Thinking of buying my first dry suit. Thoughts?

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Can anyone who has actually been in the two suits give a comparison between SeaSkin and Otter? They are both UK based manufacturers and their suits are reasonably priced too. Any reason why one would go with the expensive (Otter) over cheaper (SeaSkin.)
 
Can anyone who has actually been in the two suits give a comparison between SeaSkin and Otter? They are both UK based manufacturers and their suits are reasonably priced too. Any reason why one would go with the expensive (Otter) over cheaper (SeaSkin.)

Sorry I have not been in both, I went with Otter because you’ll find a few people who said that their Seaskin suit kept leaking and they couldn’t get it not to leak. I spent quite a lot of time reading reviews/feedback on both.

Otter seems to have much better customer service for after sales, but you will have to pay 1k for their cheapest.

If I had more time I d just go on the Facebook group ‘UK Scuba Stuff for Sale’ and get a second hand dry suit but I am really keen to dive asap and I have a top heavy body (couldn’t get someone with a similar body shape)

EDIT: just saw that you were not from the UK. I would advise against buying a suit you cannot service locally, it seems to be common to have to do either adjustments or repairs so you want to buy local.
 
Drysuit is going to need maintenance. Some things you might be able to have done locally. Some things you might have to send the suit back to the factory. Being in the USA, you have a bigger market than I do. So you probably have more things which can be done locally. But you might want to consider something like a DUI. They are in the USA. You don't have to ship it as far as say Poland. For example, some day you'll have to replace the zipper.

I'd talk to people who are local to you. Some times what works for one person only works for them because of where they live.

Also, what do you need? I have a really long torso. I tried a number of off the rack drysuits and the closest thing I could find was REALLY form fitting from the waist up but had an extra 5 inches in the legs. I also have REALLY big calves and ankles. I couldn't use heavy undergarments because the legs where too tight. I edit up going with a DUI because (a) they are closer than other drysuit manufacturers and (b) I know a guy, who dives DUI, whose ankles are almost as big as mine.

For me, I bought a Hollis because it was on sale ($1000 CDN for a trilam) but it turned out it was too tight in the legs for undergarments. Next was a Bare trilam. Again, it was on sale ($1800 CDN) and I tried on a rental suit with undergarments. Legs were better but too long. Finally, DUI custom cut. Pay the extra money and get something which fits. Should have done this from the start. When I used to wear business suits, I ALWAYS had to have them tailored. Don't know why I thought I could get off the rack drysuit. If you can fit in an off the rack business suit, maybe you are lucky and can do off the rack drysuit.
 
I would advise against buying a suit you cannot service locally, it seems to be common to have to do either adjustments or repairs so you want to buy local.

Drysuit is going to need maintenance. Some things you might be able to have done locally. Some things you might have to send the suit back to the factory. Being in the USA, you have a bigger market than I do. So you probably have more things which can be done locally. But you might want to consider something like a DUI. They are in the USA. You don't have to ship it as far as say Poland. For example, some day you'll have to replace the zipper.

I'd talk to people who are local to you. Some times what works for one person only works for them because of where they live.

Yeah, but a custom-fitted Deep6 is twice the cost of ($1000/£500 more than) a Seaskin. Would the extra cost be worth having local service available?
 
Would the extra cost be worth having local service available?

I don’t know that Deep6 actually services the suits themselves anyway. But the real deal is that you do not need to worry about who services your drysuit in the same way you might a regulator or BCD. There are no really unique parts in a modern drysuit.

There are many reputable places to get a drysuit worked on and they will pretty much all work on any common drysuit.
 
Yeah, but a custom-fitted Deep6 is twice the cost of ($1000/£500 more than) a Seaskin. Would the extra cost be worth having local service available?

Note that I said it MIGHT be available locally. The more things you have to get fixed at the manufacturer, the more of a pain getting your drysuit maintained can be. For example, I was told I might have to wait 3 months for one manufacturer. They have a REALLY good drysuit for the money but the local dealer admits they've had some repairs take 3 months to 6 month. They'd send the suit in for repair. It would take 3 months. They'd get it back. The owner would have a complaint. Another 3 months and the suit would come back from the second attempt.

Now this is an extreme case but you want to check before you get a suit that cannot be serviced locally.

If I can get neck seals, wrist seals, boots/socks, etc. replaced locally and I really only have to send the drysuit back to get the zipper replaced then it might not matter where the manufacturer is. I'll, hopefully, only replace the zipper every 5 to 10 years.

The most important thing is to get an honest answer from whoever you are getting the suit from as to what can be fixed locally (once the suit is out of warranty) and how long is the turn around for things which cannot be done locally.
 
Sorry I have not been in both, I went with Otter because you’ll find a few people who said that their Seaskin suit kept leaking and they couldn’t get it not to leak. I spent quite a lot of time reading reviews/feedback on both.

Otter seems to have much better customer service for after sales, but you will have to pay 1k for their cheapest.

If I had more time I d just go on the Facebook group ‘UK Scuba Stuff for Sale’ and get a second hand dry suit but I am really keen to dive asap and I have a top heavy body (couldn’t get someone with a similar body shape)

EDIT: just saw that you were not from the UK. I would advise against buying a suit you cannot service locally, it seems to be common to have to do either adjustments or repairs so you want to buy local.
I've got a seaskin, and it has been very dry to date. Nicer than the viking and USIA I had before that cost much more.


Also, ignore the servicing b.s. inflator and dump valves are near universal. Either you have someone who can repair any suit locally, or you'll be shipping it off. Sort of a non-issue.
 
If I can get neck seals, wrist seals, boots/socks, etc. replaced locally and I really only have to send the drysuit back to get the zipper replaced then it might not matter where the manufacturer is. I'll, hopefully, only replace the zipper every 5 to 10 years.

No need to send drysuit back to manufacturer to get zipper replaced. Most competent repair shops can change zippers too.
After warranty period there should not be really any need to send back to manufacturer.
 
I've got a seaskin, and it has been very dry to date. Nicer than the viking and USIA I had before that cost much more.


Also, ignore the servicing b.s. inflator and dump valves are near universal. Either you have someone who can repair any suit locally, or you'll be shipping it off. Sort of a non-issue.
As I said in my previous posts most of people using a Seaskin are happy, however it seems that you see even higher rates of people being happy with their Otter than Seaskin and this influenced my decision. IMHO for UK buyers at a lower budget, Seaskin, Otter and O3 seem to be the best choices unless you can find a more mass produced brand fitting your body type.

No need to send drysuit back to manufacturer to get zipper replaced. Most competent repair shops can change zippers too.
After warranty period there should not be really any need to send back to manufacturer.
What I have seen is that some manufacturers can do small adjustments when someone gets a big bigger and smaller, not just fix a hole or seal. If you have to fix a small hole and/or change a seal, you don’t need to send it back to the manufacturer, unless you are in the warranty period if they have one.
 
As I said in my previous posts most of people using a Seaskin are happy, however it seems that you see even higher rates of people being happy with their Otter than Seaskin and this influenced my decision.
What survey did you use? What was the tally? Did you consider that people tend to post about something when there is an issue, and maybe more suits of one brand are sold?

Your comments seem very anecdotal in nature.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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