Choosing a dry suit?

[GramsciBeat]

I primarily dive in warm water environments, so I have never needed anything more than a 5mm wetsuit & usually use considerably less. I am, however, going to on doing more diving in water in the 10C (50F) range, some which will be off a technical nature so will involve long periods of exposure to these ridiculous temperatures (though most of the tech stuff will be done in water warmer than that).

My dive buddies all have just as much experience with dry suits as me (zero) and generally the only recommendations that I get are for the ScubaPro Everdry. While I have no objection to getting that suit, I think the recommendation is based more on Scubapro's market dominance here than anything inherent to the product.

I'd be interested in reading forum members views on the following:

• What drives the choice between getting trilam or neoprene?
• Latex v neoprene seals, what's the big deal?
• Would the choice be different if the suit was primarily for Tech, as opposed to just recreational diving?
• While I have no intention in spending any meaningful amount of time in sub-10 C water, I would like to try ice diving at least once; would diving in 0-10 water play any role in the selection of a suit & if it is to be an extremely infrequent activity should this play any role in my choice?
• If I was to get anything but the most mainsteam of brands customer support would be very limited - is this an issue with dry suits?
• Advice I've received regarding buying tech equipment is to wait until I've done my course. It makes sense, but does it also apply to dry suits - especially seeing I would like to be comfortable in a dry suit by the time I start and some of those 10C dives will be happening before the course starts?
• & what you choose to use and why?

Thanks

 

[Searcaigh]

Do you need to buy?

Why not rent if you are not going to be using the suit frequently. I only use a dry suit when I dive the in UK, and that is rather infrequently, so Ijust rent one.

Sometimes I bring my 6.5mm semi-dry (with hood) which is good for a 30 min dive before I begin to feel cold in 14C

 

[GramsciBeat]

Renting maybe an option over the next couple of months, but the cold water (for me) and longer dive times in the near future will become the norm as opposed to the exception. So, I reckon I should buy.

The infrequent diving I referenced, was my intention of at some undefined point in the future to try an ice dive. I just wanted clarity if the specifications for that type of suit would be different and whether or not I should worry about that difference.

 

[Searcaigh]

To be honest if you are going to buy one then unless you get a really good fit off the peg then I would have a neoprene one made to measure assuming that you are not going to change shape in the next 5 years

I would also recommend that you do a drysuit course first before buying and perhaps during the course try whatever is available in SA or what is on offer from your LDS rental but I am thinking they probably only rent trilaminate suits as the sizing is not as precise as a crushed neoprene suit and probably cheaper.

The key thing about drysuits though is the zipper, inspect thoroughly and maintain it well for trouble free dives.

 

[elan]

Here renting will suck the money quickly 100 cad a day is not a rare price.

Trilam supports a separation of concerns: the suit keeps you dry the undergarment keeps you warm. Trilams do not loose buoyancy with depth as does neoprene made ones.

You should have the exhaust valve placed properly so you can seamlessly dump air on descend.
On a tech suit you would want pockets as well.

Latex neck seals give you more flexibility in the neck when you need to constantly look around. Neoprene seals are watmer. No zip seals are recommended for deco dives as its another thing that can fail underwater. Regular seals will likely fail on the surface when you stress them dressing up.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Seeing that you are in South Africa may indeed limit your choices to a degree. But it does not eliminate those choices. Just may take a little longer to get and you need to be very sure of sizes. Other on line dealers and myself have been very successful with getting drysuits to people via on line sales.

That said if you are willing to go that route and have a seller willing to ship via the postal service as opposed to ups or fedex your options on brands and types opens way up. The tech diving you will be doing will have some bearing on the type of suit. If you are talking wrecks and caves then a neoprene suit is perhaps the most rugged but new shell suits are not far behind as advances in fabrics are made. I have only used shell suits and while not a caver have been in more than a couple wrecks with no problems.

