Why Your SPG Keeps Getting in the Way

Your SPG shouldn’t be something you have to think about every few minutes. You shouldn’t have to move it out of the way to reach something else. It shouldn’t be hanging where it can catch on the cave, a wreck, or a tall coral. It shouldn’t be pushing against your cylinder, interfering with your hose routing, or forcing you to change how you position your hand.

If your SPG keeps getting in the way, the problem probably isn’t the SPG. It’s the configuration around it.

In sidemount, small equipment placement problems can quickly become bigger problems. A gauge that’s only slightly inconvenient in open water can become a genuine nuisance when you’re managing cylinders, passing restrictions, deploying a long hose, handling stages, or trying to maintain precise positioning in a cave.

The goal isn’t simply to find somewhere to clip your SPG. The goal is to put it somewhere that works naturally with the rest of your configuration.

Why SPG Placement Matters in Sidemount
The Most Common Problem: The Gauge Is Simply Hanging There
Your SPG Should Have a Defined Home
Type of Hose Is Part of the Problem
Don’t Use Hose Length to Compensate for Poor Placement
First Stage Orientation Matters
Your SPG Shouldn’t Move the Cylinder
Don’t Let the SPG Become a Snag Point
Easy Access Doesn’t Mean It Has to Be in Front of You
Don’t Put It Where Your Hands Already Have Too Much Work to Do
Multiple Cylinders Make the Problem More Complicated
The SPG Should Move With the Cylinder
Think About How You Actually Check Your Gas
Don’t Copy Someone Else’s SPG Placement
SPG Placement Can Reveal Other Configuration Problems
A Simple Test for SPG Placement
The Goal is Predictability
Final Thoughts

Why SPG Placement Matters in Sidemount

In backmount, your pressure gauge generally has a predictable location. Sidemount is different. Your cylinders are beside you, your regulators move with those cylinders, and your body configuration can change significantly throughout the dive. That means the SPG is part of a moving system.

Its position can be affected by:

• Cylinder position
• First stage orientation
• Stage configuration
• Bungee placement
• Type of high pressure hose used
• Harness geometry
• How you access the gauge
• How you move through restrictions

A gauge that works perfectly with one cylinder configuration may become awkward when you change cylinders or add stages. This is why SPG placement needs to be considered as part of the entire sidemount configuration.

The Most Common Problem: The Gauge Is Simply Hanging There

One of the most common SPG problems I see is a gauge that’s basically allowed to find its own position. The diver positions it somewhere and assumes that it will always remain within reach. It usually doesn’t.

The SPG ends up:

• Hanging below the cylinder
• Sitting against the diver’s body
• Pointing backward
• Getting trapped by a stage cylinder
• Getting caught on equipment
• Moving every time the cylinder moves

The problem isn’t that the gauge is attached. It’s that the attachment point doesn’t control the gauge properly.

A good sidemount configuration should make the gauge predictable.

Your SPG Should Have a Defined Home

Every piece of equipment on your harness should have a reason for being where it is. Your SPG is no different. It should have a defined position where you know:

• Where it will be
• How you will access it
• How you will read it
• Where the gauge will sit when you’re not reading it
• What happens when the cylinder moves

You shouldn’t have to search for your SPG. You should know where it is because it consistently returns to the same place. That becomes particularly important when you’re dealing with multiple cylinders.

Type of Hose Is Part of the Problem

Some SPG problems are actually hose material problems. If the hose is not stiff enough, you may end up with an unnecessary dangler.

That dangler can:

• Catch on rock
• Move around the cylinder
• Interfere with other equipment
• Make the gauge difficult to control
• Increase your overall profile

Standard rubber high pressure hoses are stiff and tend to remain that way. Braided hoses, especially the thin ones, bend easily when weight is added to the end of them. While they may work for plastic gauges that are almost neutral, they don’t tend to work well for brass and glass gauges. Positioning doesn’t address this issue adequately. No matter where the SPG is located – above the cylinder, beneath it, or sticking up away from it – a heavier gauge will pull on the hose so that it does not remain where you want it to.

If you are set on using these types of hoses, there are things you can do to address this issue, such as using a hose retainer to hold the gauge against the body of the cylinder. This solution creates the additional tasks of having to remove the SPG from beneath the retainer when you need to read it, and then having to tuck it back in the retainer when you are stowing it. A simpler modification is to use a hose that isn’t so pliable.

