wrapped around the harness webbing. You'll have to determine for yourself whether it works better "up" on your shoulder or "down" on your abdomen. For sidemount, I keep it up; for back-mount, I keep it down. This way, it's easily accesible - the deployment process for me is to yank it out of the bungies, flip it on, then unclip it. It's also very obvious if you flip it on accidently.

I haven't really found a great solution for knifes and shears yet. I'd recommend getting a Dive Rite Z-knife and keeping it on your wrist-mount computer strap. I have them on all my computers and it's a good spot to keep them. I also dive with a small traditional blunt-tip dive knife in a sheath bolted to my BC waist pocket, but you won't have that with a standard BP/wings setup. I've seen people with knifes on BC hoses as well - that seems to be another reasonable spot, though I hate having heavy stuff there.

I don't dive with a safety sausage, so I don't have any personal experience there. But I'd think either keeping it in a pocket, or, if it is larger, across the bottom of your BP (as you would a lift bag).

The camera is another tough one - I've just started diving with a camera as well. For day dives, I've been clipping it to my right chest ring, the same spot as I keep the light. I tried it on the left chest once when I had the light, but I didn't like the way it sat there. I'm also thinking about moving it to my right hip, or perhaps moving the light there and keeping the camera on my chest. Ask me again in a year...

I hope this helps... As far as I'm concerned, there really are no straight-forward answers - there is no one correct way to arrange your equipment. It really depends on how you use it.

Ethan

[jasondbaker]

No, it's not. So maybe in the future I can look into finding a wrist mount for it.

[/quote]

Don't make the mistake of buying the factory wrist mount. One word: bungees. Buy about 10 feet and use it for your backup reg necklace, computer wrist mount, and compass wrist mount. I just saved you $50. Now why didn't someone mention that to me 5 years ago?

[jasondbaker]

Following up on Ethan's thoughts...

You can get boots that are designed to fit around pressure gauges. A good brass pressure gauge is very strong though. My gauge has been abused but still works perfectly. The guys diving in salt water don't like boots on their gauges or tanks because they trap water and encourage rust.

In my experience a compass is easier to use on a wrist versus a console.

I dislike coil retractors. Every single retractor I tried eventually stopped working properly. Either the springs rusted or debris got trapped inside them. Snap bolts and cave line are a cheaper, simpler, far superior solution in my mind. You could mount a snapbolt to your light with some cave line. Then use a lanyard when you unhook it to use the light.

Mount your shears/knife on your backplate waist webbing. This becomes a handy place to wrap your longhose if you don't have a canister light.

[Omicron]

I'd agree w/ Jason. Bungee cord is the way to mount compasses/computers.

Wrist mounted gauges are the way to go. So much easier to glance at, and you don't have anything hanging anywhere. Toss in a little ol' brass SPG and you are good to go. Those things are tough too - mines been beat pretty hard and it still works great.

[ethanb]

If I primarily dived in salt water, I'd probably think again about the use of boots and hose protectors. Trapping salt-water against metal objects is just begging for corrosion. But in fresh water, I think the boot gives added protection without any significant downside. If the gauges is leaking, you'll see bubbles coming out of the boot (besides, try to drain a tank through a HP hose sometime - you'll get bored and stop before you run out of air). I haven't ever broken a gauge myself, but I did see one get busted on a boat when a guy set his tank on it. Dented the side and cracked the seam.
I really can't speak with authority on the ease-of-use of a wrist compass vs. a console. I've only tried a wrist compass a few times, while I have hundreds of dives with a console. It may very well be easier to use on the wrist, but I don't like having cluttered arms.

As for gauges, I'm a big fan of the tiny ScubaPro gauges:

They're a bit smaller than standard gauges and marked in increments of 100 psi. The only things I don't like are the fact that they go up to 6000 psi (why not 4500?) and that they have that stupid red band below 500 psi. How's that for hyprocracy - I like little tiny gauges, but don't mind having a console?

I dislike coil retractors. Every single retractor I tried eventually stopped working properly. Either the springs rusted or debris got trapped inside them. Snap bolts and cave line are a cheaper, simpler, far superior solution in my mind. You could mount a snapbolt to your light with some cave line. Then use a lanyard when you unhook it to use the light.

I've never used the "enclosed" retractors with a spring and cord. I'd be skeptical about them as well - especially in salt water or very dirty water I would think they'd tend to get jammed. I realize I'm putting myself up for derision in the tech diving community, but I really like this unit:

It has a plastic clip, a platic fastex buckle (when you want to keep the light "somewhat close"), and a rubber/plastic coiled bungee for extension. If I had to do it again, perhaps I would've saved the $10 or so and made my own out of bungee and some clips, but I wasn't so innovative then. When I finally do break it, I may very well try making my own. Looking at it, you'd think that the coils would tend to snag on things, but I haven't ever had that happen. I'm guessing I have 75-100 dives with it and it hasn't caused me any problems yet. I'm not saying it won't ever, but if I ever were to get badly snagged, I could easily cut it. So, anyway, I'm not a huge advocate of retractors, but in my experience, this one seem to work fine. Just don't go and put your console on one!

Ethan

[dfreeman]

I have not experienced the problems that are listed in this thread concerning consoles. I guess I am lucky or have practiced a little bit.

Oh, well, let the ridicule and ostracism within Pro-DIR groups begin.

Doug

[Omicron]

Hehe. Kind of a funny pro/con listing.

I don't mind consoles, but I cherish the day I got my Nitek Plus. A multiple gas, switchable underwater, deco capable computer/bottom timer that is smaller than my G-Shock watch and half the price of my SmartCOM console that did half as much.

How could I say no to such a snazzy little gadget? ;D

[dfreeman]

It looks nice too.

Doug