DUI 30/30 Review
Sandy and I arrived at Haigh Quarry around 3:00pm on Friday. It was sunny, warm, around 85 degrees with a slight breeze. The conditions were really close to your typical Caribbean climate. This is important to note because how the 30/30 performs on the surface is as important as how it does in the water.
I would be diving the DUI 30/30 with DUIs Action Wear 150 as my undergarment. Cold water booties would be on my feet, with no gloves or hood. Sandy would be diving a DUI TLS350, Weezle Extreme+ as her undergarment, hood, and dry gloves. The temperature at 20 feet in Haigh is somewhere between 75 79 degrees right now, and that is where our dives would take place.
We got our gear together and I asked Sandy to hold off on getting herself ready with the dry suit and undergarment. I wanted to get in the 30/30 with the undergarment, make the adjustments to my BP/W and then wait for Sandy to get ready. The purpose of this was to see how comfortable I would be in this suit at the surface for a prolonged period. So thats what we did. I donned my full gear, walked around a little bit, helped Sandy verify her gloves and neck seal were ok..you know, good dive buddy things.
Once she was ready we walked into the quarry and it was a little weird having my feet wet in a dry suit. It was also nice at the same time. I did my weight check and we went for a 20 minute dive. Surfaced and changed to a different wing, which I will explain below. Went back in and did an hour dive at 20 feet, surfaced with 700psi and did a weight check.
Review:
Surface: There is a major difference in how this suit performs on the surface. I know from experience what is like to be in the TLS350 in weather like this and your goal is to get ready and get in the water ASAP. With the 30/30 this was not the case, I was comfortable. I walked around fully geared up for a little bit, and then I would rest with my tank on the bed of the truck and watch Sandy get ready. She was sweating and once fully geared up she goes, lets get in the water. I could have stayed like that all day. I spent much more time at the surface fully geared up than I would on any boat or shore dive on Bonaire and I was fine. I am extremely pleased on how comfortable it was.
Weighting: My next concern was how much weight was I going to need in the Caribbean diving with aluminum tanks in a dry suit. For reference: in my TLS350, Weezle Extreme+, hood, dry gloves and a Steel 100 tank that is 9lbs negative when full and 2.5 negative when empty I require 18lbs in fresh water to be properly weighted. For my first dive in the 30/30 I went in with just my BP/W which is 12lbs total, with a standard Aluminum 80, filled to 3000psi. I sank easily and I felt I was overweighed. None of the 12lbs was ditchable so after about 15-20 minutes I decided to go back and put on the 6lb BP with some trim pockets on the tank. Now I was diving with 10lbs total and at the end of the dive I was properly weighted with about 700psi remaining. So in the Caribbean I am looking at 14-15 lbs. If I bring my 12lb BP I am looking at 2-3lbs in my tank trim pockets, no weight belt or DUI Harness needed. With a dry suit and a 40lb wing I am not concerned with ditchable weight. Wasnt quite sure what weight would be required when I started this, but I am content with 14-15lbs in the Caribbean.
Diving: My comfort level in the water was excellent from the start. I normally use my wing and dry suit for buoyancy, but only needed to use the dry suit at 20 feet. I had no problem reaching my tank valve or any other sort of restrictions; it felt like diving a wetsuit. From this point its like any other dry suit dive although the air moving around the suit was more noticeable. If I went feet up my arms and chest would tighten while my legs got full of air and warmer I might add. I never noticed this before in my TLS350, but that is probably because of the thicker undergarment. It is the same sensation when being vertical at the surface where your legs have some squeeze. There really is nothing else to report except that I was comfortable, felt a tad chilly towards the end of the hour dive but on the surface my body was dry and warm .my hands and feet were colder. I was not sweating at any time, pre or post dive.
The Suit: The ankle seals are what I think are called Bell seals, you dont trim them, they are a little weird to put on at first but no big deal. The seals are protected by the suit and when putting on my booties they also covered this area. I was concerned about shore diving entries/exits with the ankle seals, but they are covered. The dry suit zipper closes from shoulder to waist which to me is nicer than the other way around; it does not have another zipper system to protect it though. This would be nice to have; Im not sure why its not standard. Possibly they wanted to keep the amount of material to a minimum. Speaking of material, the suit is made to be worn for light insulation so there is not a lot of room for a thick undergarment and this is a good thing. It is very streamlined. The suit does come with suspenders.
Final Thoughts: The purpose of trying the 30/30 was to see if it was worth purchasing for an upcoming trip to Bonaire in December. We do about 25-30 dives in a week while in Bonaire and while our computers saying everything is fine to go back in, sometimes our bodies say go take a nap. We get very tired towards the middle of the trip and getting in and out of that smelly cold wet suit is not fun. We have done this in the past and if possible would like to avoid it.
The demo suit included zip seals on the wrists and neck and I was impressed with them. That was my first time diving with zip seals. My only question now is when I order the DUI 30/30, is it going to be with or without the zip seals.
I hope this review helps.
