Drygloves, or wet?

[Air_Miser]

Howdy...

I'm going to buy a drysuit soon, and have it pretty well narrowed down. The last option I'm not decided on is whether or not to get the cuffs installed for dry gloves. I'm leaning toward using my current 5mm wetsuit gloves as I understand dry gloves limit mobility & dexterity quite a bit. (So does a frozen hand though, right?)

What kind of options are there without getting the cuffs installed on the wrists of the suit? ie- are there dry-gloves that just roll over the wrist seals of the suit so that I could switch to wetsuit gloves as the temp goes up?

Most of my diving will be in the St. Lawrence river. Water temp yesterday was 32 (you can see why I'm drysuit shopping), it'll go into the 70's in the summer.

Suggestions appreciated, thanks!
Matt.

 

[Paco]

Go here and scroll down to the bottom
http://www.ossystems.com/gloves/

 

[jonnythan]

http://www.divingconcepts.com/dryglove.htm

IMO, drygloves give you much better dexterity and feeling than thick neoprene gloves.

 

[Tractor Tom]

...that drygloves are much better in my mind. I got my drysuit a year ago and have made about 40 dives in it. Early in the season, last season when I first started diving with it, I was wearing 5mil wetsuit gloves, and found that my hands were the 'limiting factor' when it came to the length of a dive in the cold-cold water. I would go in the first dive and by the 30 minute mark, my hands would ache! All my diving at Tobermory and Kingston last year was done with those wetsuit gloves and I always complained about how cold my hands were. So this past November, I ordered a set of drygloves and rings from Bob3 to go with my Viking drysuit. I found they were 'better' but not great, because the glove liner was too light and I still got cold. So I invested $6 in two pairs of US Military Surplus Wool glove liners. Now I have a glove system that will keep me warm in all water conditions. The rings allow the original cuff to stay in place, and the system even contains a pair of replacement cuffs in case I blow out a glove and need to make a seal. A good buy for the $100 I spent. I'm looking forward to more diving with the new glove system and will be wearing them at Gilboa on the 17th of April when the Great Lakes Wrecking Crew has its spring meeting there.

Good luck with your choice. Hope this is some help...

 

[VanGirl]

I've used the neoprene gloves and also drygloves. I've been back to the neoprene this weekend and my fingertips don't simply ache..they are really sore. This will probably last for another day at least. (*And I was only down for 20 min this morning)! Plus what a hassle to try to wrench on soggy, cold gloves for your additional dives in cold conditions. One gal who was diving with us today had her fingers toasty warm in her dry gloves in about 30 seconds. When it's my time to invest in my own drysuit you can bet I'll be getting the dry gloves.
Anyways.... another 2cents..
Cheers & Happy Diving!

 

[Bob3]

There are a few different types of dryglove systems that you can use that do not require the use of permanently attached rings to the suit.
For the widest range of choices, you'd probably be better off going the non-permanent route.
The new Si Tech/Viking system allows either permanent or temporary mounting, and also allows a wide range of aftermarket gloves to be used so you can dress for maximim dexterity, maximum warmth, or anyplace between.

 

[jonnythan]

The Diving Concepts rings are not permanent.

 

[strider]

I ordered a set of dry gloves last year that my buddy uses. They are a dry glove with a removable liner that has a latex wrist seal, just like your drysuit wrist seal.
You pull em on and your hands are warm and dry and when the glove leaks, which has happened and will happen if you do any work under water of any sort, only your hand gets cold, your suit doesn't flood.
You can also run a small tube or straw under the seals so the gloves will equalize with the suit.
I ordered mine from scubacenter.com, the Nordic Blue Model #302 right at the top.
http://www.scubacenter.com/drysuit.htm
I was very happy with shipping and the price was half of the price at my LDS.
Good luck,
Justin
P.S. - one really nice thing, you can take them off and wear neoprene in warmer water or when doing something that would tear up the gloves.

 

[VTernovski]

http://www.divingconcepts.com/dryglove.htm

IMO, drygloves give you much better dexterity and feeling than thick neoprene gloves.

Definitely! I can;t believe I was using those huge OMS gloves, it took me 30 minutes to put each glove on! With Dry gloves, it's a snap! (pun intended)

 

[bcsean]

I just bought and installed skaana drygloves. Dove them this weekend for the first time. Never going back to wet gloves out here. They are completely removable.