OF COURSE personal fit and comfort matters, but since even I was able to determine that was obvious I didn't think I needed to ask it. What am I supposed to do, ask "Hey I found this drysuit that is completely uncomfortable and doesn't fit, should I buy it?"
OK, now seriously, thanks to the people who commented about the fit and about baggy being bad. I do realize that the fit/sizing is important. They offer a custom fit (where they size every part to your measurements) for only a very small extra charge. So, assuming that I do get it sized right, I was wondering if there was anything else that I should be concerned with.
I am just asking for more specific information. Sometimes I see questions on this board (the DIR board) answered with "Ask your instructor" and/or "take the class" and sometimes a "you can't learn this stuff on the internet". The problem for me is that, 1- I don't have an instructor, and 2- I would love to take the class, and signed up and paid for a DIR class this weekend (Nov. 5-7th), but the class was canceled because I was the only student who signed up.
I am just trying to learn. So far, everything that I have learned has made very good sense. Things that I have picked up from JJ's fundamentals book, this board, diving with DIR minded people, the Quest list, Dan McKay's book, etc. has shown me that in just about every case that I can think of, there is a VERY good explanation about why something is recommended over something else. Those explanations I would not have been able to come up with on my own, not have the talent, expertiese, diving experience, etc. that others have. So my hope was that, for example, if i ask if the left shoulder is the preferred place for the exhaust valve, that someone might say, "no, we put the exhaust value on our left ankle because of these 3 reasons...." Then at least I have some information to think about and evaluate, and go "hmm.. those reasons make sense and I had never thought of that.. that seems like a better solution than what I was thinking" or "That makes absolutely no sense, you must be smoking crack, and I am not going to do it".
Also, of course, I am trying to keep from having to buy things twice. There are people on here all the time lamenting that only if they had known ahead of time they would have avoided XYZ. I don't want to pay 1500 bucks for a suit and then find out that I maybe had a better option but because I didn't know what to look for I ended up with something that I am not happy with. That should sound familiar with all the posts on here about "If I knew then what I know now I never would have bought that computer..BC..quick realease harness...etc. If you tell me, "if you are interested in DIR you should go get a BP&W setup" and I show up with a bungied wing with a quick release harness, and you say " I didn't mean THAT BP&W setup. (God help me, it is just an example, lets not start the bungie arguement) IN OTHER WORDS: sometimes the details count.
So I feel like I know 80% of what I need, and of course that includes fit, accessories, undergarments, etc., but, for lack of a better way to explain it, I don't know what I don't know. So I am trying to get advice, hoping that a DIR instructor, or someone with more experience than me, would be nice enough to help fill in some of the gaps.
You should have heard some of the crap I got from people when I switched to the long hose. I live in the desert, with probably the lowest number of DIR divers in the country, so if I was trying to fit in I would be diving with my AIR2 and and my BC with the plastic buckles (which have come apart on me twice while diving, btw). I fully realize that equipment is only a small part of DIR, but I am shopping for a drysuit today and not buddy-awareness skills, so that is why my question is about equipment.
"then I hope he can appreciate being challenged to rise up and look at the big picture a bit", that is a good point, and I do appreciate being challenged, that is why I am doing this. If I didn't want to be challanged I would be satisfied with mediocre diving skills. Nothing in my post says that being DIR is my only consideration, but this is the DIR forum, so...
I appreciate the responses, but jeez.. you guys can be a tough crowd sometimes
oh, and FWIW, this still is not everything in my head, for that I would need atleast 2 pages..double-sidded AND single-spaced, yeah... I got alot going on up there
