"5mil but feels like a 7mil" - Bare Reactive, Henderson Aqualock

[EKKsoldier622]

Looking to get a nice 5mm suit. I have asked many people and the same 2 suits keep coming up; the Bare Reactive (2021ver. has recently been mentioned to me), as well as the Henderson Aqualock. Both have been mentioned as being a "5mm but feels like 7mm" kinda wetsuit. Any preference for, or against either?

 

[RobPNW]

If you can find a Henderson 5mm Thermaxx, it has a micro fleece liner that seems to work well.

 

[inquis]

Can't compare, but I like the Bare Reactive. I've used a 3 mm and 7mm. Lots of freedom of movement in the 7mm. I forget I'm even wearing the 3mm. Bare has a lot of sizes, so the odds of a good fit are probably high. The 3mm easily covers conditions in which I would have previously used a 5mm.

 

[Hoyden]

I cannot comment on the Bare, but I am a dive safety officer at a public aquarium that uses Henderson wetsuits. I have ordered and used Henderson wetsuits for the last 18 years. The AquaLock is probably the best wetsuit that Henderson has made in that time frame. There are basic reasons that wetsuits fail (from use): the neck, the seams, the zipper, and the knees. Henderson has pretty well fixed all of theses issues on the AquaLock. The reason that they "feel" warmer is that they have liquid tape sealed seams. The 5mm and 7mm also have ankle and wrist seals. I do think that the Greenprene looks better and is more comfortable, but they are not nearly as warm or durable as the AquaLock.

YMMV,

Jackie

 

[CanadaDan]

I have two Reactives (previous versions) and like them both. Dive the 3mm on liveaboards, cenotes etc in total comfort.

fwiw... ordered my stepson a 5mm a month ago and it's already here. Still waiting on the Bare boots, hood and gloves we order LAST YEAR so definite supply chain issues.

 

[Jaan]

We have 5mm aqualock suits from our Canada cold water diving days. It is a great suit. As mentioned the sealed wrist/ankle areas work well and it's warm and comfortable (nice inside fleece). I would say as warm as the other 7mm's we used prior to purchasing this one. It's lasted really well. So just another happy testimonial for the Henderson.

 

[broncobowsher]

5mm aqualock user here. Did a bunch of California diving with it as well. Typically dove with others in 7mm. Great suit. But it isn't the suit that makes it as good as a 7mm, it is the system. The gloves, boots, hood(ed vest) are all a system that is engineered to go together. It resembles a semidry suit in the way it manages water flow. All the parts seal together and it really limits the water flow through the suit. That is where the extra warmth comes from. Also the stretch material that maintains a fit to your body.

I will mention one extremely cold dive I had with it and a failing I had. Weekend trip, multi dives in 60ish water temps, maybe high 50s. I was doing fine. Got a hand in zipping up the suit (mistake). The skirt on the hood needs to be laid flat for the silicone sealing to actually seal. The free help put an S-fold in the skirt on the back of the hood. Fastest, easiest way to take up the material so the zipper could be closed. That little S-fold left a finger sized hole for water to flow down my back. That was a cold dive. I had to sit out the next one. My cure was to get a hooded vest. That forces the fabric to be flat and you can't get the leaky S-fold.

I see that a few years ago they changed the liner from orange nylon (mine) to some trick hex pattern that dries really quick. Have not had a need to replace my 2013 suit with the latest, so I can't feed that one back. If I had to replace my 5mm today, I would go back to the Aqualock. The system has worked better than I could have expected.

In fairness, I don't use it much anymore. Drysuit is my go to suit these days. The deeper and longer technical dives drove that. But that 5mm Aqualock fills the gap between warm water no suit/shorty and the drysuit. It fairly warm waters just peel off the hood and gloves and it can be as cool as a straight 5mm suit.

I mentioned the stretch material. That doesn't mean get a small and stretch it on. You still need to size it correctly. As you stretch material it gets thinner. A 5mm stretched out is more like a 3mm, and that will never be close to a 7mm.

 

[Marie13]

I have a Bare Evoke (women’s version of the Reactive) and they are very warm.

 

[Hogfish1]

Check out, SEAC Komoda wetsuits. I have the 7mm, great wetsuit.

 

[stuartv]

I have Bare Reactive in 3 and 5mm (old version - actually, just sold the 5mm a couple of weeks ago). I replaced the 5mm with a Waterproof W7 5mm.

After seeing my W7, one of our shop customers ordered the same. He was previously diving a Henderson Thermaxx 5mm.

After a weekend of diving in his new W7, he sought me out to tell me how much nicer he feels like the W7 is than his Thermaxx suit. His words were something like "a whole other level of quality, compared to the Henderson."

I have not dived a Thermaxx, but my old shop and my current shop sold/sell them. They have never FELT to me like they were the same level of quality as the Bare Reactives I've been diving.

I really don't have any experience whatsoever with the Aqualock. Looking at the way it "mates" to boots/gloves/etc, that looks just like the way the Reactive and W7 are setup. Except, the Reactive has ankle zips and the W7 has ankle and wrist zips. Personally, I think the zips help make the suit easier to get on.

The smoothskin surfaces at the wrists and ankles mate up to smoothskin on the inside of boots and gloves. The Waterproof G1 gloves have that same smoothskin on the whole inside of the gauntlet portions. The zippers at the wrists on the W7 suit makes it very easy to put the suit on, put the gloves on and get the sealing surfaces mated together, and then get the over-sleeve part in place. The Henderson having no zips at the wrist or ankle seems like it would make it a huge pain in the butt to get gloves mated to wrist seals and then the over-sleeve part in place over the gloves. The Bare Ultrawarmth gloves only have a narrow strip of smoothskin on the inside, that is right where the wrist area transitions to the hand. The Bare gloves are much more of a pain to put on than the Waterproof gloves. No idea on how easy or well Henderson gloves would go on and seal up to the wrist seals.

The new Reactive is claimed to be "30% warmer" than the old version. The old version is definitely a warm suit. I'm sure it as warm as a cheap 7mm. Of course, it is not as warm as a 7mm Reactive, so that claim about being the same as an unspecified 7mm is pure weaksauce.

I sold my Reactive 5mm because I got the W7 5mm. I think the W7 is as warm. At least, as warm as the old version of the Reactive. The W7 definitely has better seals at the wrists and ankles. And the W7 has very handy pockets. The Aqualock looks good, but no zippers on wrists or ankles would put me off it.