Product Review: New “Generation 2” BARE SB Drysuit

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The suit sounds promising but you are still in the honeymoon stage. I would like to hear back after a few years and several hundred dives to see how it is really working out. Everything from cars to women are great when new but it's when the new wears off is when the real shines through. Heard that in a song, just cant remember which off the top of my head but it's just so true.
 
Hey Aqua-Andy! Longtime nosee! :)

Yeah, you're right... I AM still in the honeymoon stage. :)

...But this isn't my first drysuit, so I've got a pretty good idea what to watch out for. Frankly, the only thing really different about this suit from any other is the fabric... And the fact that this is a front-zip, self-donner WITHOUT a telescoping torso. Both of these things mean STRETCH, and it's great diving without the extra fabric and nooks and crannies to trap air.

It dives and feels like a back-zip CF200 (actually even more flexible), but comes with a TiZip (it's not an option on the CF200) and doesn't require the lead or the second person to zip you up. And it dries like an FLX Extreme or a CLX450. It moves better than a TLS350 or Emotion.

The valves and seals are all SiTech like a SANTI... Or in-house copies that are just as good. In fact, I'm happier with this pee valve than any other I've owned... But if I wasn't, it'd be easy to switch out whatever valves I wanted since they're standard holes.

...So it's all about the fabric - which is totally unique to this suit.

I LOVE the disappearing pocket - but understand that some people need more. I personally clip spools and tools (and sometimes I have a lot) off to my butt ring or even my p-ring when working. Lift bags go behind my backplate. I don't dive with wetnotes, but if I did they'd fit fine in the BARE pocket - even the big ones, with plenty of room to spare. I could even fit two or three in there if I wanted to. I've never dived with a spare mask and don't really see the need unless you're diving a FFM and are in fear of an OOG... But you could fit one of those in there too just fine. To me, the streamlinedness of the BARE disappearing pocket is a bigger advantage than the space of a bellows pocket... But I'm not cave diving in low-current, clear springs and quarries. For what it's worth, the BARE disappearing pocket isn't as big as a bellows pocket, but is larger than a normal flat pocket.

...So is it for everyone? Probably not... Just those who want the best range of motion in drysuits, in a tough, quick-drying and lightweight package. And I'll run for the hills the second this fabric delaminates... But so far so good - it seems perfectly capable of handling the junk I've thrown at it.

I'll have 200 or 300 dives in it midway through next summer or so.

We'll see.
 
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Fifty or so dives thus far, and I'm still loving this suit.

A couple of days ago I cleaned a boat bottom that had been sitting for a couple of years in a particularly fertile tidal creek. The boat was plastered with HUGE oyster clusters, some of them more than 6" across and consisting of more than a dozen individual organisms.

The next day my hands were cramped badly, and full of cuts and bruises. I'm right-handed, so the majority of my injuries were along my right knuckles, especially along my pinky finger and index fingers. It felt like 150 papercuts, except that some of the meat was missing in several spots. For reference, yes, of course I wear kevlar gloves - this job was just that bad.

Similar to the boat's bottom, the floating dock - that I kicked up onto after each of a series of dives - was also packed with oyster clusters.

Not one mark on the suit.

The hard cuffs on the suit's SiTech ring system (I chose the replaceable wrist seals) had taken a beating... There's quite a bit of chewed plastic there now. But they stayed together and actually did a nice job of protecting the fabric.

Underwater, this job entailed being slightly positive and inverted underneath the boat... So yes, there was quite a bit of contact between the suit and the oyster clusters, particularly at the knees, for which BARE provides a protective pad. Everything I knocked off the bottom of that boat essentially fell onto the suit, too. Still... Not a mark. I'm impressed with the suit's durability - and of course, it continues to be the most flexible drysuit I've ever worn.