If your tech dives will be mainly in open water a bi lam shell suit is light, packs small, dries fast, and is relatively inexpensive. my gf / new dm candidate recently decided to take the plunge and get a dry suit for thermal reasons more than anything. She will not be doing caves or wrecks so she went with an Edge shell suit. It arrived last week and she was trying it on last weekend. The suit weighs less and packs up smaller than her 7 mil. She does a liveaboard every year and spends the last 24 hours trying to get her suit dry enough to pack. That issue will go away. The shell suit will take maybe an hour to totally dry. Probably much less. And she will be warmer on dives, between dives, and overall.

The great thing about a dry suit is that your not limited to one narrow temp range. Vary the undies and you expand the range. I use the same suit on 80 degree days in 65 degree water that I do on 10 degree days and diving under the ice.

Also shell suits do not compress and change buoyancy. Latex seals are imo easier than neoprene ones to deal with and change. Unless you are allergic to latex I feel they are a better choice.


Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalke

 

[nimoh]

I love my DUI FLX Extreme.

I have never dived a neoprene drysuit, so I lack that ability to compare. I went with DUI based on recommendations from people I dive with, and loosely on the fact that most GUE divers use DUI. Also, I did a little poking around and found that DUI has a pretty good track record with respect to its zipper (the most expensive part of the dry suit) compared to other suits. The thing that put me over the top was when I was diving in the Seattle area and stopped in at a dive shop and noticed that they sold Diving Concepts dry suits. After getting into a conversation with the owner of the store he mentioned that he used to sell DUI, and admitted that it was a better dry suit, although they were a difficult company to deal with (he didn't go into details). Basically from this point on, I had it in my head that DUI made the best quality dry suits, and decided to bite the bullet on its price.

I have latex seals, and I am happy with them (never used neoprene). DUI is coming out with silicone seals, but I was talking with another diver that tried them and wasn't very impressed with them. He said they didn't stretch as much, and ended up ripping is neck seal after about 10 dives even though the silicone seal is supposed to be more durable. Personally, I would rather carry an extra neck seal and have the added comfort of more stretch when putting on the suit.

Things I really like about my drysuit:
- the zip seals, they are easy to swap out gloves for zip seals, and easy to tell visually if the seal isn't seated properly (never had a leak on a seal)
- easy to put on and take off by myself.
- very flexibile. Although the material doesn't stretch, I find that there is excess material in the right places for doing things like reaching for my first stage.

Things I am not so happy about
- very expensive, and I think think they are a bit overpriced. I still think it is the best drysuit, but you could buy two ScubaPro drysuits for what I paid.
- time, it took DUI over a month to make my drysuit and although I haven't needed repairs yet, I have buddies that were without their drysuit for over month waiting on repairs.

 

[elan]

DUI is a very good suit, I would not go that far saying they are the best quality suit (especially TLS) but they do seems to know how to make dry suits for tech

to the OP: As the drysuit will last you years do not try to save few hundreds by buying a crappier suit Pay attention to the fit. The fit is the most important characteristic of the dry suit.

If you buy a crappy suit you will either lose money or will be suffering on every dove

At the end good divers can dive even in garbage bags and reach their diving goals

 

[PfcAJ]

A trilam suit would be a good choice for you since you'll be diving in both warm and colder waters. Just swap out the undergarment and you're good to go.
I use latex seals, only ripped one because I was climbing through woods and caught it on a stick. I find them comfortable and easy to replace.
No.
For cold, dry gloves are a popular choice. DUI makes zip gloves (and zip seals), so moving from seals to dry gloves would be easy. There are some ring systems that do the same thing, I think.
You need some sort of support for your suit. Seals and zippers wear out, leaks develop, its just part of owning a suit. Manufacturer support, otoh, is probably not needed if you have a solid drysuit repairman in your area.
Personally, I would want to own as much of my own stuff as possible before the course. Fit of a drysuit is very important, and rentals will almost always be a compromise.
I own two DUI TLS350s because they're lightweight and fit well. When I get a new suit, it will be an FLX-Extreme. They're ​really​ good, and worth the extra money.

 

[nimoh]

DUI is a very good suit, I would not go that far saying they are the best quality suit (especially TLS) but they do seems to know how to make dry suits for tech

agreed. The term "best drysuit" is more of an opinion.