Kiss Sidewinder Component Review

Talking about the Kiss Sidewinder components and build quality.
Correction: Kiss was purchased by Darkwater Group who also manages X-Deep (not Apeks) and Seal Drysuits.
Side note: not sure what’s going on with the sound. Not how the original video recorded. KZbin dropped the quality a lot, maybe that did something to the audio.
Also the video flipped as well. Who knows.

[@SeattleRingHunter]

Thanks for the show and tell on the Sidewinder it's nice to get an introductory visual orientation of the gear before ever having put a hand on one. Thank you for your time, and enjoy your diving! Cheers, #SeattlerRingHunter

[@familyscuba1292]

Thanks for watching.

[@SeattleRingHunter]

5:28 Yes we also have these style of hose clamps under our Siemens Light Rail Vehicle that travel at 55 MPH at the under belly of the train gets all kinds of sand from the track brakes and wet blown debris sprayed onto them. They can be a bit of a pain when dirty and cold hands to manipulate when in tight places other wise as you have indicated if used properly they should work fine. When people go fetching screwdriver blades and the like or using channel lock pliers to manipulate these clamps is generally where the issues is introduced. Honestly they are not always easy to get a tight clamp if buried in a vehicle and the technician doesn't have good grip strength in their hand. However on a CCR breathing loop you have all the open access in the world to to man handle this clamp 🤙Cheers, #SeattleRingHunter

[@familyscuba1292]

Well said. I have 200 hundred hours on the unit to date and the clamps have help up great.

[@SeattleRingHunter]

2:50 yes I see a purpose. I have seen similar on a SiTech drysuit over pressure dump valve. My believe is that the smooth slip ring allow for the threaded locking collar to more easily twist and slide over the smooth ring surface than directly over the rigid bumpy Cordura material for a tight snug fit and water proof seal. Less friction as if the threaded solar nut was directly screwed on down to the Cordura. Just my quick thoughts from having worked on my own dry suit OPV dump valves. Cheers, #SeattlerRingHunter

[@familyscuba1292]

Thanks for the comment. The counter lung just pushes into the bottom of the canisters so they don’t function as friction shims. It turns out, after having lost one of them, they are used to retain the inner lung center in the hole of the outer cordura shell. Not essential so I’ve done without one of them for a long time. Thanks for watching.

[@meridacavediver]

Really great video… I’m toying with the idea of going this route.

[@familyscuba1292]

Definitely a good option. I just hit 70 hours on mine. Like it more and more every day. Def no regrets. Would never go back to OC for anything less than basic shallow dives.

[@meridacavediver]

@@familyscuba1292 That is great to hear. I’ve heard mixed reviews in my asking around. To say I’m a little nervous would be an understatement although I’m dedicated to doing the training and understanding the unit. I really like how you kind of addressed those concerns in your video without meaning to.

[@familyscuba1292]

@@meridacavediver I think everyone that makes the CCR jump has the same concerns, regardless of the unit. Once you go through the training you’ll see just how safe they are. Many more options if a problem comes up. The type of diving you guys are doing…def the way to go.

[@SeattleRingHunter]

23:08 going to see a lot more XDEEP snaps on the Sidewinder 2 😀 considering Darkwater Group who just purchased the KISS... XDEEP snaps rock

[@familyscuba1292]

They are great. Just a little steep in price.

[@cavediver2579]

The rings were not originally on the newer counterlungs at first. They added those because you just about couldn’t get the lung to seat on the cans. Mine get added after the fact, and I’ve never had a problem with them popping off.

[@familyscuba1292]

Interesting. I just noticed one that the inner lung would move around and come off center from the outer cordura layer. I could see that causing issues when assembling.

[@ivoryjohnson4662]

Thank you for a "real world" view of the components. Can you speak on the options ? If you had to do it over would you change any options? I am thinking about getting one. What maintenance do you do and how often do you have to do it?

[@familyscuba1292]

Thanks for watching. There are lots of options and configurations that you can go with. It would be easier for you to check the kiss website rather than me listing it out here. As far as changing anything, I wouldn’t. I’ve done more research into rebreather accident analysis and find that there is some merit in the bail out valve argument. However, I would not get the Hollis BOV offered by Kiss. Nothing against Hollis I just think there are better options. Maintenance wise, there is nothing to it because there is very little to maintain. I clean everything out after a weekend of diving, disinfect the loop hoses and counterlung and clean up the orings. They tend to get dusty from the sorb. Other than that you really only need to keep track of your O2 sensors and manual addition valve which are at least a year between replacement/service. Not to get overly long winded here, because there is a lot to talk about, look out for my next video coming soon. I plan on talking about the pros and cons of the sidewinder and address your questions there as well.

[@ivoryjohnson4662]

Since your computer is hardwired how do you get it serviced? Your sorb canister insulated what benefits is that? I saw heated canister too?

[@familyscuba1292]

@@ivoryjohnson4662 the cable unscrews from the canister head. It has an o-ring in there to seal out water. NBD. The insulated canister works wonders. There is an article about testing that was done and the difference in sorb temps. The heated canisters seemed to be overkill in the tests that were done in 40ish degree water if I remember correctly. Def yes on the insulation, pass on the heated canisters for me. Google kiss sidewinder rebreather insulation. The article should come up.