On this dive I was wearing only an UnderArmour thin base layer top and bottom... Essentially, just a spandex shirt and bottom. I was chilly with 67* water temperature, but it felt good as I was working pretty hard. The next day's job was much less strenuous and I wore BARE's signature SB base layer (gray) which I had machine-washed (tumble dry low) the day before. Absolutely outstanding. It felt like I was diving in bed. Water temperature was 66* with an air temp of 53*. For my feet I have been wearing UnderArmour ankle socks and been super comfortable (BARE sells mid-layer booties, but not base layer).

A couple of things to note:

1. I have begun favoring the BARE SB drysuit pocket for my tools. It's just so clean and simple and easily used. Since much of my diving is done in a wetsuit without pockets, I'd developed the habit of leaving most of my tools on the dock and reaching up to get them as I need them. This drysuit's flexibility has given me the ability to dive dry much more often, which means that I have a pocket much more often... Which has changed my tool habit. They live in the pocket now during dives. This saves me a lot of time and frustration.

2. The pocket's zipper is outstandingly simple, and zips top to bottom, which is great. During manufacturing, the zipper is installed via a "sticky" layer, then stitched in place. At one point during my dive, this "sticker" came off in the pocket, which caused me a lot of alarm that the suit might be disintegrating. Later inspection showed that the sticker was unnecessary anyway and really used only during manufacturing, but it did cause me concern for a while.

3. I have always worn my drysuit's wrist seals quite high up my forearms, as I tend to have pronounced wrist tendons and am prone to small leaks at the wrists. Cone seals - what I'm used to - are easily trimmed and thus I could trim them appropriately and find a nice seal. BARE does not offer cone seals, although the SiTech ring system that I chose allows me to easily change them out for whatever I want. I am using the bottle seals that came on the suit, which is the first suit I've dived with them. These bottle seals have a much larger sealing area than a cone seal does, and they come in sizes rather than trim-to-size like a cone seal does. As such, I have found that I am unable to wear these bottle seals high, and pushing them up results in a small leak at my wrist tendons. Therefore, I wear these quite low, which is a first for me. Having a larger surface area makes them seal great there, too, LOWER than my wrist tendons. This is a far departure from what I am used to, and I like them a lot... They just have to be worn lower than what I am used to for a proper seal.

4. I have found - as with all drysuits - to occasionally get a small but annoying leak at the suit's exhaust valve on the left shoulder. It results in a damp/slightly wet left arm. This is probably because I am so active working underwater and tend to leave this valve open all the way during the dive to minimize the suit's internal bubble. For reference, this is a SiTech standard exhaust valve, the same as you'd find on any SANTI suit. I may change it for another valve, but for now am happy dumping the air from the suit and then giving the valve a couple of turns to close it during the dive. I may be able to find a happy medium at some point in the next few dives.

5. I find myself diving with more "squeeze" than I do in other drysuits because the suit does not restrict movement when squeezed - unlike other trilaminates. This results in a cleaner, more streamlined profile, less lead needed, and virtually no need to manage a bubble inside the suit. It's nearly as as simple as diving wet in this regard, except that I'm dry and comfortable.

6. The drysuit's unique stretch fabric creates a torso design that eliminates the need for a telescoping torso. It's outstanding. I thought it'd be difficult to don because of this feature, but not at all - in fact, the trilam fabric is so stretchy that it's probably easier. It dives as clean and streamlined as a back-zip, but with the ability to self-don and self-doff. Once zipped, the TiZip is so flexible that you'd swear you were diving a back-zip drysuit... Except that it's so easy to get in and out of. By yourself. Without yoga. Fantastic.

7. The BARE SB base layer is outstanding. It's thin and stretchy and exceedingly comfortable to wear, yet seems to resist compression to such a degree that I feel no cold spots anywhere. Even a good suit squeeze means no cold spots. On the occasion that I've gotten a wrist leak or a shoulder dump leak, the material has done a beautiful job of retaining warmth, and I pretty much have no idea that there's been a leak until I take the drysuit off. Even then, I've had to "taste" the base layer for salt to know for sure (I'm diving saltwater). It dries amazingly fast, and retains a surprisingly large amount of insulation while it does.

