DUI vs. Bare Drysuits

[medic001918]

Hey everyone:

I'm just curious about people's thoughts on the diffrences between the DUI drysuits and the Bare drysuits. One of my LDS recommends a Bare (I believe it's the Trilam) or the XCD2. They say they can get me into it for $1500 for the suit, underwear and training. Another LDS in the area sells only DUI drysuits and insists that the DUI suit will fit much better and is a higher quality suit. The downside is that they now pretty much only sell the DUI TLS350 Signature Series and optioned out will cost me somewhere around $3000. I'm curious as to weather the DUI is really worth doubling the cost to get into a dry suit.

FYI, I dive in New England so the water is cold. The dry suit will hopefully extend my dive season.

Thanks for the help in advance.

Shane

 

[jonnythan]

Apples to oranges. A TLS350 Signature Series suit is fully decked out and 100% custom fitted, and you will almost certainly get much warmer and custom fitted underwear.

The Bare suit sounds like a stock size with stock size underwear.

Whichever you get, I recommend you get a custom suit and get custom underwear made of 200 gram Thinsulate. No fleece or Lite Loft or whatever.

 

[hex92]

I own the entry level Bare suit - Nex-Gen. I bought it with all the accessories for $750 which included training. I thought (and still do think) it was a great deal. Bare makes several styles of suits. I have not seen a top-o-the line suit in person though. So I can't comment on them directly. On paper (the net actually) they look to be very similar when it comes to available features to the DUI suits....for a fraction of the cost.

The benefits of buying a Bare suit as I see it are:
Price
Number of stock sizes to choose from - saves time and $$
If you want, Bare will make a custom suit with all the options you want. Check out their website

I have seen several DUI TLS 350s. The are nice and they appear to fit the divers extremely well. But for my $$ I would buy a Bare and spend the $$ youy save on a dive trip.


YMMV

 

[Rastaman]

I cannot say if it is worth it because only you can make that call. My experience with dive gear is you get what you pay for. At Dutch Springs this past weekend I saw a lot of drysuits but you could spot a DUI in any group. The suits look like they are cut right. This is only an observation as I do not dive dry at this time.
Given up my vices so hyperthermia relaxes me now.

 

[badgers]

I also have the BARE next-gen.
I have gone to the DUI dog days and used there 350 and it was nice.
The 350 is better then my next-gen, BUT I would buy another next-gen since I got mine for $500 bucks(training sold seperatly )
The 350 had a a "strech" band at the mid-section that seemed cool, but not really that helpful in the water. I could never have afforded a DUI suit and would have ended up in a a thick wet suit and been cold.
the Bare suit works fine, I have a hood and gloves and that is it.
I have the cheap underware and in 38 degree water I am fine for 40 minutes. I think if I could do it over again I would have looked into getting the integrated gloves so that I could avoid the wrist seals and have dry hands, but I still am fine in the water.
Good luck

 

[darylm74]

$3000? Geez. I just got a TLS-350 signature series for like $1750 and that is from my LDS. I got a good deal but still, regular price on it was like $2100. I don't think you need to get the high-end underwear right away, unless you're going to do some ice diving or something. Fortunately for me my wife made my underwear (light weight polar fleece and thinsulate) so nice and toasty. None the less, I would see if they will work out a deal with you. If they want your business I'm sure they would. Otherwise there are some places online you can get a custom made DUI for about the same price I paid (btw my LDS matched the online prices I found). If you know someone who sews, they can take all the measurements for you so you don't need an LDS for that. It isn't like it is rocket science, they are very basic measurements.

 

[jonnythan]

The "high-end" underwear will be one of the best purchases you ever make.

A custom fitted warm Thinsulate undergarment is almost *more* important than a custom fitted quality drysuit. It will do more for your comfort, happiness, and learning than just about anything else.

Putting up with an ill-fitting drysuit, and ill-fitting and poorly insulating multi-layered underwear is a huge hinderance to your comfort while diving and learning to dive the drysuit. A polypro top, polypro bottom, another polypro top, another polypro bottom, a fleece top, a fleece bottom, maybe a fleece vest because fleece is such a terrible drysuit insulator..... and you're still cold and unhappy because fleece is lofty and it's all trapping air because it doesn't fit closely to the skin.

Get the proper undergarment from the start. Period.

 

[jonnythan]

Also, getting someone with a lot of experience measuring and getting suits right for the manufacturer in question goes a LONG way towards making sure your suit fits right.

Have three friends take your measurements and you will get three different drysuits, none of which will be ideal. Get your measurements done by someone who not only knows what they're doing, but how to get the right measurements for the manufacturer.

 

[Soggy]

Whichever you get, I recommend you get a custom suit and get custom underwear made of 200 gram Thinsulate. No fleece or Lite Loft or whatever.

....Make that 400g, type-B thinsulate, like the Viking B400 or DUI B400 undergarments.

 

[jonnythan]

....Make that 400g, type-B thinsulate, like the Viking B400 or DUI B400 undergarments.

Psh. 400 is too much for the typical diver, especially a newer diver.

The 200 is more versatile. The DUI C4 I wore a couple weekends ago was way too warm for the 50+ degree water temps and 70+ air temps. I was uncomfortably hot on the surface and never sufficiently cooled down underwater, even after 40 minutes.

The C4 would great when the water is below 50, particularly when you're not exerting a lot of effort. However, my 200gm (type C even! gasp!) DC suit has been comfortable in all the water I've been in, and has even been sufficient in 33 degrees. I would have preferred the C4 in those temps, but it would have killed me this past weekend when I was pushing my doubles against a 1+ knot current in 50 degree water with the bright sun beating down on me in between dives.

Just cause you're such a cold water wuss doesn't mean everyone else is