Jason
Sandy and I arrived at Haigh Quarry around 3:00pm on Friday. It was sunny, warm, around 85 degrees with a slight breeze. The conditions were really close to your typical Caribbean climate. This is important to note because how the 30/30 performs on the surface is as important as how it does in the water.
I would be diving the DUI 30/30 with DUIs Action Wear 150 as my undergarment. Cold water booties would be on my feet, with no gloves or hood. Sandy would be diving a DUI TLS350, Weezle Extreme+ as her undergarment, hood, and dry gloves. The temperature at 20 feet in Haigh is somewhere between 75 79 degrees right now, and that is where our dives would take place.
We got our gear together and I asked Sandy to hold off on getting herself ready with the dry suit and undergarment. I wanted to get in the 30/30 with the undergarment, make the adjustments to my BP/W and then wait for Sandy to get ready. The purpose of this was to see how comfortable I would be in this suit at the surface for a prolonged period. So thats what we did. I donned my full gear, walked around a little bit, helped Sandy verify her gloves and neck seal were ok..you know, good dive buddy things.
Once she was ready we walked into the quarry and it was a little weird having my feet wet in a dry suit. It was also nice at the same time. I did my weight check and we went for a 20 minute dive. Surfaced and changed to a different wing, which I will explain below. Went back in and did an hour dive at 20 feet, surfaced with 700psi and did a weight check.
Review:
Surface: There is a major difference in how this suit performs on the surface. I know from experience what is like to be in the TLS350 in weather like this and your goal is to get ready and get in the water ASAP. With the 30/30 this was not the case, I was comfortable. I walked around fully geared up for a little bit, and then I would rest with my tank on the bed of the truck and watch Sandy get ready. She was sweating and once fully geared up she goes, lets get in the water. I could have stayed like that all day. I spent much more time at the surface fully geared up than I would on any boat or shore dive on Bonaire and I was fine. I am extremely pleased on how comfortable it was.
Weighting: My next concern was how much weight was I going to need in the Caribbean diving with aluminum tanks in a dry suit. For reference: in my TLS350, Weezle Extreme+, hood, dry gloves and a Steel 100 tank that is 9lbs negative when full and 2.5 negative when empty I require 18lbs in fresh water to be properly weighted. For my first dive in the 30/30 I went in with just my BP/W which is 12lbs total, with a standard Aluminum 80, filled to 3000psi. I sank easily and I felt I was overweighed. None of the 12lbs was ditchable so after about 15-20 minutes I decided to go back and put on the 6lb BP with some trim pockets on the tank. Now I was diving with 10lbs total and at the end of the dive I was properly weighted with about 700psi remaining. So in the Caribbean I am looking at 14-15 lbs. If I bring my 12lb BP I am looking at 2-3lbs in my tank trim pockets, no weight belt or DUI Harness needed. With a dry suit and a 40lb wing I am not concerned with ditchable weight. Wasnt quite sure what weight would be required when I started this, but I am content with 14-15lbs in the Caribbean.
Diving: My comfort level in the water was excellent from the start. I normally use my wing and dry suit for buoyancy, but only needed to use the dry suit at 20 feet. I had no problem reaching my tank valve or any other sort of restrictions; it felt like diving a wetsuit. From this point its like any other dry suit dive although the air moving around the suit was more noticeable. If I went feet up my arms and chest would tighten while my legs got full of air and warmer I might add. I never noticed this before in my TLS350, but that is probably because of the thicker undergarment. It is the same sensation when being vertical at the surface where your legs have some squeeze. There really is nothing else to report except that I was comfortable, felt a tad chilly towards the end of the hour dive but on the surface my body was dry and warm .my hands and feet were colder. I was not sweating at any time, pre or post dive.
The Suit: The ankle seals are what I think are called Bell seals, you dont trim them, they are a little weird to put on at first but no big deal. The seals are protected by the suit and when putting on my booties they also covered this area. I was concerned about shore diving entries/exits with the ankle seals, but they are covered. The dry suit zipper closes from shoulder to waist which to me is nicer than the other way around; it does not have another zipper system to protect it though. This would be nice to have; Im not sure why its not standard. Possibly they wanted to keep the amount of material to a minimum. Speaking of material, the suit is made to be worn for light insulation so there is not a lot of room for a thick undergarment and this is a good thing. It is very streamlined. The suit does come with suspenders.
Final Thoughts: The purpose of trying the 30/30 was to see if it was worth purchasing for an upcoming trip to Bonaire in December. We do about 25-30 dives in a week while in Bonaire and while our computers saying everything is fine to go back in, sometimes our bodies say go take a nap. We get very tired towards the middle of the trip and getting in and out of that smelly cold wet suit is not fun. We have done this in the past and if possible would like to avoid it.
The demo suit included zip seals on the wrists and neck and I was impressed with them. That was my first time diving with zip seals. My only question now is when I order the DUI 30/30, is it going to be with or without the zip seals.
I hope this review helps.
Jason
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