8. I have washed the BARE SB base layer twice now, in accordance with the directions on the tag (machine wash warm, tumble dry low - I go light on detergent and use an extra rinse cycle). Both times I found a surprising amount of lint or "pill" in the washing machine from the interior of the fabric... Maybe enough to cover a quarter. I hope that washing the undergarment isn't slowly disintegrating it, but even if it is, at that price the undergarment is easily replaced every couple hundred dives. I think the top and bottom were like $60 each. I haven't noticed a reduction in warmth - it's possible that the lint is just extra from the manufacturing process. I may try some of the Fourth Element stuff next, as I've heard a lot of good things. Like the entire BARE SB system, it'd have to be stretch and machine washable, so we'll see. I can tell you that I'm going to buy about four more of these BARE base layers. I think they're great. Surprisingly warm, zero bulk, 100% stretchy, and machine washable. Fantastic. The two-piece design lets me take that top off and leave the bottoms on for the drive home on those warmer days when I don't have a private place to be able to change out of my bottoms (I prefer to go commando or wear underwear only under the SB base layer).

9. The "wicking" ability of the SB base layer works brilliantly. I feel dry and warm even when I've sweat or have had a little water entry at a seal or valve. Once I shot a cold stream of water down my neck seal with a hose during an after-dive rinse (I meant to rinse between the warm neck collar and the seal, but instead grabbed the seal) and was shocked at how well the water was wicked off of my skin. Doffing the suit, the water was quickly brought to the surface of the base layer where it evaporated without causing undue skin cooling underneath. It's really quite nice.

10. The stretch of the trilaminate drysuit is outstanding and very noticeable. The "breathability" is not noticeable at all. I find the suit wonderfully nonrestrictive, but couldn't tell you a thing about how well it breathes. I'd doubt the claim of it being breathable, in fact, except that I simply feel more comfortable topside than I ever have before in a drysuit. The difference is noticeable especially pre-dive, as sun and 75* air normally would heat me up to the point of sweating and becoming overheated prior to the dive... Especially when working. I'm not going to claim that I still won't sweat at all, but it's much more manageable, and I don't find the task of carrying my gear down to the dock while fully geared up on a sunny day to be such a miserable affair. Something in my brain says that if I'm not overheated by the time I splash, then I'm going to be seriously cold during the dive... But it never happens. The suit is simply comfortable in a wider range of temperatures than any other suit I've dived. It's wonderful.

11. The TiZip is amazing. It's lightweight and flexible, a real joy to use. I have filled the zipper cavity with oyster and barnacle fragments and always been sure to rinse it all out prior to opening the zipper. Occasionally I've missed some particles or left a pile of junk at the ends of the zipper. I've simply been careful while zipping and stopped the moment I've sensed unusual resistance. I've also lubed the end of the zipper every other dive or so, which is probably unnecessarily frequent... But I've been leery of the plastic's ability to hold up under the stresses of my job. To date, I have not had one problem with a TiZip on any drysuit I've dived, but I still seem skeptical - I don't know why. The thing is beautifully dry and solid... Flexible and rugged. I like it a lot and would never consider going back to a brass zipper, which was always in need of lube, hard to use, easy to accidentally force, and quickly fraying the fabric around it. Best of all, when closed, a TiZip virtually disappears, whereas with a brass zip a hard "spine" is created. The difference in comfort and flexibility is phenomenal.

There ya have it... A 50-dive review. I'm concerned about the SB base layer pilling, although it doesn't seem to be a real big deal - especially at that price. I also wouldn't mind seeing them make that base layer top with a slightly larger neck hole, as I wear my neck seal of my drysuit very low and sometimes feel the need to tug downward slightly on my base layer while donning to ensure that it doesn't interfere with the neck seal (in all fairness, I have an 18" neck). But in retrospect, I wouldn't change much. The system is solid.

I'll do another review at maybe 100 dives or so.
 
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75 dives or so into ownership of this BARE SB suit, and I've encountered the first problem.

