One thing to consider with the Fusion suit is evaporative cooling of the outer skin. The suit acts like a swamp cooler which is great on hot days but on a cool to cold day I find that I will get chilled between dives if I don't doff the upper half of the suit. I have never had this problem with my standard shell suit.
Edit to add this link, I'm not sure why it's not a sticky but it has some great info from people that actually have and dive various suits.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ex...st-worst-your-dry-suit.html?highlight=nex-gen
I haven't experienced that, but it does make sense. The Sport skin is much thinner and holds less water. so it will dry much quicker. So it will chill a bit faster, but for a much shorter period of time. The Bullet seems to hold water forever.
Just for accuracy, it was Aqua Lung that acquired Whites, although I'm not sure what the business arrangement is with Apeks since they do make the Kevlar version of the Fusion and supply the valves for Fusions.
http://www.aqualung.com/militaryandprofessional/press/whites_manufacturing_join_aqua_lung.pdf
Whites (at the time) switched from SiTech valves to Apeks valves soon after the acquisition by Aqualung, probably as soon as existing inventory and outstanding orders were depleted. Makes sense, they as they already owned Apeks, and I am guessing import costs were comparable since they were both coming from the EU.
Are the fusion air cores identical in all the models? Just asking cause during my reading one could buy the tech or rec model for $2000 and just add the bullet skin for $600 more. Instead of buying the bullet with air core for $2700?
I don't know the Canadian prices, but per US pricing yes you can buy a Sport suit, plus a Bullet replacement skin, and pay less than just buying a Bullet. I don't know why that is still the case for 2019, as I know it was pointed out to them last year.
The only thing to note is that in the past the Bullet model had its outer-skin attach around the main zipper via zippers and the lower tier models were attached via velcro. I don't know if it was the 2017 or 2018 model year but sometime in the last 2 years, Aqualung did away with the velcro attachment system around the main zipper and started using zippers to attach the skins around the main zipper.
There is still old stock out there that is velcro only...so if one is looking at purchasing a replacement skin this is something that needs to be asked about prior to purchase. DRIS currently stocks both the old (velcro) and new (zipper) type skins, just need to specify what is needed when ordering.
-Z
That was during the transition. When Aircore first came out, it was first changed only on the Bullet, and took another year or two before they also transitioned the Sport , the Tech, the Fit, and the Apeks Kevlar. For the five front zip models, the difference between velcro and zipper attachment is determined by whether it is an Aircore shell, or an earlier Drycore shell, regardless of which model. The Fusion ONE and Essence back zip models still use the Drycore shell, skins are not interchangeable with front zip.
Yes, replacing a skin on a Drycore front zip might soon become challenging. They are definitely not maintaining inventory and current production across all sizes and variations, but I think they do still have a complete size run available although not in all versions. I think they are taking a "wait and see" approach right now regarding whether or not to produce any more velcro replacement skins in the future.
