The Best SM Rebreather.....THE KISS WINS!!!

depth said:
I saw the sidekick for the first time yesterday.

I must say that I was very unimpressed with the build quality of the unit! The welding on the stainless outer tube looked like it was made by someone that does not know how to weld. Also, the welds hat not been treated afterwards so it was as red as some of the WW2 wrecks I have dived. Rust is also starting to show in the many holes on the outer tube.

Another thing that did not impress me was the splitter boards after the cells. I suck at soldering but the job that was done here was very bad.

Other points:

Seal inside CL is very poorly made
Check valve at ADV does not work
Weak bolt-snap attachment on head

To me the unit looks like an unfinished prototype....

Just MHO

/Christian
Click to expand...

Wow, that's a surprising review. I haven't seen one up close yet but rust on the weld and outer tube doesn't sound good. Do you think it was a maintenance thing? Was the person you saw it responsible about cleaning and caring for their kit?

Thanks
Garth


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
depth said:
I saw the sidekick for the first time yesterday.

I must say that I was very unimpressed with the build quality of the unit! The welding on the stainless outer tube looked like it was made by someone that does not know how to weld. Also, the welds hat not been treated afterwards so it was as red as some of the WW2 wrecks I have dived. Rust is also starting to show in the many holes on the outer tube.

Another thing that did not impress me was the splitter boards after the cells. I suck at soldering but the job that was done here was very bad.

Other points:

Seal inside CL is very poorly made
Check valve at ADV does not work
Weak bolt-snap attachment on head

To me the unit looks like an unfinished prototype....

Just MHO

/Christian
Click to expand...

I haven't seen any of those issues except the head attachment point but I attach the unit a little differently anyway.

Understand that this is a 4500.00USD unit plus sensors and monitor choices so its a VERY competitively priced unit.

Its also a unit thats designed very well to accomplish a very specific task.
 
JONT said:
I haven't seen any of those issues except the head attachment point but I attach the unit a little differently anyway.

Understand that this is a 4500.00USD unit plus sensors and monitor choices so its a VERY competitively priced unit.

Its also a unit thats designed very well to accomplish a very specific task.
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I totally agree with JonT's comments here. While I do not dive one personally, I have a buddy that dives the s$)#(*% out of his and I have not seen the issues that you have mentioned. His unit gets a mix of cave and ocean dives that regularly exceed 300 fsw...

Dive safe....

Mark
 
diverklondike said:
I totally agree with JonT's comments here. While I do not dive one personally, I have a buddy that dives the s$)#(*% out of his and I have not seen the issues that you have mentioned. His unit gets a mix of cave and ocean dives that regularly exceed 300 fsw...

Dive safe....

Mark
Click to expand...

I am VERY picky when it comes to rebreathers, I've been looking for a SM breather seriously for 3 years and chose this one for the following reasons:

1) Its very easy to assemble and pre-dive.
2) Its easy to clean and tear down
3) The scrubber screws on to the sensor head so c02 bypass could ONLY happen as the result of diver error, even a broken 0-ring wouldn't let enough c02 through to hurt you.
4) Its short hold a negative as well as a REVO (my SK held one for 7 days) and it was built with a very similar philosophy in terms of simplicity and limited failure points
5) Its easy to build a totally self contained unit so you don't need to pirate your bailout.
6) Its short and very easy to manipulate in the water/tight cave

Now there is a unit that may come to market soon thatI like it A LOT but at between 11 and 13K plus training we better like it a lot.

I don't see some surface rust on 304 or 316 SS as an issue and mine is clean.....

If your interested in one contact Cave Country Dive Shop or Cave Connections.

