42LB Side Mount

Customer Reviews

5 out of 5 Stars (3 reviews)

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Scuba Magazine Test Center

By Charles Hood on 20 Jan. 2017

There are many myths and misconceptions about diving with cylinders on your side rather than on your back. I'm not talking about using side-slung deco cylinders with a normal back-mounted cylinder set up but the real side-mounted cylinders. The first myth is there is one correct way to do it. In fact there are numerous different setups with almost every diver honing their preferred configuration after quite a bit of tweaking. The essential concept is that the diver carries their cylinders either side by attaching them at two points, the lower connection is around the hip and the top fastening is towards the upper chest area. To achieve this arrangement you require some kind of harness and for buoyancy a wing-style BC that will keep you horizontal underwater. A conventional BC would struggle to achieve this and until a few years ago the majority of side-mounted systems were home made, using various components from several different manufacturers and even home made gizmos as well. But now several companies have introduced specific systems. Northern Diver is one such and I've had its iteration here at the Test Centre for the past couple of months, to get to grips with it. It consists of a harness with heaps of strategically placed D-rings, a back-mounted bladder giving just under 20kg of lift, an underarm inflator hose and mechanism, kidney pull dump valve, trim weight pouches, a detachable bag and a whole heap of snap bolts, bungee cord and webbing with cambands. Provision of a variety of fixings means that you can customise the exact method of attaching your cylinders - even specifically designed systems have options - and there is a comprehensive set of instructions. It's a one-size-fits-all harness and there is a huge amount of webbing; if I owned one I would certainly cut off about 40cm. One of the advantages of side-mount diving is you can clip your cylinders on at the water's edge and I found this easy to do, even when wearing thick gloves, thanks to the large, pre-bent D-rings. The bag could accommodate my dSMB and reel attached to D-rings at the rear. This made it bounce around on my bottom and although out of the way I found it was a little distracting. Once underwater the side-mount system worked well. It kept me delightfully horizontal with both cylinders snugly positioned either side of me. The harness also felt close fitting, helped by the crotch strap. The power inflator is responsive and is held nicely to hand without flapping about. The kidney dump is on the left-hand side and underneath, so I did find that I had to roll around a little to get the air out. I preferred using the hose dump, although it required me to go head up for a little while. Amazingly you get all this for £350, which is pretty much the same as a standard BC and certainly very competitively priced when compared with other similar systems on the market. Northern Diver throws in a carry bag as well.

Delivery was very quick...

By Keith Bramley (via Trustpilot) on 17 Jan. 2022

Delivery was very quick, haven't dived the sidemount wing yet, but the build quality feels exceptional. The changing robe is extremely warm and again excellent quality. Both highly recommend.

Sidemount harness.

By Russell Povey (via Truspilot) on 22 Jan. 2022 on 22 Feb. 2022

Bought, shipped and arrived really quickly, item perfectly as expected. Easy to do business with.