Henderson Greenprene?

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Outbound

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Location
Michigan
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Anyone have any experience with one of Henderson's new Greenprene wetsuits? I'll be on a LOB trip this coming May and I've found that I get cold with my current Thermoprene 3mm suit, so I'll be upgrading to a 5mm. I was thinking of getting a Henderson Thermaxx, but then saw that they recently released their Greenprene line. I've read the marketing hype and that's all well and good, but I wanted to see if anyone had an in-water experience with one of them. I'm all for going green, and I don't mind paying more for a quality product. But I want to make sure that it's just as warm as a Thermaxx of the same thickness, and want to make sure that it is as durable as a regular wetsuit (although I don't dive wet that often so it's not like it's going to get a ton of use, and I know that they haven't been out long enough for many real-world long-term tests).
 
@Hoyden mentioned having a 3mm in this thread: Interesting development from Henderson

I'm also interested in hearing others' experiences. I'm hoping my Thermaxx holds out for at least another year, but at the rate I'm diving it's certainly not going to last forever, and I'm always looking for eco-friendly options.
 
Esprise, how do you find your Thermaxx? I tried one one and it felt nice and comfy and stretchy, but I haven't been in the water with one. If the Greeneprene doesn't work out, Thermaxx would be my next choice at this point. Do you like yours?
 
@Outbound I find it very comfortable, though after almost 100 dives it's starting to show some signs of wear. A few threads have come loose, though the seams are still firmly glued together. I started using a bp/w with a crotch strap shortly after I bought it, and after a few months I noticed the outer layer of the suit was getting rubbed away where the edges of the crotch strap touched my inner thighs. I'd been looking into my options for pockets anyway, and that nudged me towards getting the Apeks tech shorts. I've been wearing the shorts over the wetsuit now for about as many dives as I did in the wetsuit before I got them, and they seem to have stopped the problem from getting worse (and the shorts themselves are not showing signs of wear.)

Recently I noticed the suit has pulled apart at the lower back, just below the zipper. There isn't a hole, just an area a little more than a square inch where the fabric is paper-thin. I suspect now that the suit was never actually a perfect fit for me; I was just able to make it work because it's so stretchy. I'm a 12 in every other brand of wetsuit I've tried on, but the Henderson 12 was too big in the armpits and around the middle; I could blow my hair up with little puffs of air coming out the neck by flapping my arms. I tried on the 10, but it was too short, and also still a little big around the middle and armpits. They had a 10 Tall, which seemed to fit, and it's been working for me all this time. But I might have cut down the life of the suit by constantly stressing it to fit a shape it wasn't made for. (I would describe myself as something between a pear and an hourglass; women's Henderson suits seem to be cut for the apple or upside-down triangle shapes.)

I'm trying to be as specific as possible because I really don't know what's normal; this is the only scuba wetsuit I've owned and it's seen more action by a factor of 10 than either of the surfing/snorkeling wetsuits I owned when I was younger. I bought this suit because I wanted one that was easy to get into and out of, knowing that might come at a cost of warmth and durability, and it delivered. I'm looking into a repair shop in Torrance; maybe they can breathe some more life into it. I'm also getting a drysuit, though I don't think I'll dive dry exclusively.

All things considered, I'd still buy another Henderson, though maybe if I were buying one made from more expensive materials, I'd look into a custom fit. One nice thing about the Thermaxx was that it only cost about half as much as the Aquaflex I'd been eyeing. I'd heard that after about 2 years/ 200 dives, you can expect to have to replace a wetsuit (or relegate it to summer use) anyway due to compression, so I feel like getting a solid year/100 dives is pretty good. And maybe if the next one has a little more room in the trunk, it'll go the distance.
 
Thanks for taking the time for that lengthy review! I'm going to try to get more info on a Greenprene suit first, because I like the whole green thing. But otherwise it sounds like a Thermaxx would be a good second choice. I only dive in a wetsuit when vacation diving, so it will take me a while to get 100-200 tropical dives on it. It should last me a while with proper care and storage.
 
One other point worth mentioning--my Thermaxx is a 7mm. Not sure if the things I mentioned would be better, worse, or the same with a thinner suit. I do think it's a ringing endorsement that even the 7mm is easy to don and doff.
 
I have a 3mm Thermaxx that has around 200 dives on it. I absolutely love it. I know different people have different tolerances for heat and cold, but I am comfortable in mine in temps down to around 70° F. It is, of course, showing signs of usage after that many dives, but it is holding up extremely well.

As for the Greenprene suit goes, the only thing I can tell you is that the lady that owns the LDS I frequent the most was very excited about it after the recent DEMA. I had already read about it before she was telling me and my wife about it and when I need another wetsuit, I will definitely take a serious look at it. According to what she was telling me, it won't be much more expensive than the Thermaxx.
 
Esprise me:

Reading your comments on your Thermaxx wetsuit, I'm somewhere between disappointed and shocked at how the suit seems to have fallen apart after 100 dives. If it was reasonably well cared for, and its only a couple years old, I would be contacting the manufacturer for some consideration. I'm hearing more and more from active divers that their wetsuits are falling apart after roughly 100 dives, but I sincerely hope this is not the new normal. Personally, I have several wetsuits (recently gave up my drysuit and cold water diving) and my merino lined Pinnacle has lasted about 500 dives. Of course, its basically held together with aquaseal, especially where bcd and bp/w straps have rubbed on it!
 
@hilljo88 I'm a little confused. You say your suit is held together with aquaseal--so you have repaired it? How many dives before you made that first repair? I wouldn't say my wetsuit is falling apart; so far I'm just looking to repair that thin spot at my lower back. I'd be interested in hearing from others if what I've described sounds like something I should be upset about or surprised by.
 
The green-ness of some of these alternate wetsuits is somewhat questionable. For example the so-called limestone wetsuits actually have no limestone in the finished product - the process starts with old tires - a source of carbon and limestone in an electric arc furnace to make Calcium carbide. This reacts with water to make acetylene which is a reactive hydrocarbon which can be fed into a process to make a synthetic monomer which can be turned into an neoprene like rubber. - so in reality the suit is made from old tyres. This at least gets tyres out of landfill, but the process once you have the acetylene is quite similar to making neoprene.

The fact that Greenprene uses oyster shells make me suspicious that it is using a similar process but using biomass for carbon and oyster shells for calcium to make a similar compound to neoprene which is then blended with some natural rubber. It is hard to judge as there is nothing I can find in the way of technical data describing the actual process. The concern is the amount of energy required and the end product is still not recyclable as it is effectively the same as neoprene from a viewpoint of bio-degradability.

Until there is some transparency on the processes used to manufacture these new suits - best you can do is judge them on performance.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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