Sidemount Systems

What sidemount actually changes

Moving your cylinders from your back to your sides changes three things at once. You carry two independent gas supplies, each with its own regulator, so a failure on one side still leaves you a working set. You lose the tall profile of a backmounted twinset, which matters in wrecks, in caves and anywhere the gap is smaller than you would like. And you stop lifting a heavy assembled rig onto your shoulders, because the cylinders go on in the water or at the side of the boat, one at a time.

None of that is free. A sidemount rig needs configuring to you, and it takes a few dives before the cylinders sit where you want them. That is the honest trade, and it is why we would rather talk to you than sell you the wrong wing.

The Stealth 2.0 range, and which one is yours

Everything in this collection is XDEEP, and the three systems are the same family at three levels of ambition. They share a modular approach: you pick the harness, the wing sits low and close, and the weighting is designed to be moved around rather than fixed.

Stealth 2.0 REC System

The compact one. It is aimed squarely at recreational divers moving to sidemount for reef and wreck dives, with a small, neat wing and easy access to a central dump valve. It carries an integrated redundant bladder for backup buoyancy, and XDEEP build it with the same materials used in their cave systems. If you are diving twin cylinders on ordinary sport dives, start here.

Stealth 2.0 Classic System

The modular workhorse, developed with input from leading divers. The wing is double-layered, with a tough outer layer protecting the inner buoyancy layer from the overhead environment, and it stays low-profile and secure through tight spots. A central weight pocket comes as standard, with ditchable and non-ditchable options depending on your exposure protection and trim. It is CE marked, and it takes a range of bottle sizes and materials with little pre-dive fiddling.

Stealth 2.0 TEC System

The largest wing of the three, attached directly to the harness and wrapping around the body so the lift is where you need it and the drag is not. The harness is fully adjustable, the spine weight pouch slides for balance, and there is a port for a second dump valve or a relocated inflation system. This is the one to look at if you are diving large steel cylinders on demanding technical dives.

Weighting, trim and the small parts

Getting flat is the whole point of sidemount, and it is done in layers. The bulk of your lead goes in the central weight pocket, which slides along the spine until you sit level. After that you fine-tune with XDEEP SM trim pockets, which mount to the shoulder straps or the waist strap and hold a stiff polymer reinforcement plate so the weight sits tight against the webbing instead of swinging. They come in an M size holding 2 x 1.50 kg and an L size holding 2 x 3 kg, and they fit any sidemount rig or harness built on 50 mm (2 inch) webbing, not only a Stealth.

The XDEEP Expandable Cargo Pouch finishes the rig off for the things that have nowhere else to live: a spool, a backup mask, a folded SMB. Buy the trim pockets with the system rather than later. They are the difference between a rig that is nearly right and one you stop thinking about.

Ordering, options and getting it right first time

Each Stealth 2.0 system is built to order around two choices. There are ten colours, from black and dark grey through to lime, red and camo, and four weight pocket configurations covering small, medium, wide and double. Pick the pocket configuration for the exposure protection you actually dive in, not the one you own for holidays.

The systems here sit from entry-level recreational sidemount through to premium technical configurations, and the difference between them is genuinely about the diving rather than the badge. If you are unsure which side of that line you fall on, ring us or come into the shop in Hove. Advice comes from qualified technical divers, and it costs nothing to ask before you commit.