first dry suit

[Yoyoguy]

All...I am starting to save money for multiple items as I advance in scuba. I dive lots of cold water so I am highly desiring a drysuit. I know you tend to get what you pay for but I am also trying to stay a little budget friendly. I don't want to sacrifice too much quality though for price. Also...this will likely be the dry suit I start tech diving in a few years from now. That being said...I've been diving 7mm rig which becomes unbalanced at 100ft which means redundant boyancy is needed (drysuit)...I am using a lift bag at the moment which I know everyone advises against but I figure it's better than nothing. I have been limiting the amount of deep dives I do though to try and remain safe. My budget is right around 1000 dollars which I know is not much when it comes to dry suits. Are there any in this range worth considering or should I keep saving?

 

[OtherHalf]

Depending on your size the secondary (read: used) market may have a lot of options at that price point.

 

[RJP]

RJPs Immutable Laws Of Scuba Gear

1.) Buy your second set of gear FIRST
2.) The easiest way to waste money buying scuba gear is by trying to save money buying scuba gear

 

[tbone1004]

contrary to Ray's post, there are some legitimate value drysuits that are high quality and not expensive.... USIA Techniflex being one of the prime contenders.... Best option is to check out Dive Right in Scuba and talk to the guys there, they're drysuit guru's and carry just about anything you could want at whatever price point you're at. You're going to spend at least $2k, and you really need a P-Valve, but you don't have to spend $4k on a DUI or Santi to get a high quality suit, but you are pretty much locked into about $2k with a P-valve as a minimum

 

[Chicken SCUBA]

I'm not a dry-suit guy (see location) but I've looked into them for Tech. My LDS will sell the Apeks fusion one for 1000 (formally Whites). The MSRP went up after AquaLung bought Whithes but I think there doing just over cost because they don't really sell dry-suites here. I see mostly good reviews. You should look into it. (maybe we can get some opinions on the fusion one from users)

I'm curious about your issue. I dive two layers of 3mm in the winter and I've been below 100' more than a few times without issue. I understand the concept is that the suit looses all buoyancy due to compression and you're left with all the weight you used to sink the suit. But is your issue trim or is it that your BCD is nearly full? (and of course that your cold)

 

[jscan1]

I agree buy your second set of gear first, don't skimp on scuba gear! However in regards to drysuits, I think there are a lot of really good deals used, I found a DUI CLX 450 on Ebay that had probably almost zero dives on it, then sat in someone's closet for a couple of years. I got it for $400, and sent it off to the above mentioned DRIS for zipseals, and a leak test about $500, so basically for $900 I have a suit that would have been 4 times that amount new! Everybody wants to make a drysuit rocketscience, reality is, its a "shell" that can't leak (yet its going too at some point ) so if it appears to be in fairly good shape, installing new seals, leak testing and then aquasealing any problem spots are pretty much going to solve any issues

 

[TSandM]

You can watch the used market. Seals cost about $175 to replace, so if you can get a used suit in good condition that just needs seals, it may be a buy. Zippers are $300 to $400, so the suit would have to be quite inexpensive to make it worth replacing a zipper. Be careful with DUIs -- they had a batch of trilam that delaminates, and those suits cannot be fixed.

The Fusion back zip suit comes within your budget, and Fusions are nice, durable suits. The USIA lower end suits also come within your budget. They are bilams, so not quite as sturdy as trilaminate suits.

ScubaPro makes a neoprene suit in your budget, but you'd run into the same compression problems with it that you have with your wetsuit.

 

[RJP]

contrary to Ray's post, there are some legitimate value drysuits that are high quality and not expensive....

NOTE: Rule #2 is not intended to imply that one needs to spend a lot of money - especially for a drysuit - but rather that if you shop with a primary goal of trying to save money, rather than getting the right gear, you might find that you've spent more in the long run.

Consistent with Rule #1, if you buy the right suit (not saying the best, or the most expensive, but the one that meets your needs) at whatever price, you won't need to replace it in the near term.

That said, in a recent market research study I conducted for a client it seems that among all major gear investments, initial drysuit purchases are among the most common pieces of equipment that divers end up re-buying/upgrading sooner than anticipated based on some level of dissatisfaction with their initial purchase. I know I wish I bought MY second drysuit first!)

 

[jscan1]

You can watch the used market. Seals cost about $175 to replace, so if you can get a used suit in good condition that just needs seals, it may be a buy. Zippers are $300 to $400, so the suit would have to be quite inexpensive to make it worth replacing a zipper. Be careful with DUIs -- they had a batch of trilam that delaminates, and those suits cannot be fixed.

The Fusion back zip suit comes within your budget, and Fusions are nice, durable suits. The USIA lower end suits also come within your budget. They are bilams, so not quite as sturdy as trilaminate suits.

ScubaPro makes a neoprene suit in your budget, but you'd run into the same compression problems with it that you have with your wetsuit.

Sitech Zip Seals are an example of spending a little more up front to overall have an affordable long term solution ($400ish to have installed) vs. Glued in seals at $175ish that when need to be replaced cost you either time, or another $175 to ship off. I like sitech because you can then use regular seals (Latex neck seal is $27 and zips in and out in seconds) vs. say the DUI zip seals which cost about $125 everytime you want to replace one. Barring Factory defects to a batch of Trilam, I would not shy away from DUI. They are great suits

 

[Yoyoguy]

I'm not a dry-suit guy (see location) but I've looked into them for Tech. My LDS will sell the Apeks fusion one for 1000 (formally Whites). The MSRP went up after AquaLung bought Whithes but I think there doing just over cost because they don't really sell dry-suites here. I see mostly good reviews. You should look into it. (maybe we can get some opinions on the fusion one from users)

I'm curious about your issue. I dive two layers of 3mm in the winter and I've been below 100' more than a few times without issue. I understand the concept is that the suit looses all buoyancy due to compression and you're left with all the weight you used to sink the suit. But is your issue trim or is it that your BCD is nearly full? (and of course that your cold)

the issue is neither trim nor is it the BCd/wing being full...its IF the wing or BCD should fail, there would be NO way for you to swim up that amount of weight. I dive 7mm one piece. I need 8lbs lead, plus 12lbs between my backplate and my 6lb weighted STA. That's 20lbs. Now add in 4lbs for your 1st/2nd stage regulator set-up. Now we are at 24lbs extra weight. Then factor in all other objects which may be negatively buoyant and finally if the failure happens at the start of your dive, even an aluminum 80 is about 2lbs negative. So say 26+ pounds which you now need to swim up (aint going to happen unless you are a true athletic swimmer). This is why it is recommended to have a second buoyancy source (one reason why dual bladder wings came out but people are against those as well). so the option remains to either get a dry suit OR use a lift bag (which is far from a best practice and is actually frowned upon but is better than nothing)