Good general purpose wet suit thickness

[stuartv]

It has been said that one's tolerance for cold decreases with the more years one has been diving. These days, a 5 mm is my go-to suit for all over the Caribbean, FL, Asia, etc.--everywhere the water is tropical or sub-tropical. A 3 mm WAS my go-to suit for a few years, but I have gotten less tolerant to cold.

I wonder if that's because people get less tolerant. Or if it's because their go-to suit crushes down over time and is not as warm.

My 3/2 used to be my go-to. Now, my 5/4 is. But, I definitely couldn't tell you if that's because they are both now thinner and just not as warm as they used to be. And I'm not prepared to buy a new 3/2 just to find out.

 

[boulderjohn]

I got my AOW in Cozumel a couple decades ago, during my first year of diving. On one of the dives I did with my instructor, we were joined by some old friends of his who had not seen him in a couple of years. They mocked his dive apparel, which included a hooded vest in the warm summer water of Cozumel. They recalled that when he first came to Cozumel to work, he wore only a bathing suit and a T-shirt.

I had been certified earlier in the year in Puerto Vallarta. All the students in the two OW classes were issued 3mm shorties. My instructor wore a 7mm semi-dry suit and a hood. The instructor of the other class wore a full suit and a hooded vest.

 

[vinsanity]

The wetsuit I use most is a 3mm two-piece freediving suit with an integral hood... I do have a Neosport one-piece 3/2 suit which I use in warmer water however as time goes on I have found that I really prefer the 3mm freediving suit unless the water is 80 degrees or warmer.

Is the 2 piece suit 2 layers thick in the core, or just literally 2 pieces? Trying to envision why it's better than the Neosport one piece or if now I need to concern myself with freediving vs some other type of wet suit.

By the way, where in the PNW are you located? Most of my diving life has been based up there and I still consider it home.

I live in OR, but all (thought limited in number) my PNW dives were in WA. I've ben to Sund Rock (Hoodsport, WA) and Les Davis Park (Tacoma, WA). MIGHT be going to Port Whitney & Octopus hole in a couple weeks. Gettin kinda cold for wet suit though.

When are you going to the Florida Panhandle?

My family (spread across the US) gets together in Panama City Beach every June.

Great info guy! Thanks.

 

[2airishuman]

Is the 2 piece suit 2 layers thick in the core, or just literally 2 pieces? Trying to envision why it's better than the Neosport one piece or if now I need to concern myself with freediving vs some other type of wet suit.

My suit is two layers thick in the core. It is unlined, which makes it warmer because there is less water flow. A consequence of this is that it must be donned wet. These suits do not have zippers which helps with both warmth and cost. I am very happy with both of mine. I have maybe 80 dives on the 3mm one and it isn't showing any wear or loss of thickness. They're from freedivestore.com. In contrast, my Neosport 3/2 has lost some of its elasticity after about 20 dives.

All that said, the vast majority of divers use lined, one-piece suits with a back zip.

 

[scubadada]

Like @stuartv I have a 3, 5, and 7 mm full suit. I dive them all every year in SE FL, with or without a 5/3 mm hooded vest. This covers water temps from mid to high 60s up the the mid 80s. The older I've gotten, the less tolerant of being cold I've become. In addition, being cold reliably increases my gas consumption. I often do 4 hour plus dives per day and tend to get colder as the day goes by. I often add the hooded vest toward the end of the day. One of my most valuable pieces of scuba equipment is my very nice TruWest boat coat. Being able to warm up and stay warm during surface intervals makes all the difference, especially when it is windy.

If I had only one of these wetsuits, it would be the 5 mm. With the hooded vest, I'm OK to the low-mid 70s and you could always flush with water if you get a little warm. In my experience, Hawaii has always been in the mid to high 70s, thats the 5 mm for me. I'm taking my 7 mm to Galapagos next April.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I wonder if that's because people get less tolerant. Or if it's because their go-to suit crushes down over time and is not as warm.

My 3/2 used to be my go-to. Now, my 5/4 is. But, I definitely couldn't tell you if that's because they are both now thinner and just not as warm as they used to be. And I'm not prepared to buy a new 3/2 just to find out.

I used more than one 3 mm suit before I decided my cold tolerance had decreased and bought the 5 mm.

However, I'm willing to concede part of it might be having gotten older, not just having done a lot of dives.

 

[Eptel]

I agree that 5mm would be most usable.
I have 5mm Fourth Element Proteus ll full suit and used it on my Galapagos liveaboard trip last Sep along with 5mm gloves and 7mm hood with bib.
The suit is very warm but still it was pretty chilly considering multiple dives per day. Water was between 16-23 degrees Celsius
Other folks were diving with 7mm or dry-suit. For such destinations you may want to invest into some extra under layer if you're to go with 5mm

 

[mi000ke]

Another vote for 5mm. The coldest I've used it for is 72 (with hood) in the Florida springs, and the warmest is high 80s, and it works fine for me - although I have a low tolerance for cold.

 

[Trailboss123]

I live in OR, but all (thought limited in number) my PNW dives were in WA. I've ben to Sund Rock (Hoodsport, WA) and Les Davis Park (Tacoma, WA). MIGHT be going to Port Whitney & Octopus hole in a couple weeks. Gettin kinda cold for wet suit though.

Awesome- I have hundreds of dives at Sund Rock, Octopus Hole and Pt. Whitney. I also lived in OR for 16 years. Left a year ago to come down to So Cal for work. You'll definitely want a drysuit for most of the year up there. As much for the cold and windy surface intervals as the water temps. Best diving is in the winter, IMO. All the best!

 

[vinsanity]

It sounds like, while there is no silver bullet, the 5mm is sounding reasonably appealing as far as bang for your buck is concerned. This open-cell suit is interesting as well. I do think I would be well served to do some more research on water temps at depth for my longer list of hopeful destinations.

What is a good resource for finding out typical water temps at depth for various places? What about for current-ish temps? Before one of my previous PNW dives, I found the NOAA buey site, but the numbers it indicated for 10ft seemed to have no relationship to our 40-60' dives.