[@ivoryjohnson4662]

@@familyscuba1292 I found the article 20% increase on duration by getting insulated canisters probably feels better breathing in cold water as well

[@familyscuba1292]

@@ivoryjohnson4662 I do nothing but cold water diving in the Midwest. Warm water is 50 degrees typically. Has worked great for me so far. Nice warm humid breathing gas.

[@benvaneeden2460]

To stop grit from wearing through the material when you screw that fitting on grit washer

[@demisfarrugia2824]

Thanks for the detailed video, very thorough indeed. Are you sure that the new owners of KISS are the owners of Apeks? I believe the new owners are the same stakeholders behind Xdeep.

[@familyscuba1292]

Thanks for watching. You are correct. I added a correction in the description when I uploaded the video. Let me know if you have any questions about the unit. I will do my best to answer.

[@demisfarrugia2824]

@@familyscuba1292 I subscribed now to your channel. Very impressive in depth review thank you for taking the time to do this. In future, it would be really great if maybe you can go through the maintenance process of the ADV, DSV and the OPV? It would great to see how difficult or easy it would be for a KISS user to maintain their SW. 👌

[@familyscuba1292]

@@demisfarrugia2824 Thanks for the idea. I will work on making that video.

[@ivoryjohnson4662]

Did a try dive in Paradise Springs I was sold in first five minutes of the dive.Would you send your rebreather back to the factory for updates and inspections?

[@familyscuba1292]

That’s awesome. I don’t see a need to send it in unless I had a problem. I would send the computer in every so often for service but that’s about it. I’ll be at bonne Terre Dec 2nd and 3rd if you want to stop by for a more in depth discussion.

[@ivoryjohnson4662]

@@familyscuba1292 I will try to see you Friday

[@familyscuba1292]

@@ivoryjohnson4662 the group I’m heading down with usually has dinner in the area. Let me know if you can join.

[@ivoryjohnson4662]

@@familyscuba1292 will do I will drop by to hang out with you guys

[@scubacro5758]

I wanted to buy Liberty back mounted ccr, but now I see that a lott of divers on yt use KISS (dive talk, blue world crew, Edd...) and now I just don't know, I need ccr for deep dives ( 70m - 120m )and I want to go cave diving. What do you people think, is Divesoft good for cave diving

[@familyscuba1292]

To be fair you can’t really go wrong with any established CCR company. I would recommend you do your research to find the unit that fits your needs. I like my Kiss Sidewinder. It’s simple, easy to maintain, not a lot to go wrong with it. Whichever one you choose, get with a reputable instructor and you’ll be good to go.

[@scubacro5758]

@@familyscuba1292 I did my research, and I will probabley go with liberty backmounted, James from "Divers Ready" will become instructor for that ccr, if I go to cave diving, there is nothing wrong with owning two rebreathers😂

[@familyscuba1292]

@@scubacro5758 I think there is a sidemount conversion kit for the Liberty. Have fun with it and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

[@johanlundahl]

There is a sidemount version of the Liberty also, have two friends who seem happy with it. I went with the sidewinder since I don't plan on going beyond 80m.

[@scubacro5758]

@@johanlundahl well I'm from croatia and we have a wrecks that are amaizing but they are on depths around 50 - 130m...so backmounted is best

[@diveaddict6885]

Are those omniswivel quick disconnects?

[@familyscuba1292]

No, they are swag lock. They have a safety so they don’t accidentally come off.

[@familyscuba1292]

Disregard my last response. You are correct. They are locking Omni swivel high flow quick disconnect. I purchased a bunch of swag lock stuff recently and had that on the brain.

[@Sirmellowman]

god I wish I could afford one of these

[@familyscuba1292]

Unfortunately they are not cheap. Start putting a little bit away here and there. I’d adds up quickly. Also, keep an eye out for used ones. They are often times priced much lower than new. But keep in mind they require training which is an added cost and sorb which can add up if you dive a lot. You don’t want to cut corners when it comes to changing out the sorb. If your doing long duration times and or deep diving, it’s definitely the way to dive.

[@ChillerFPV]

now i seen how it is made, no watertrap or dump valve for water, counterlungs between the 2 canisters, first thing from exhale you come across is first scubber, that is fully packed with sofno, not even room around a scrubber basket so water can go past your scrubber basket, nope, here it is directly into your first scrubber. Now i know for shure this ain't it , and then even more it is just super basic Mccr.

[@familyscuba1292]

I like how basic it is. Never missed a dive and everything I need to repair it fits in a small bag. Never had any water related issues. Done 7 hours over several days in tropical water with zero issues.

[@benvaneeden2460]

They are chafing washers

[@familyscuba1292]

Makes sense. I also found that they center the counterlung in the outer cordura bag. Without them the bag is free to move around. Thanks for watching.

[@traveladdict1]

this was so boring i was asleep after the first 2 minutes.

[@familyscuba1292]

Lol. I have that effect on people. I’m considering drinking straight shots of expresso before making the recording. Should liven things up a bit. I seriously doubt it though.