Happy with your Henderson wetsuit?

[Artimas]

I am ready to purchase a Henderson Thermoprene 7mm john and jacket for diving in low 50 degree temps. I decided against Hyperstretch. It was comfy, but I've heard not too durable, and not too warm. I also eliminated the GoldCore. The shop really felt the Thermoprene was the way to go. This shop is big on Henderson and doesn't carry much else.

Before pulling the trigger, I was wondering if anyone was unhappy with their decision to go with a Henderson suit, especially Thermoprene.

Thanks in advance!

 

[cdreamer]

First I'll say that I am a dealer for Henderson. With that said I am also a customer.
Currently, I use Gold Core for cold water and the regular neoprene for my 3mm's.
the newer Thermoprene is a softer, stretchier version of their premium neoprene, not as stretchy as the hyperstretch, but a much more durable suit. I love my Gold Core, but you have to put
a dry wetsuit on a dry body or a wet wetsuit on a wet body or the Gold Core will stick like
a giant suction cup to your skin. You do get more of a skin on skin seal and it is a very warm
suit. Thermoprene is less expensive and excellent quality, but depending on where you're diving,
sometimes a one piece 7mm Gold Core is all you need. we have had excellent feedback on thermoprene suits sold to date. Hope this helps.

 

[kidsdream]

While the fit of Henderson products (especially the Hyperstretch) is quite good, the are by far the least durable suits I a have ever owned. The is a common theme from frequent divers. Also their high stretch suits are not very warm (a 5mm is about as warm as a 3mm suit from other brands). If you only dive 1 week a year then maybe it does not make a difference to you.

My current favorite brand is Pinnacle, especially the Merino suits are super warm and extremely well constructed. O'Neil and Harveys are other great options.

 

[cdreamer]

While the fit of Henderson products (especially the Hyperstretch) is quite good, the are by far the least durable suits I a have ever owned. The is a common theme from frequent divers. Also their high stretch suits are not very warm (a 5mm is about as warm as a 3mm suit from other brands). If you only dive 1 week a year then maybe it does not make a difference to you.

My current favorite brand is Pinnacle, especially the Merino suits are super warm and extremely well constructed. O'Neil and Harveys are other great options.

I completely disagree with the "least durable" thing. We've carried Henderson since
the 70's and I have been using their suits since the early 90's. They carry a good warranty if you buy it from an authorized dealer. Now the hyperstretch, I've never
been a big fan of, but for the "hard to fit body type" sometimes, in the past it was the
only way to go. With better materials coming into the market, if gives the "hard to fit
body type" more options. I must say that I have sold thousands of Henderson wetsuits and been using them myself for 17 years and have never heard anyone say
that they are the least durable suits.

 

[kidsdream]

My comments were based on the usage of divers that dive 50-200 dives a year, not your general recreational divers. The durability of the Instadry has even been worse.

I keep most of my gear in Florida, but I would be happy to post photos of various suits to prove my point (including my Hyperstretch where both of the knee pads have delaminated (completely fell off) after less then 100 dives. I did purchase the suit from my LDS with a full warranty. I did not say they would not repair the suit, but my Harvey's suits have been much more robust and never need repairs and look good after 100's of dives. That said, all of my family (3 divers) have switched over to Pinnacle even though they can be pricey. They are super warm and show manufacturing quality that is leading the pack right now.

I completely disagree with the "least durable" thing. We've carried Henderson since
the 70's and I have been using their suits since the early 90's. They carry a good warranty if you buy it from an authorized dealer. Now the hyperstretch, I've never
been a big fan of, but for the "hard to fit body type" sometimes, in the past it was the
only way to go. With better materials coming into the market, if gives the "hard to fit
body type" more options. I must say that I have sold thousands of Henderson wetsuits and been using them myself for 17 years and have never heard anyone say
that they are the least durable suits.

 

[Scubakevdm]

I also put Henderson at the bottom of the barrel. I used to work in a shop that sold them, and saw too many of them fall apart. The hyperstretches are absolutely the least durable wetsuit I've ever seen, the gold cores were a bit better, but were still not on par with any of the other top end wetsuits as far as durability was concerned. I've seen seams separate on almost new suits, I've seen holes worn through the neoprene, I've seen the outer nylon fabric delaminate from the neoprene, and most commonly, I've seen the neoprene tear along areas with stitching. My friend bought one of the $400.00 quick dry 3mm... fell apart after less than a year.
I don't know anything about the thermoprene, but I'm not overly impressed with the company.

I liked the old everflexes by Scubapro (I got about 1500 dives each out of two of the three mils) but they stopped making the kind I liked. The new ones look crappy to me. They may be just as good, I don't know. I have one, but don't wear it much.

I also like (so far) Pinnacle. I've only got about 300 dives or so on the 3mm Seal that I have, but it seems to be very well made and I expect that it will hold up. If I had to recommend a suit manufacturer, it would be Pinnacle.

 

[Artimas]

Thanks to all for the info.

 

[fishyangel]

An odd first post...

I've only got 15 dives under my belt, but all in a Henderson 3mm Thermoprene. I am very happy with the fit, but I was quite cold after a couple days in 81 degree water (Caymans). I haven't tried anyone else's 3mm, but I had to add a 1.5mm undershirt to be comfortable diving every day. A disclaimer - I'm fairly thin, so I could just be prone to getting cold. My boyfriend was very happy in his 3mm the entire trip.

Oh, and hi! We fell in love with scuba on our trip and I have visited this forum every day since we've been back.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I just bought a Henderson Thermoprene 5 mm jumpsuit from a reputable on-line store a month ago. I took it on the boat friday (removed the tag) and dove Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I was so happy when I bought the suit, it looked nice and was EXTREMELY comfortable and more than stretchy enough. Too bad the suit is a piece of junk! I had the thread from the entire under arm pull out, the seam on the other underarm has many pulls on it and will do the same thing soon. This is from just 3 days of diving.

Probably the worst problem is that the suit is CRUSHED! The deepest dive was only 90 feet. The 5mm suit is noticably thinner and the nylon exterior is wrinkled due to the thinning of the suit. It was unbelievable!

I sold a used scuba max suit that was 2 years old and had at least 100 dives on it and a few dozen were to depths around 200 feet and that suit was a little beat up but was not crushed like the Henderson Thermoprene.

 

[girlgonediving]

The first suit I ever owned was a Henderson gold core. It was OK.....but hard to get on after a few dives. I have never heard of having to be wet in order to put on a "wet"suit....who wants to do that! It also collapsed after about 20 dives...it went from a 3mm to about a 1.5mm.

Then, after not learning from my first mistake, bought a Hyperstretch. This was an even bigger mistake than the Gold core! The suit had to stretch so much to fit right that I think it was 1mm thinner before I even got in the water! I froze my butt off in 80 degree water!

I now have a Wetwear wetsuit and I will never buy anything else. I met them a few years ago at the Ocean Fest show in Fort Lauderdale. It has been by far the best fitting, warmest and most durable suit I have ever owned. I will never buy a suit from anywhere else again!

Check out their website and read about the different types of neoprene they have that doesn't compress Welcome to Wetwear - Custom Wet Suits of Rubatex Neoprene for Scuba Diving and All Water Activities