gear question

[scottfiji]

You will also want to read this thread, aptly named "man, it's cold!!!"

There is a lot of discussion of henderson wet suits in it.

http://www.scubaboard.com/t77223-.html

Scott

 

[TekDiveGirl]

I personally wouldn't dive anything less than a drysuit - but then I am a wimp! (-; I made it about 10 dives I think in a wetsuit and went to dry! I knew if I was going to enjoy So Cal diving I was going to have to go dry. Which really sucked as I had just bought a 7mm Henderson Gold Core wetsuit and some really nice hooded vest too. But even in that I was still freezing.

I would say you want to go to a 7mm. You won't regret it because though the surface temps may change some - the bottom temps really don't fluxuate a whole lot (+/- 10 degrees if that) throughout the year to make it where are you going to get hot in that 7mm. If you do you can always do a water exchange (-; You can always cool down but you can't make yourself warmer. And it is miserable being too cold.

Enjoy CA diving -- I miss it tons and can't wait to be home!

 

[ShakaZulu]

The stretching of the Henderson, infact also causes it to loose isolation properties at depth. One of my friends dove that suit and complained a lot about cold. We both recently got the Xcel Titanium Polar Quad Density, and no more complaining. The Xcel suit have stretch materials around the angle's to help with donning the suit. The hood is integrated, so you have no water running down your neck. Cause of the ankle/wrist/neck seals, very little water gets in. Enjoy diving......

http://www.xcelwetsuits.com/home.html

 

[SCUBAMAN241]

I Personally Have The Hnderson Gold Core 7m And Live In Socal. I Totally Love This Suit. I Also Couldnt Get The Rental Suits To Fit And Regain Any Movement. It Keeps Me Very Comfortable Both Temp. And Movement Underwater.

 

[SoCalAJ]

althought the hyperstretch is very easy and compfortable to get on, it compress significantly more then normal neopreme. THis causes much greater heat loss. Also i worked a couple local dive shops and the henderson customer service is not very great compared to other companies.. good luck.......................