I picked up a Henderson Aqua Lock 7mm suit from my LDS the other day. I'd been out of diving for a number of years and my old cold water wet suit was, well, not gonna happen. It was a two piece farmer john and jacket. It flushed water like I had a hose down the back. I purchased it along with a new hood and gloves, both 5mm, also Aqua Lock.
I wanted to see where I was at weight-wise with the new Henderson suit. So I threw it on, along with my booties, (4th element Amphibians) and hopped into my pool. Immediately I noticed that there was almost no water flushing through the suit despite my moving around. The suit has liquid taped seams as well as a decent flap behind the zipper which the neoprene also covers up to where the teeth come together. So next thing was to slap on the hood and gloves. I needed some assistance from my wife to get the hood properly under the neck line given the lack of flexibility from the thick neoprene. With the suit, hood, gloves, and booties on I was starting to get real warm, real fast. Outside air temperature was 90-something. Donning my backplate and tank (XDeep Zen w/ a low pressure steel 95) I jumped back in the pool to start a weight check. For me (6'2" 210#) it took 16lbs of lead in the integrated weight pockets to get neutrally buoyant all the way down to 250 psi in the tank in my 5' deep pool.
Range of motion wasn't terrible. I could swim around with my hands and arms in a breast-stroke fashion under water and kick my legs easily enough.
The way the wrists and ankles work is they are made of two thinner layers of neoprene. The idea is you roll back the outer layer so that the uppers of your booties or wrist section of your gloves fit between the two sections of neoprene to further limit water entry. I did notice that the band for my Genesis Centauri dive computer is grossly undersized. My old Suunto Spyder has a band extension for just such suits. Even an 11" NATO strap doesn't have much spare slack. I have a stretchy strap that works a little better (and should work with the wetsuit compression) and have just put a 17" long NATO strap on order.
The quick dry lining seemed to work well. Thee water quickly runs down to the liner in the lower parts of the arms and legs when left to hang. After leaving it to hang outside overnight it was bone dry inside and out the following morning with the exception of the dual layered sections of the wrist and ankles.
Donning and doffing the suit isn't overly difficult. For my size I fit quite well into an off-the-rack XL size. My LDS did state that custom sizes can be ordered.
My pool was at about 82 degrees and after 30 minutes of playing around in it I was cooking in the wetsuit. That whole lack of water flushing through left me sweating. While it remains to be seen just how well it does for multi-tank diving in 55 degree water, from what I've experienced so far I'm looking forward to trying it out.
The 7mm Aqua Lock suit retails for about $500. While it's on the higher end of the price spectrum for 7mm wetsuits, it incorporates many features not found in lower priced options.
I wanted to see where I was at weight-wise with the new Henderson suit. So I threw it on, along with my booties, (4th element Amphibians) and hopped into my pool. Immediately I noticed that there was almost no water flushing through the suit despite my moving around. The suit has liquid taped seams as well as a decent flap behind the zipper which the neoprene also covers up to where the teeth come together. So next thing was to slap on the hood and gloves. I needed some assistance from my wife to get the hood properly under the neck line given the lack of flexibility from the thick neoprene. With the suit, hood, gloves, and booties on I was starting to get real warm, real fast. Outside air temperature was 90-something. Donning my backplate and tank (XDeep Zen w/ a low pressure steel 95) I jumped back in the pool to start a weight check. For me (6'2" 210#) it took 16lbs of lead in the integrated weight pockets to get neutrally buoyant all the way down to 250 psi in the tank in my 5' deep pool.
Range of motion wasn't terrible. I could swim around with my hands and arms in a breast-stroke fashion under water and kick my legs easily enough.
The way the wrists and ankles work is they are made of two thinner layers of neoprene. The idea is you roll back the outer layer so that the uppers of your booties or wrist section of your gloves fit between the two sections of neoprene to further limit water entry. I did notice that the band for my Genesis Centauri dive computer is grossly undersized. My old Suunto Spyder has a band extension for just such suits. Even an 11" NATO strap doesn't have much spare slack. I have a stretchy strap that works a little better (and should work with the wetsuit compression) and have just put a 17" long NATO strap on order.
The quick dry lining seemed to work well. Thee water quickly runs down to the liner in the lower parts of the arms and legs when left to hang. After leaving it to hang outside overnight it was bone dry inside and out the following morning with the exception of the dual layered sections of the wrist and ankles.
Donning and doffing the suit isn't overly difficult. For my size I fit quite well into an off-the-rack XL size. My LDS did state that custom sizes can be ordered.
My pool was at about 82 degrees and after 30 minutes of playing around in it I was cooking in the wetsuit. That whole lack of water flushing through left me sweating. While it remains to be seen just how well it does for multi-tank diving in 55 degree water, from what I've experienced so far I'm looking forward to trying it out.
The 7mm Aqua Lock suit retails for about $500. While it's on the higher end of the price spectrum for 7mm wetsuits, it incorporates many features not found in lower priced options.
