Henderson Insta Dry Wetsuit

[CompuDude]

The suit is pretty much a straight RUBBER Material, not much neoprene. 1) Thats why it dries fast 2) thats why it's so hard to get on and off.

I have 5 Henderson suits; 3m Shortie, 2-3m, 5m, 5/7; all Hyperstretch, and love them. All but the shortie have 50+ dives on them...but the INSTA-DRY is a totally different creature.

I have head-to-toe Insta-Dry, and you might want to check your facts. Insta-Dry is all neoprene, not rubber, just like most other suits. You may be confused by the fact that it is raw neoprene, and not covered in NYLON. The nylon layer slides easily, but doesn't seal as well, and holds water. The nylon is what makes most wetsuits smell funky after being worn for a while. Nylon and velcro pill. Neoprene does not. There is only one small patch of Velcro on my suit (the neck closure, just like every other suit out there).

The Insta-Dry is not instantly drying, but it is VERY fast, because there is no nylon holding the water. It's dry in moments in warm weather, with a quick swipe of a towel. It's dry in minutes in colder weather, with a slightly more thorough toweling. It's dry in under an hour in warm weather with no toweling at all, just dripping dry. (It's not magic, however, if you pack a dripping wet suit, you'll UNpack a dripping wet suit.)

It is very true that they are tough to get on at first, but they really do conform to your body and 10 dives or so come on MUCH easier. Mine fits like a glove now. Note that particularly hairy people WILL have a harder time than others with these suits.

I would buy another in a heartbeat for warm water. I'm not sure about colder water, however, only because I think I want to move to the integrated hood style instead of one-piece plus separate hood.

Downsides: They are expensive. How much you care about that is up to your pocketbook. And while there are some nice things about not having the nylon layer (better stink resistance, easy cleaning and drying), that layer is the one that take a beating much better than regular unprotected neoprene, so I don't think the suit will last as long as another might. Bear in mind that eventually any suit will need replacing if you dive it enough because the bubbles in neoprene compress over repeated dives and slowly lose their ability to rebound, so this may or may not matter as much for the super-frequent diver compared to the 2 vacations per year diver.

 

[oceancurrent]

I am curious... Does anyone know why Henderson stopped producing this kind of wetsuits shortly after they introduced them to the market? I am seeing lots of glowing reviews from people who owned them.

 

[tridacna]

I am curious... Does anyone know why Henderson stopped producing this kind of wetsuits shortly after they introduced them to the market? I am seeing lots of glowing reviews from people who owned them.

They just restarted with their new replacement for the Aqualock. I saw it at DEMA and want one real bad. Not sure if it's been released yet. Looked awesome!

 

[JackD342]

I am not privy to their decision process, but you can be sure the bottom line answer to your question is ... well... the bottom line: sales.
Henderson likes to treat their line up like a fashion industry. There are some staples that have been around for years, and other sub-brands that come and go, replaced by their next big idea.
The relaunched Aqualock has a lining that is supposed to dry in 15 minutes, if that is the attribute you are looking for.

 

[oceancurrent]

Umm. The Aqualock seems to be made of standard nylon-laminated neprene, nothing like what the Instadry was made of. Are they in the process of changing the material?

 

[JackD342]

Looks like the Henderson website still has first version up, so I guess new version hasn’t started shipped yet. The wrist, ankle, neck seals have totally changed, and there’s a new lining material - don’t recall what they have branded the new stuff, but it is actually the lining that dries in 15 minutes, not the whole suit.
I told them they should put the new lining into a drysuit hood.

 

[tursiops]

To me the product comes off like some kind of science fair experiment.

I have no idea what you mean by this.

 

[rongoodman]

They're listed on the LeisurePro site but not in stock yet.

 

[JackD342]

They are calling the new lining for Aqualock "Quik Dry."
It still looks like a variation on a microfleece, this one is almost white. The big difference is it is hydrophobic.
The Dealer Guide just says drys in minutes instead of hours. I must have picked up the 15 minute info when talking to a salesperson - I don't find it in writing.
Found a video:

 

[oceancurrent]

In the Aqualock video they are turning the wetsuit inside out show how it would dry up in 15 minutes on the inside. This is very different from the InstaDry wetsuit properties. The idea of the InstaDry was that the neoprene was smooth on the inside and had a rubbery finish on the outside that would not retain water. The wetsuit was therefore practically dry the moment you step out of the water (or with the help of a towel) eliminating windchill and also looking attractive. The smooth-skin inside would reduce water circulation so the wetsuit was more like a semi dry suit. Also the InstaDry would not develop a wetsuit stink due to lack of textile surfaces that would cultivate bacterial growth.

This Aqualock thing is standard Nylon laminated neoprene on the outside (which won't dry any different than a normal wetsuit while worn). The inside finish is some sort of synthetic plush which would dry faster once you have the wetsuit off and turned inside out. Seems more of a marketing gimmick than anything of real value.

Smoothskin feediving or thriathlon wetsuits would work much like the InstaDry used to by not retaining water on the outside. The only issue with them is that the smoothskin neoprene is more easily abraded and torn by tank straps and attachments (as compared to the InstaDry material which seemed less delicate). Also freediving and triathlon suits tend to be made of very soft stretchy neoprene in order to achieve better fit at the expense of compressibility resistance.