Drysuit Recommendations

[Alex Ouroboros]

In the uk (nowhere near Texas) most people get an Otter drysuit (uk made) Othree (uk) or santi (Polish) if they’re in to long deep or cave dives, we do have others that are more reasonably priced such as seaskin, typhoon, RoHo, but the first three I mentioned are what you’ll usually see people wearing that sort of live in the water.

Ps, kubi dry glove system, is fantastic, and if your not used to dry suits it can be a minefield, from quick detachable / replaceable neck seals from sitec kits, to heated suits and pee valves,,

Tbf my Mrs has a 2nd hand Bare that apart from a neck seal problem has been very good,,, apart from their own valves (quickly changed)

 

[Exxilon]

Hi everyone. I'm getting ready to purchase my first drysuit. Looking to get recommendations on what brand to go with. I was seriously considering the Bare product as I love their wetsuits. But I've come across several reports of them leaking, specifically leaking at the seams. I need a suit that's durable as the majority of the dives will be in caves and involve some pulling through restrictions. Thanks!

I'm somewhat biased, perhaps. I've been diving since 1984 and every decent drysuit I've ever had was a Bare. I tried a Mares once. It fit perfectly, but it was about as waterproof as a tea bag. To their credit Mares gave me my money back, which I used to buy a Bare...

 

[Polarorbit]

Hi everyone. I'm getting ready to purchase my first drysuit. Looking to get recommendations on what brand to go with. I was seriously considering the Bare product as I love their wetsuits. But I've come across several reports of them leaking, specifically leaking at the seams. I need a suit that's durable as the majority of the dives will be in caves and involve some pulling through restrictions. Thanks!

Everyone on SB has an opinion. That doesn’t mean any of them are relevant to you and your situation/needs. I currently dive a Waterproof D7 and am generally happy with it after several hundred dives, including ice dives at 2C/36F. I’ve used a few others, including DUI, and most of them were okay too. The only one I despise with every fiber of my being is the Whites/Aqualung Fusion. However, there are others here who love it.

Personally, I prefer tri-lam vs neoprene because it’s lighter, dries faster, and gives me flexibility in undergarments. I like removable seals so I can replace them in the field, and I like silicone seals because they are comfortable. I like dry gloves but I don’t like the Antares oval rings because they popped off under water so I replaced them with Ultima rings. I also prefer boots rather than socks. If you follow all that, you’ll have a setup that works for me. Will it be best for you? Who knows. Gear is personal. There is no best solution. Figure out what works for you and go dive.

 

[Alex Ouroboros]

Everyone on SB has an opinion. That doesn’t mean any of them are relevant to you and your situation/needs. I currently dive a Waterproof D7 and am generally happy with it after several hundred dives, including ice dives at 2C/36F. I’ve used a few others, including DUI, and most of them were okay too. The only one I despise with every fiber of my being is the Whites/Aqualung Fusion. However, there are others here who love it.

Personally, I prefer tri-lam vs neoprene because it’s lighter, dries faster, and gives me flexibility in undergarments. I like removable seals so I can replace them in the field, and I like silicone seals because they are comfortable. I like dry gloves but I don’t like the Antares oval rings because they popped off under water so I replaced them with Ultima rings. I also prefer boots rather than socks. If you follow all that, you’ll have a setup that works for me. Will it be best for you? Who knows. Gear is personal. There is no best solution. Figure out what works for you and go dive.

Agree, I really wanted better things from the whites fusion as looked so flexible, and as for anteres ring system,,, for dry gloves the Kubi are benchmark, completely agree about everything is personal taste / comfort,

 

[Tigerpaw]

I would suggest getting a triliam, it is very light and dries quickly. Most importantly, try not to dive much in a pool, if you do, make sure you rinse it down very well. The chemicals from the pool will eat up your seams and cause leaks.

Also take a dry suit course, many shops offer it free if you buy a dry suit from them. When using undergarments you will need to adjust your weighting by adding more.

I have a BARE triliam and mine does leak a little from the neck but it doesn't bother me and I still love my drysuit. That being said I've heard Fourth Element and DUI have good drysuits.

BTW what shop are you out of? I notice you're in the DFW Metroplex area. Good luck and have fun.

 

[bork-it]

As someone who has had multiple issues with my SeaSkin drysuit I wouldn't recommend them. After buying mine and it leaking on arrival and sending it back multiple times to get the same leak fixed I found out from others who have ahad similar issues they have terrible quality control, not to mention that they got the sizing wrong on my suit.

 

[lexvil]

As someone who has had multiple issues with my SeaSkin drysuit I wouldn't recommend them. After buying mine and it leaking on arrival and sending it back multiple times to get the same leak fixed I found out from others who have ahad similar issues they have terrible quality control, not to mention that they got the sizing wrong on my suit.

Maybe you should tell them you live in the U.S. since and issues over here seem to be very very few.

 

[bork-it]

Maybe you should tell them you live in the U.S. since and issues over here seem to be very very few.

I've chatted to someone who runs a dive shop and repair centre in the US who would strongly disagree with you there, they've to repair quiet a few of them.

Most of the people I've spoken to about SeaSkin dry suits are UK based, all of them that had issues with SeaSkin dry suits pretty much said that they had gone with SeaSkin because of the price, half of them said the suit arrived with a leak of some sort and had to send it back for repairs, a few of them said they wished they'd spent a bit more and gone with an Otter dry suit.

I know some people who have said the SeaSkin suit arrived and it was perfect with no issue, but for me now I know too many people that have had issues with SeaSkin suits to recommend them.

 

[davecampbell]

All brick and mortar dive shops are going to hate on Seaskin....because they made no money and lost a sale. They make $$$$ when you spend thousands of dollars on a drysuit. The same way they hate on dgx and deep 6 gear. If they don't sell it, it's crappy....lol. We've got 2 Novas with ~100 dives on them, mostly in steel doubles, and have had exactly zero issues. We have 2 more in the post right now... and I expect they'll be proper as well.

 

[mr_v]

Why go Seaskin if you can go Otter?