BARE.jpg


The little rubbery "BARE SB" logo patch on the back between the shoulder blades (a unique location on a drysuit) has begun to delaminate. Interestingly, the one on the left shoulder, below the exhaust valve, shows no signs of delamination.

I suspect between the shoulder blades is a high stretch area for me, since I tend to be a little barrel-chested. The patch's adhesive is probably stretched beyond it's ability to hold in this area.

Frankly, I'm not too worried about it... It doesn't change the function of the suit or the suit's integrity. And frankly, all of my suits have had adhesive patches come off to some degree or another... Some of them in as little as 10 or 20 dives.

I suppose that at some point the patch will come off completely. If it leaves adhesive residue, I'll have them install a new one next summer when the suit goes in for regular maintenance. If it doesn't, then I'll leave it off - one less thing to worry about. :)

Recent pictures from a job I did at a shrimp dock, changing a "wheel" (propeller):

SeaJayBARE1.jpg


SeaJayBARE2.jpg


Sorry for the foggy lens... The air was warm and the water was cold and it apparently fogged the lens some.
 
Thanks for writing this great review. I too have a Bare SB Drysuit. I got one of the first generations which totally delaminated on me. Mine had to go back, Bare sent me a loner for a year until they remade me a new one which I got back in 2014. I have a total of 135 dives in Bare SB drysuits, 64 of which are on the remade one.

You mentioned the suit dries as fast as any trilam. How fast is that for you? It still takes me at least 1 full day for the suit to dry, though the neoprene socks take longer.

Secondly what is this butt pad you spoke of?

As an owner of the original and a remade SB, i have to say the remade version is not very stretchy. It is difficult for me to get my head through the neck seal now as I have to depend on starchiness to do that. I do miss that about my suit.

I have taken this suit on a few wrecks and haven't had any problems with it in terms of abrasions. However this suit just doesn't keep me very dry. Lately it seems to be leaking around my foot and my crotch. Have you really not had any leaks?

I actually do wish pockets could be glued on. Originally a p-valve could not be put on this suit and when I called the support line that is what they told me. I wonder if the model I got isn't the same as the one you have. The suit does look exactly like your picture though.
 
Thanks for the compliment, my friend! :)

You mentioned the suit dries as fast as any trilam. How fast is that for you? It still takes me at least 1 full day for the suit to dry, though the neoprene socks take longer.

I'm a commercial diver, so I wear my SB pretty much every day. When I come home from work around 5, I hang it up in my shop... Which, by the way, is possible with the BARE SB because it has no telescoping torso. I hang it on my Z-Rack.

r1202bkch.jpg


Drysuits with telescoping torsos are too long for the Z-Rack and must be hung on the wall by either a pulley system or a ladder, which is just silliness. Unfortunately, all other self-donning trilam drysuits require this oddity (except Whites, and they're odd on their own), and is the reason why so many commercial guys prefer back-zip drysuits. So there ya go... Another BARE SB advantage: It dons like a self-donner (eg. without help from others) but dries like a back-zip.

...Anyway, when I come in in the morning around 9, it's usually pretty dry... And I'm in Savannah, where there's high humidity and dry times are slow. The shop is unheated, too.

Forced to compare, I'd say it dries about as fast as a SANTI E.lite or E.motion - DUI CLX450 or FLX Extreme. A SANTI E.space or DUI TLS350 might beat it out, but not by much... And only because their materials are so thin, which causes other issues when wrecking or commercial diving like you and I do.

For what it's worth... Donning a dry drysuit is nice, but not a requirement, so it's not like it should be a real game-changer anyway. Perhaps our idea of "dry" is different from yours. Keep in mind that when we dive wet, our wetsuits stay wet for months and often never dry at all (we don't even hang them up - they live in a Rubbermaid box in the back of the truck), so we don't think much of it.

On the other hand... If you're talking about the INTERIOR of the suit, I can see how that'd be a bigger deal. And since you appear to be having problems keeping water out of yours, I assume that's why you're concerned.

