I have to agree with with the old bear, you just cannot beat the Transpac for versatility. You can use it with a back plate to help stabalize doubles, and if you are looking at doubles and stages in your future then you are going to need that stabilization. With the Nomad package you will have one of the best off the shelf sidemount rigs on the market today; I have let a number of novices (no or limited experience diving a SM configuration) dive mine and they were amazed at how well it worked for them. One girl had not dove in over eight years and she trimmed ou like she had been diving the rig her entire life (she went on to do a 90 minute cave dive in it and her buddy was absolutely amazed at how stable she was during that dive.)