help to pick a 3mm wetsuit - Pinnacle vs Henderson

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I wore out my 3mm Thermoprene suit. It has over 100 dives on it. I personally like the way the Henderson's fit me -- not to loose, not to tight. Like some of the other posters have said, you should go to the dive shop and try them on and see which one fits you the best. If the shop has them in the rental gear and has a pool available, see if you can try them in the pool before you buy. Fit is everything and not all suits fit all people.
 
not sure this will be helpful but I will post it anyways.

I purchased three extra large jumpsuits. One Pinnacle, one Henderson, and one Aqualung. The Pinnacle was much smaller than the other two and I returned it for that reason
 
Both manufacturers make a very high quality wetsuit, and providing you get a good fit, you'll be happy for a long time with either one. Just keep in mind they use 2 very different patterns and sizing charts for their fit.

The Henderson suit will fit pretty true to the middle of it's sizing chart, while the Pinnacle suits tend to fit better toward the bottom of each size range. For example if it says the waist is for a 32"-36" the 32 and 33 fit very well, the 35 and 36 not so well.

When purchasing a suit using a sizing chart keep in mind that the height and waist measurements are going to be your most important. The suit needs to fit you correctly "around" in order to keep you warm. Height is a secondary measurement to most wetsuit manufacturers and they come up with it off a general chart. Basically in their estimation "most peope so big around were generally about yay tall". There's not a lot of science involved. And you can almost always toss the weight catagory out the window as they don't take into account that muscle being more dense than fat, 2 people can be the same size in inches but outweigh on another by as much as 20 or 25 pounds. That can mess things up just about every time. You'll also notice Pinnacle's sizing chart can tend to run a bit "tall" at times.

It's not to say that either has a bad or better approach. In fact, for me and any other sales person or instructor having 2 high quality companies such as these with 2 very different charts/patterns makes for great flexibility. If one manufacturer isn't fitting well, we know we have another to turn to that probably will.
 
Ditto Hotpuppy's comments about fit. Any tech features will be overridden by an ill-fitting suit. That said, for a 3mm I have a Pinnacle Seal with the merino lining - dives warm and comfy. No matter what, though, go for the best fit... :)
 

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