Bare Celliant Reactive Versus Lavacore

[guyharrisonphoto]

The Bare reactive "celliant" is meaningless marketing hype. IR does not transmit from your body in a large enough quantity to go through a layer of water, penetrate some material, and "reflect back" from the material, through the same layer of water, and into your core to "re-warm" you. Just nonsense.

However, Bare makes good quality wetsuits, and this suit might actually be warm because of good fit and lack of water transfer, in other words, the basics. No need to pay a premium for phony material hype, though..

If you want a real "high tech" warm lining, get the Probe iDry suits from Australia. I have their frogskins and they are just phenomenal and an order of magnitude better than lavacore or sharkskin. The 5 minute drying time for the inner lining is no joke and the fleece texture really traps water and is much warmer than lavacore or sharkskin.. I posted a review in this sub-forum.

However, in wetsuits, fit is king. All else is secondary.

If you really want the ultimate, check out the Thermalution undershirts. Every dive friend I have that owns one swears by them, and all of them have dropped at least one level in suit thickness. Can't vouch personally yet, but I have them on order for my wife and I. Should have a report up after next weekend when we will have them out on dives.

 

[kelemvor]

If you really want the ultimate, check out the Thermalution undershirts. Every dive friend I have that owns one swears by them, and all of them have dropped at least one level in suit thickness. Can't vouch personally yet, but I have them on order for my wife and I. Should have a report up after next weekend when we will have them out on dives.

Really? That's it? I had been considering them to replace my fiance's wetsuit completely as she's still cold in the springs.

If you're going to spend that much, you should also consider the UTD wetsuit heater. I'm pretty sure it's been around longer than the thermulation ' although the difference (I thought) was that with the UTD system you wear it under a wetsuit, and I thought thermulation replaced the wetsuit.

Maybe there's less difference between the two than I thought.

One of the regular chatters uses the UTD system with a 3mm suit in California's frigid waters. She reports it keeps her quite warm.

In fact when you buy one please post a review if you wouldn't mind @guyharrisonphoto , One of the big differences is that the UTD system claims 5+ hours battery life (one temp only), where thermulation has two temps, but only runs 1.5 hours on high. Not quite enough for a 2 tank trip, or a long shark tooth or photo dive. Other than that, the thermulation looks better, as it's a vest instead of just a cummerbund. It's obvious why there is such a batery life difference if you compare the size of the battery packs.

 

[guyharrisonphoto]

I didn't like the UTD version because of that external canister battery pack. Probably longer life, for sure, but just seemed too bulky. The thermalution shirts are nice, compact, self-contained under the wetsuit, preserving all the streamlining. Just liked the concept better, but they do NOT replace a wetsuit. They have no insulating value of their own, and do not trap any water at all. The surrounding water will just wash away all the heat. They need the calm trapped water inside of a wetsuit. They heat up that layer and the wetsuit serves as the insulating vehicle to hold the heat in by not allowing the warm water to flush out.

The people I know rarely use them on high here in Fla, and they often do not even have them turned on for the entire dive. Apparently they are very efficient. But, I will find out for myself soon enough and will definitely post a review.

 

[kelemvor]

I didn't like the UTD version because of that external canister battery pack. Probably longer life, for sure, but just seemed too bulky. The thermalution shirts are nice, compact, self-contained under the wetsuit, preserving all the streamlining.

More interesting information. The photo I saw on their site looked like it included a battery pack - but a smaller one than the UTD.

I'm glad I didn't buy either of them yet!

For myself, I went drysuit. But my fiance doesn't seem keen on the complexities associated with a drysuit. I already got her a wetwear custom wetsuit in the hopes that a perfectly fitting 3mm would do the trick. Alas, no - it doesn't. Kind of a waste of money since we're going to have to augment it anyway.

 

[guyharrisonphoto]

Keep track for my review. I know a Blue Heron Bridge diver, Sandra Volker, who routinely does 4 hour + dives for macro photos, where she lays still for hours and thus generates almost no energy--so her warmth depends solely on her exposure protection.. She got the more expensive top line thermalution with the wireless remote and more powerful batteries (does not get any warmer, just lasts longer). She used to dive dry, which she hated. Now, she dives a 7 mil semi-dry with the thermalution and raves about how warm she is.

The thermalution has two small rectangular batteries that go in pockets on the side of the shirt. Everyone tells me it is no problem putting the wetsuit over it. I will run the wire for the controller out the neck of my wetsuit and attach it to my harness at the shoulder using one of the rubber holders. The heating elements are on the "back" but some people I know wear the shirt backwards so the heat is on the front, which is better for those of us who spend a lot of time in horizontal trim.

Personally I hated the drysuit I used to own and got rid of it. Just too cumbersone in the strong currents here in West Palm and too complicated. Now I have a 3 and 5 mil wetsuit, and a 7 mil semi-dry which I never wear but have for when I go to California or the Galapagos. I am hoping the thermalution will let me go down to the 3 mil in winter, and my frogskins (1.5 mil) in the summer.

 

[Kharon]

... and the similar Henderson product, have been around a very long time. ...

Be aware that the whole Henderson is not polyolefin. The entire shoulder section (front and back) is plain spandex/lycra. No insulating properties whatsoever. At least the Hyperflex is entirely polyolefin.