GF99/99
Contributor
First off full disclaimer I have no experience with SF tech (but I will say they do look like very nice suits) and the only dry suits I have lots of experience with are Santi and O'Three additionally I do have an affiliation with O'Three, but that being said I will always give a full honest review.
I am a pretty big fan of O'three they make very high quality dry suits and wetsuits. My self and about 4 other friends use the 90 Ninety. We all have the regular trilam but they offer 2 other options to have the lower half or the entire suit made of a much tougher material. Personally I found the tougher material to be a little too heavy duty. It is very similar to the Santi Enduro material. I opted for the regular just to have the balance between mobility and durability.
I also regularly dive a Santi E Lite + suite and I would say the 90 Ninty is very comparable. So for comfort and mobility it is about as good as it gets for a dry suite.
For durability well you mentioned cave, I would say it is not less durable than any other regular trilam vs sharp limestone scenarios. I am not going to say the 90 Nintey is amazing and does not required the occasional repair. But I am also not going to say it gets any more holes than any other equivalent suits like a Santi E Motion or E Lite. I get the occasional hole in my Santi suit and I get the occasional hole in my O'three its just part of cave diving. If you are worried about durability then I would say go with the heavy duty material.
Couple friends and I got the green light from our misses so will be Mexico next month for a "boys cave trip" we all dive 90 Ninty's so I can give you an update later if we had to repair a leak or two between 3 of us smashing out long CCR cave dives for a month.
The one thing I will say that really sets O'Three apart is there customer service. They remind me a lot of Shearwater (be for they got really big/popular and bought out). O'three is very much like a large family and super customer service based. They will go out of there way for you. I can not say the same for Santi, I am actually very surprised for such a popular company there customer service is almost non existent and they push everything back on there dealers. Also remember O'thee suits are 100% fitted to you and the guys and gals at O'three will help you out with the measurements to send them. You will actually get to speak to a real person and they will genuinely help you to make sure you get the best fitting suit. Same with after sales support as well. Additionally if I am not mistaken in the listed price on top of a fully custom fit suit you also get your choice of what kind of seal you want (Si-tech neck and Kubi wrist/gloves) type of boots, type of dry gloves, pee valve, zipper and direction the zipper goes, pockets, etc. A lot of other companies charge extra for all this. Also if there is something custom specific you want O'Three will work with you.
Now the only down side is O'Three is they are located in the UK but then again most of your other suit manufactures are located in the UK/EU as well so you will have the same logistics issues.
