![hollis sms 100 d setup hollis sms 100 d setup](https://divernet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/0620-Tests_Hollis-HD200-padded-back-pack.jpg)
Trouble is that this routing for a harness while reasonably stable, is not the most comfortable nor does it make things easy when trying to doff and don kit. Most sidemount manufactures – including Hollis with their SMS100 and 50 – follow suit. Fixing the over-the-shoulder harness was easily done by threading it through the backplate and almost every backplate manufacturer almost thirty years later, uses the same method. When faced with the challenge of taming a set of double steel back-mounted cylinders, legend has it that Greg Flannigan and Bill Main solved the issue with a continuous length of two-inch webbing and a purloined Florida Department of Transportation road sign. The traditional habit of taking the shoulder harness and anchoring it behind a diver’s hip is a throwback to the design restraints of the North Florida Cave Diver’s backplate and wing setup. These deliver benefits that are easy to appreciate and that make rigging simply and comfortable with the least possible fuss.
![hollis sms 100 d setup hollis sms 100 d setup](https://diveinprogress.com/1476-large_default/Xdeep-wing-stealth-tec-r-b-scubadiving-material.jpg)
Anyhow, built from rugged 1000D Cordura, the SMS75 looks tough enough to take a beating, and the finishing is excellent… no hanging threads, gaping or marginal seams or dodgy sewing.Īs well as the build quality, the SMS75 has several design features that result from outside-the-box thinking. If you know power tools, I think a fair comparison is comparing a heavy-duty DeWalt or Milwaukee cordless drill with a $29.99 special from a no-name manufacturer only doing business on eBay. As with the SMS100 and its tiny travel cousin the SMS50, the 75 looks like professional-grade gear, and in a side-by-side comparison with other units in my personal dive locker, the Hollis stands out. With that said, right out of the box, the SMS75 is impressive. I cannot say price is never an issue, but I am willing to fork out a bit more cash in the hope of avoiding the sort of disappointment that inevitably follows using shoddy kit of any sort. It may cost a little more to design and produce gear that’s going to last ages, but I hate having things break because of cheap components and crappy quality assurance controls. My experience with the company’s wings, fins, instruments, DSMBs, reels and so on has been really positive. I’ve never been disappointed with kit from Hollis. Not only did I had pre-orders from students who were signed up for sidemount courses, I was even more excited to get my personal unit in the water for proper testing outside a cave environment to see how it fared in colder water and lumpier surface conditions. Quite a while and when my first shipment of SMS75s arrived from Hollis a couple of weeks ago, I was extremely happy to finally have units in-hand. I wanted one to dive in a variety of conditions to test if my original assessment was correct. I explained the 75 was almost exactly what I wanted from a sidemount harness. I enjoyed diving it and immediately phoned my contacts at Hollis. That November introduction involved diving the Hollis rig at Jackson Blue Spring in Florida. Already a SMS100 and SMS50 user, I was interested to see what the company’s “mid-range” design could do that the 100 and 50 could not. Last November I had an opportunity to dive the prototype of a new sidemount harness being developed by Hollis. Thoughts about the latest sidemount harness from the folks who brought us the SMS100 and SMS50