If we get water in a drysuit, we'll turn it inside-out prior to hanging. You can only do so much... For example, you can't turn the boots inside-out... But we do as much as we can and it's usually dry by morning. Obviously we take great care not to stress the zipper and valves and surrounding fabric when inverting a suit.

Secondly what is this butt pad you spoke of?

It's an option when you order a BARE SB suit. It's the same material that the kneepads are made of, which has proven to be very durable.

BARE1.jpg


BARE2.jpg


As an owner of the original and a remade SB, i have to say the remade version is not very stretchy. It is difficult for me to get my head through the neck seal now as I have to depend on starchiness to do that. I do miss that about my suit.

I've never seen or dived the original SB, but I have heard that there is a difference in the amount of stretchiness between them.

Without a telescoping torso, the suit does - and always has - relied on it's stretchiness to get the diver's head through the neck seal. Perhaps what you mean is that it's not as easy in the new SB as it was in the older one. I haven't experienced any difficulty at all, but I do notice that there's less room in a thick undergarment than there is in a thin one. I have to pull a little more to get the room I need when the water's colder and I'm in a thicker undergarment. I don't find it an issue, though, as it seems to stretch plenty either way. To me, any issues I had with it would be a small price to pay to have the simplicity and streamlinedness of a self-donning suit without a telescoping torso... Especially since the excellent TiZip Masterseal zipper makes getting my noggin in so easy. It'd be more complicated if I was still diving a suit with a brass zipper.

I have taken this suit on a few wrecks and haven't had any problems with it in terms of abrasions. However this suit just doesn't keep me very dry. Lately it seems to be leaking around my foot and my crotch. Have you really not had any leaks?

None whatsoever, and I'm probably 120 dives into this suit, and diving in a pretty brutal environment.

...Which isn't exactly fair to say, because I have experienced water entry at the wrists when I'm working really hard. I have rather pronounced wrist tendons, and if I move in a certain way I can get any wrist seal to leak. But this BARE came with bottle seals rather than trimmable cone seals, which tend to do better. With cones (which I have always dived in the past), I notice I get a better seal pushing my cuffs up some, past my tendons. With these bottle seals, I've found the best results pushing the seals DOWN as far as possible, which is odd... But effective.

I also thought I had a leak at the shoulder dump between dives 60-70. It turned out that the job I was working on I was jamming myself up into a crevice and inadvertently pressing the manual override on the shoulder dump, allowing a little bit of water in. Duh! Problem solved.

Neither of these "issues" had anything to do with the suit - it's design or it's materials. BARE uses the same SiTech valves and seals that come on most drysuits, which is to say that I'd have had the issue with any brand of drysuit.

If your suit has leaks at the crotch or around your foot, you should send it back and have them diagnose the hole.

I actually do wish pockets could be glued on.

Your concern is mirrored by others, but as a commercial guy that typically carries a lot of stuff, I can't see why you'd need it. The left leg interior pocket is fantastic, and quite clever. It's large and sealed well and very streamlined, which is a huge advantage when the current really starts kickin'. If you need more and/or a bellows pocket, try a Halcyon Weighted Bellows Pocket. We have them but never use them. Our small tools are all equipped with a bolt snap and thus clipped off to our rigs. Our large tools are brought down specifically in a basket for quick access - it's easier to pick the tool you need if you can see it, than it is by feel.

Originally a p-valve could not be put on this suit and when I called the support line that is what they told me.

A p-valve is now a factory option. By default it's installed in the typical place on the right leg, but you can specify otherwise. It's the Si-Tech p-valve, and is very simple, includes an integrated one-way valve, and can be shut off manually without a separate bolt... So nothing to lose. It's great. No bolt also means less entanglement hazard.

