Bare Trilan HD Tech Dry - Thoughts?

[smb1014]

I am interested in buying a Bare Trilam HD Tech Dry Dry Suit. I recently saw it at the NJ Beneath The Sea Expo. If anyone uses it please give me your thoughts on this suit. I want to hear it all - the good, the bad, the ugly and anything in between.

 

[ABQdiver]

I dive a Bare ATR-HD, which I think is the pre-runner to the Tech suit you're looking at.

It has been very durable. I got it with the neoprene neck seal and latex wrist seals. The wrist seals are lot more durable than other suits I've seen and are still going strong after a year and a half with no leaks.

My only complaint is that the suit doesn't have suspenders. They would be nice when hanging out without having to take it completely off. The telescoping torso makes it hard to position suspender tabs. I got some and had to lenghten the straps in order to make it work.
The boots are pretty large, and with my size 11 1/2 require Turtles.

 

[trevinkorea]

I've got my suit on the way.

I can't comment on the suit yet but my experience with BARE has been very good so far. I purchased the suit through Divetank and the service has been excellent.

The one down side with the HD TECH is there don't seem to be many options. I got bellows pockets 2, cuff rings, suspenders, latex seals and trek boots but they were not willing to install a pee valve. I heard that there is some sort of warrenty issue. Perhaps someone can comment on this.

On the positive side the suit looks strong and sounds well built. Again I haven't had the possibility of seeing it yet. And, for 150 more I got it custom built. I think this is pretty cheap for a custom charge. It took 3 weeks for the custom suit to be made and BARE shipped it on time even with me changing my mind several times during the manufacturing process.

I should be getting the suit in the next couple of weeks and I'll try to post the results.

 

[trevinkorea]

Just got the suit in and it looks solid.

Tried it on and the fit was pretty good but i noticed that it dug into the arm pits and crotch. I'm not sure if this is normal for a new suit. Perhaps it just needs to be softened up a bit.

The suit also seemed a bit bulky when I put it on but with the backplate on it seemed to fit pretty well.

The trek boots also seemed a little too narrow for my liking. You may want to try them on and experiment a little before buying. This unfortunately wasn't an option for me due to where I live.

Overall the suit looks very good and the lower legs are very well protected with two layers of material one is composed of the gator system and kevlar knee pads.

The seals also look very strong.

I can't see as i'll be able to break this suit any time soon.

I've used oceaner wetsuits and a heavy duty whites neoprene suit so far but this suit definately looks tougher than my whites.

It was easy to get into, the flexibility was great and with a little practice I'll probably be able to get it off too.

I'm probably going to pool test it soon after I check the fit again and I'll try to post the results.