Current state of the Union on heated undies?

[ericfine50]

That looks really nice! But, $800?!? Ouch!

No one said it was inexpensive. Not sure much in diving is really cheap.

 

[BFRedrocks]

I was looking at the new santi Flex 2.0, which looks like a thinner (200G) UG with heat vs the 400 w. heat. I got to see one in person (did not try it on as it was an XS), material wise, looks well made and the wires for the heated glove liners are run through the arms already.

Don't know if anyone has used it for diving yet?

I recently dove the Santi BZ400 heated undersuit and heated gloves in 31-34 deg F water in the polar region and stayed toasty warm for all my dives. Although not really answering your question, I was very impressed by how well the suit and gloves worked (even with a short-lived flood in one of my drygloves), so I'm commenting more on the quality of the Santi heated system products. When I returned home, I immediately bought the Santi Flex 2.0 heated vest so that I could use it at my local lake for most of the year. I like that the 2.0 material isn't as bulky as the BZ400 (200 gm vs 400 gm). Yes, their products are pricey, but so far for me, it's been well worth it.

 

[rjack321]

I can't imagine needing 100+ watts of heat in a full suit. That's just crazy to me. The only time I would want that much heat is if I was flooded (it takes a ton of energy to heat up water). Having heating elements which can tolerate floods is mandatory for me.

 

[wasian]

I dive with the santi vest I love it it’s cheap from England dir direct bulk head and vest and battery like 550 dollars

 

[Valyngar]

If you are looking for controller for example santi. Check out scaleo heat from rb divers. They can sell you integrated unit with santi thermo valve factory made too. Let's you easily control power to heating with 25% steps.
Building my heating now with seaya battered, scaleo and bz400 with gloves, will report when I have all of them.

 

[ericfine50]

Decided on the Light Monkey heated base. Tested it yesterday on a dive and it was nice. Warm and fit well. Sized up ( went w. XXL) and excited to keep diving it

 

[ZeroG]

@BFRedrocks
I thinking of getting the flex 2.0, any chance you could share how much lead you used with BZ400 VS Flex 2.0?

 

[barth]

@BFRedrocks
I thinking of getting the flex 2.0, any chance you could share how much lead you used with BZ400 VS Flex 2.0?

At this moment there are a lot of issues with Santi heated products. I would not buy them now.

Two buddies had to turn of the heating during a dive because something went wrong. They all did use sant heated products. One of the buddies told me and the other buddy I saw it after the dive with him.

I did also heard stories of other people who got issues with Santi heated products.

 

[drk5036]

You are increasing the rate of inert gas uptake by being warm at the beginning...

what's the reasoning for being warmer = higher inert gas uptake? Just from a purely chemistry point of view, gases are much more soluble in cold water than in warm water. I would think you want to be warm to slow your initial uptake of gas. While of course it is more complex, see this chart for nitrogen solubility in water as a function of temperature:

Coming up, it's much more complex. If you go from cold > hot, you're tissues lose their ability to hold gas, and thus are going to start off-gassing faster. Assuming your tissues don't become supersaturated, that's probably a good thing, as you'll get the gases out sooner. If you lose your heated suits, it might take longer than expected to achieve complete off-gassing.

It seems most reasonable that you want to be warm, and keep yourself warm for the whole dive. That would keep your tissues in a state where they can absorb the least amount of gas, and off-gas at the quickest rate.

I'm not a tech diver (just a chemistry professor), so maybe someone can find a whole in my reasoning, but I think the topic is interesting.

 

[rduquesnoy]

At this moment there are a lot of issues with Santi heated products. I would not buy them now.

Two buddies had to turn of the heating during a dive because something went wrong. They all did use sant heated products. One of the buddies told me and the other buddy I saw it after the dive with him.

I did also heard stories of other people who got issues with Santi heated products.

What kind of problems?

I am asking because that is not my experience at all. Me and my boyfriend both use a heated vest and gloves. Never had any issues so far. Last weekend the inside of my drysuit got pretty wet because of a problem with my drysuit inflator and still the heating kept on working fine.

Other divers I know who use Santi (vests and gloves or the undergarments with gloves) never had any problemens. And I do know a few of those people. The water temperatures here in the Netherlands are now around 4 degrees / 39F so a lot of divers use heating, mostly Santi.