It's true that the material is too stretchy - even in this new version - to receive patches or pockets. In fact, my BARE SB logo between my shoulder blades has begun to peel off at the edges, presumably because that's the area most stressed. I have avoided putting our company patch on the left shoulder as we usually do with our suits because of it. Pockets probably wouldn't stand a chance unless they made them out of the same material and attached them as any other SB suit panel - through-stitched and then sealed from behind. Alternatively, they could offer another internal pocket like they do on the left leg, but that would limit p-valve installation options unless they made the pocket smaller - 'cause their internal pocket is pretty big.

Personally I'd recommend that the pocket issue is inconsequential. There's simply too many other options for mounting gear and/or mounting pockets to sacrifice the awesome stretch material of this suit.

A dive last week on a client's boat Fair Ellen. Water 45 degrees:

BARE3.jpg
 
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120 dives or so on this suit, and I've found something that I don't like: The mid-layer undergarment.

The past 50 or so dives have been with this undergarment. I wanted to really give it a chance before commenting on it, but I'm not a fan.

Oh, it’s warm alright… And I’ve never seen an undergarment quite like it. It feels like it’s made of fuzzy, thick foam. It fits closely, and is REALLY stretchy. BARE claims that it’s “compression-resistant,” and I can see how they could make that claim.

Wearing it under a BARE SB is an interesting experience. It feels almost inflated, yet oddly nonrestrictive, and the “bubble” never moves in the suit. You can dump all the air out of your suit, but it’ll still retain a lot of loft. This makes it both very warm and yet nonrestrictive.

In fact, last year I had asked for this exact design... And wondered openly why someone wasn't making this kind of undergarment.

The problem is… It’s buoyant. REALLY buoyant! You can see from the above picture that I’m wearing a lot of weight – and am still too light. To give a good estimate, I’d say that the mid-layer undergarment by itself – even fully compressed – accounts for probably 16 or 18 pounds of buoyancy in salt water… Which is to say that it makes our rigs very heavy topside and our suits very bulky – although admittedly very warm and flexible.

BARE has designed the suit to function ON TOP of the BARE base layer - which is excellent – but I’ve found that solution to be entirely too thick, and ditched the base layer in favor of UnderArmour “skins.” I wear that under the mid-layer and am quite warm in 43 degree water for two or three hours… And am still too thick in my opinion. I can’t imagine wearing both the base and mid-layers together unless I was ice diving and seriously needed the additional bulk.

In short, it’s very warm… And it does a great job wicking moisture away, as advertised. No swampiness here! But I’d forgo some of the warmth for something less bulky and buoyant.

If BARE is listening, my recommendation would be to offer a mid-layer with about half this thickness, especially if it's to be used over a BARE base layer. However, since that doesn't exist, I’ll be traveling to Florida this weekend to see some Fourth Element undergarments. I’ve heard great things about their Arctics and look forward to seeing how stretchy they are and if they’ll work with this BARE SB.

I’m hoping that the Fourth Element Arctic provides less bulk and buoyancy with the same freedom of movement that the thinner BARE SB base layer does. If it doesn't, I may just double-up on the excellent BARE SB base layer.

I’m also going to bite the bullet and buy a few Faber FX80 cylinders, which will help ditch some of the weight and bulk of our rigs, especially topside. I will miss the cheap AL80’s ability to scoff scratches, but the tradeoff will be worth it if we can increase our dexterity underwater.
 
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Maybe I'll walk up to Leisurepro and look at one.
 
Walking distance from Leisurepro, hunh? *jealous* :)

Yeah, expect nothing unusual... Same SiTech valves, seals, etc... Very cool TiZip (I'll never own another drysuit without one). But the fabric... It's amazing. Only slightly obvious in the shop, a world of difference in the water. The lack of a telescoping torso is unique - and hints at how stretchy the suit is. Really nice!

The base layer is great... I think it's going to be comparable to Fourth Element's Xerotherm stuff. I have seen some interior pilling and a lot of fluff in the washing machine... But they're cheap and work great. The mid layer is really unique, just not for me. Maybe in even colder waters - if I were diving recreationally. It IS very comfy. Practically snuggly! :)
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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