Don’t Use Hose Length to Compensate for Poor Placement

There are two commonly accepted high pressure hose lengths in sidemount – 6 inch and 9 inch. These aren’t arbitrary lengths. The 6-inch hose is the most common length. It was adopted for stage cylinders and crossed over into sidemount. 6-inch hoses are long enough to be able to pull the SPG into view, yet short enough to be unobtrusive.

9-inch hoses were adopted for use by old timers. They’ve taken on the nickname of geezer hoses. Once many of us reach a certain age, reading small print becomes somewhat of a challenge. If you’ve seen an older person holding something at a distance to read it, you know what I’m talking about. 9-inch hoses allow us geezers to hold the SPG a little farther away while not compromising our equipment.

That said, I’ve seen some younger folks using the longer 9-inch hoses. If the gauge is in the wrong location, giving it another three inches of hose may simply give it three more inches to get into trouble. There’s no issue, other than old eyes, that lengthening your high pressure hose will address.

Before changing the hose, look at:

1. Where you want the gauge to live
2. Where the first stage is oriented
3. Where the cylinder sits
4. Where the hose naturally wants to run
5. How you access the gauge underwater

Then select the hose length that supports that configuration.

First Stage Orientation Matters

The way your first stage is oriented can have a surprising effect on SPG placement. If the SPG hose exits the first stage in a direction that works against the cylinder and regulator configuration, you can end up fighting the equipment.

A small change in first stage orientation can sometimes eliminate:

• A gauge that points the wrong direction
• Pressure against the cylinder
• Interference with another hose

This is one of those adjustments that can look insignificant on the surface but make a noticeable difference underwater.

Your SPG Shouldn’t Move the Cylinder

This is an important one. If the SPG hose is pulling on the cylinder, the gauge isn’t simply inconvenient. It’s affecting your configuration. A hose that is pointed in the wrong direction can pull the top of the cylinder toward the first stage or away from the position you’ve established. This is a more common issue when using stage cylinders.

That can affect:

• Cylinder alignment
• Trim
• Stability
• Drag
• Regulator access

You want the cylinder to determine where the regulator and SPG sit, not the other way around.

Don’t Let the SPG Become a Snag Point

Anything that sticks out from your configuration has the potential to become a snag point. That matters in all types of diving. It’s particularly important in overhead diving. A gauge dangling several inches away from your body may not seem like much in open water. In a restriction, it can be a completely different story.

The SPG can encounter:

• Rock
• Steel
• Protrusions
• Line
• Other equipment
• A stage cylinder
• The cave/wreck floor or ceiling

The closer you can keep the gauge and its hose to the intended profile while maintaining accessibility, the better. This doesn’t mean burying the gauge somewhere you can’t reach it. It means finding the balance between accessibility and streamlining.

Easy Access Doesn’t Mean It Has to Be in Front of You

Another common mistake is placing the SPG somewhere simply because it’s easy to see. You don’t need the gauge sitting directly in front of you all the time. You need to be able to retrieve it easily, read it, and return it to its home position. Those are different requirements.

Lollipop gauges is a common derogatory term that refers to SPGs that are positioned in front of the shoulders. The nickname is deserving in some cases, but not all. There’s nothing wrong with positioning the SPGs in front of your shoulders as long as they are against your shoulders. This keeps them streamlined and snag free.

The issue arises when the gauges sit away from the shoulders. This can happen when

• thin, floppy hoses are used
• heavy 2-inch brass and glass gauges are used
• first stages are facing forward in front of the standard cylinder valves
• first stages are facing back toward the shoulders on angled cylinder valves

Positioning SPGs in front of the shoulders can work under certain circumstances. If you can see the gauges without having to pull them away from your shoulders, you have a potential snag issue.

A well-designed configuration lets you reach the gauge with a deliberate movement rather than requiring you to search for it or pull it through a collection of hoses and equipment. It keeps the gauge tucked away until you need to see it. The gauge should be accessible without becoming part of your normal swimming profile.

Don’t Put It Where Your Hands Already Have Too Much Work to Do

Think about what your hands are doing during a dive.

You’re potentially:

• Managing regulators
• Checking gauges
• Operating lights
• Managing reels
• Handling stages
• Managing restrictions
• Communicating
• Managing propulsion equipment

If your SPG occupies the same space as another important piece of equipment, you create unnecessary task loading. This is particularly noticeable when managing multiple stages. Your equipment should not compete for the same physical space.

Multiple Cylinders Make the Problem More Complicated

With two sidemount cylinders, SPG placement is relatively straightforward. Add stages and the equation changes.

