Diving VS Surfing Wetsuits!

[SeaHound]

Is there a difference between diving and surfing wetsuits? If you check out the oneill website (www.oneill.com) you will see that they have wetsuits under the heading DIVING and then the heading SURFING. Yet thickness is the same. How are they different? Can anyone please shed light on this?

 

[miketsp]

Is there a difference between diving and surfing wetsuits? If you check out the oneill website (www.oneill.com) you will see that they have wetsuits under the heading DIVING and then the heading SURFING. Yet thickness is the same. How are they different? Can anyone please shed light on this?

The thickness is the same at the surface only.

Basically it's the quality & density of the neoprene. For surfing it can be less dense as there is no compression due to depth. For diving, cheap neoprene will compress under pressure and the neoprene will lose its insulating characteristics.