Cheers,

Jon
 
JONT said:
I am VERY picky when it comes to rebreathers, I've been looking for a SM breather seriously for 3 years and chose this one for the following reasons:

1) Its very easy to assemble and pre-dive.
2) Its easy to clean and tear down
3) The scrubber screws on to the sensor head so c02 bypass could ONLY happen as the result of diver error, even a broken 0-ring wouldn't let enough c02 through to hurt you.
4) Its short hold a negative as well as a REVO (my SK held one for 7 days) and it was built with a very similar philosophy in terms of simplicity and limited failure points
5) Its easy to build a totally self contained unit so you don't need to pirate your bailout.
6) Its short and very easy to manipulate in the water/tight cave

Now there is a unit that may come to market soon thatI like it A LOT but at between 11 and 13K plus training we better like it a lot.

I don't see some surface rust on 304 or 316 SS as an issue and mine is clean.....

If your interested in one contact Cave Country Dive Shop or Cave Connections.

Cheers,

Jon
Click to expand...


This week in Wakulla County there were 4 SK's, no issues at all, 3 had NERD's, 1 had a Petrel2 EXT (no surprise there), dives up to 8 hours in 300' of water at 68 degrees the entire dive.................the SK is quickly earning well deserved respect and credibility.
 
Just so I understand 8hrs? I'm assuming I'm missing something (5hrs is the max scrubber life in warm water right?)

JONT said:
This week in Wakulla County there were 4 SK's, no issues at all, 3 had NERD's, 1 had a Petrel2 EXT (no surprise there), dives up to 8 hours in 300' of water at 68 degrees the entire dive.................the SK is quickly earning well deserved respect and credibility.
Click to expand...
 
Diveworx said:
Just so I understand 8hrs? I'm assuming I'm missing something (5hrs is the max scrubber life in warm water right?)
Click to expand...

There are many, many factors that contribute to scrubber duration, my 2 REVO's are good for 12 hours (and more each) in cave water but the circumstances are extremely important, so if my max depth os 300' and I spend 1 hour at that depth I'll have a monster hang, if the hang is at no work, literally lying down my CO2 production drops off considerably and I can do that dive on one rebreather, but if on that same dive my hand requires work.....I'm in serious trouble.

the bottom line is that you should NEVER exceed any manufacturers recommendations.......to do so is literally risking your life
 
I can't say enough good things about my sidekick. Like I been diving it for two years now cave and wreck, regularly in the 200-300 range had it as deep as 390'. Used it in Belize doing 4-5 hours swimming in cave and few hours deco after no issues except I did flood a cell due to condensation but think I have a solution that someone else came up with.
The past few months I've been diving it as a BOB and it's been great, small issue with the ADV stem getting bent.
 
Did a dive with my buddy today, him using his sidekick. Managed to get a few images of the weld:

sidekick1.jpg

sidekick2.jpg

sidekick3.jpg

/Christian
 
Wow, not sure how that one got through. I have several friends with sidekicks, none of them have this issue. Wonder if this was a prototype or something originally.
 
that's a shitty looking weld.... SS shouldn't need to be treated after it's been welded, but that looks like way too much heat and a bad quality weld so I'm not surprised it looks like that
 
That's some crap work right there. How did that make it past QAQC. I would have been been jumping up and down on to that the minute I took it out of the box. I hope KISS makes this right for you.
 
Here's what mine looks like, which is similar to others I've seen. Not sure what happened to the one above. I've been really happy with this unit so far.
 

Attachments

  • Sidekick weld.JPG
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Kevin Leonhardt said:
Christian,

Has your buddy contacted KISS? My experience has been very positive with them.
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I have seen 8 SK's to date including mine and none of them have this issue, my experience with Cave Country Dive Shop, Cave Connections and Kim at KISS has always been 1st class.........

Was this an early prototype?

Cheers,

Jon
 
So I've made a few more mods, I decided to add an inconel sphere with a 3L steel dill bottle on top and WOW its great, the balance is perfect with an 85 or 120, I do have a few small things to sort out but this step was huge. Her are a few pic's:

SideKickTrim12.jpgSideKickTrim1.jpgSideKickTrim2.jpgSideKickTrim6.jpgSideKickTrim8.jpg
 
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