Now you have additional:

• First stages
• Regulator hoses
• SPGs
• Bolts snaps
• Cylinder clips
• Stage hoses

If each SPG is allowed to occupy its own random space, the front of your configuration can become crowded quickly. This is where consistent equipment placement becomes important. Your primary cylinders should have predictable SPG locations. Your stages should have their own predictable configuration. And the hoses should work together rather than competing with one another.

The SPG Should Move With the Cylinder

One of the advantages of sidemount is that the regulator and SPG can remain associated with the cylinder they monitor. That makes gas identification straightforward. But it also means the SPG needs to move naturally with the cylinder. This becomes especially important with stage cylinders when they are rotated. If you change the position of a cylinder and suddenly the SPG is trapped, pointing in the wrong direction, or pulling on the first stage, the configuration wasn’t really optimized for that movement.

Think About How You Actually Check Your Gas

An SPG doesn’t exist simply to look at. It exists so you can monitor your gas supply. That means you should evaluate its position while actually performing the task.

• Reach for it.
• Pull it into a readable position.
• Look at it.
• Return it to its home.

Do this underwater. Do it while wearing your actual exposure protection. Do it while carrying your normal equipment. And if you’re diving with stages, do it with the stages configured as you actually use them.

A configuration that feels perfect while sitting on a bench may behave completely differently underwater.

Don’t Copy Someone Else’s SPG Placement

This is another version of a mistake I see throughout sidemount configuration. A diver sees another sidemount diver’s setup and duplicates it. That can work. But it may not.

The following can all influence it.

• Body proportions
• Harness
• Cylinder size
• First stages
• Hose lengths
• Exposure protection
• Weighting
• Stage configuration

These may all be different.

The correct SPG position is the one that works with your system. Use other divers’ configurations as ideas, not as instructions.

SPG Placement Can Reveal Other Configuration Problems

Sometimes an SPG that keeps getting in the way is telling you something.

It might reveal:

• A cylinder sitting too low
• Incorrect hose type
• Poor first stage orientation
• Poor harness adjustment
• Crowded equipment placement

This is why I wouldn’t immediately treat the SPG as the problem. Look at the entire system. If you keep moving the gauge and it keeps ending up somewhere inconvenient, there’s probably a reason.

A Simple Test for SPG Placement

Here’s a simple test I recommend. Before changing anything, get into the water with your normal configuration. Then:

1. Find the SPG without looking for it.
– Can your hand go directly to it?

2. Pull it into a readable position.
– Does the hose move smoothly?

3. Check for tension.
– Is the hose pulling on the first stage or cylinder too much?

4. Return it to its home position.
– Does it naturally stay there?

5. Change cylinder position.
– Move the cylinder through the positions you normally use. Does the SPG remain controlled?

6. Add your stages.
– Does the SPG now interfere with another cylinder or hose?

7. Move through your normal diving positions.
– Swim, hover, turn, change position, and simulate the tasks you actually perform. If the SPG continually gets in the way, don’t just change where it’s located. Find out why it gets in the way.

The Goal Is Predictability

The best equipment configurations aren’t necessarily the ones with the most sophisticated hardware. They’re the ones that behave predictably. You know where the SPG is. You know how it moves when the cylinder moves. You know how to retrieve it. And you know exactly where it goes when you’re finished checking it.

That predictability becomes even more valuable as the dive becomes more complicated.

Final Thoughts

Your SPG shouldn’t be something you constantly manage. If you’re repeatedly moving it, unclipping it, pushing it out of the way, or fighting its hose, the problem probably isn’t the gauge. It’s the configuration.

Look at the entire system: first stage orientation, hose type, cylinder position, attachment points, harness geometry, and the way you actually use the equipment underwater. Then make the SPG fit the system.

A well-configured SPG is almost boring. You reach for it. You read it. You return it. And then you stop thinking about it. That’s what good equipment configuration should do. It should solve problems before you have to think about them.

Readers of the article can receive $10 off the book Sidemount Diving or $5 off the book Recreational Sidemount Diving when purchasing directly from the website.

Use code SPG10 for the Sidemount Diving Guide and SPG5 for the Recreational Sidemount Diving Guide during checkout.

Related Articles

The Anatomy of a Sidemount Configuration
Sidemount Hose Lengths – Choosing the Right Setup
Common Hose Routing Mistakes in Sidemount
How to Choose the Right Sidemount Cylinders
How to Correctly Manage Gas in Your Cylinders

For a complete overview of how these elements work together, see The Complete Guide to Sidemount Diving Configuration.