Henderson Insta Dry

[rogerf]

Does anyone have any information as to when the suits will be released. I first tried to get a suit in Jan 05 and then was told it would ship in Feb then March and then april. now they are telling me End of May. Just asked for a refund. Have talked to other dealers who say they are the only ones getting them and they are limited to 80 suits for the first shipment and no one else will get any and If you want one better buy it now. I think Henderson is feeding its dealers a lot of BS on this or the Dealers are feeding there cusomers alot of BS. So please if anyone has any information on the true release date please let me know.

 

[StSomewhere]

Does anyone have any information as to when the suits will be released.

The business school answer: This can happen any time you have a new product launch and want to get the advertisting in the channel before you have the production problems worked out. Why would Henderson do this? Because the lead times for magazine ads are literally measured in months. Its hard to get the timing right between advertising and production if issues are discovered when production really ramps up.

My opinion: I think the Instradry could eventually be revolutionary enough to be worthy of all the attention, but think about whether you want to drop $400 on a 3mm wetsuit when they are still apparently working out production/quality issues on the factory floor. In my mind, this is one product that you want to let other divers to test IRL before dropping your own hard earned cash. Don't buy into the hype just yet.

 

[Rastaman]

I can towel dry my Gold Core and get the same result they claim or very close. Try it and see for yourself.

 

[Chad Carney]

I can towel dry my Gold Core and get the same result they claim or very close. Try it and see for yourself.

Rastaman,

You're right about the inside, same stuff - different color.
It's the outside lamenation on a Gold Core or any other suit that keeps it wet, which cools a diver in a breeze.

The Insta Dry material has no fabric exterior to hold moisture. Also there is an inner layer, that I can see on the edge by the zipper, that is designed to add durability for stitching and "hyper extension", to use their term for stretching out. I'm about 3 degrees away from test diving the suit again, it's only a 3mm and we haven't cracked 70 degrees yet.

I can remember advertised products that took years to make it to market, and some never arrived at all! I hope this isn't one of those.

Chad

 

[Rastaman]

I agree that the Gold Core outside will dry slower than its inside but the outside will dry much faster than normal neoprene suits. After a dive I towel dry the outside of my suit while it is still on and for the most part it is dry. I can stop any remaining evaporation cooling by using an over size coat lined with waterproof fleece during windy SIs. The point I am trying to make is do we need a waterproof outer layer to solve the evaporation cooling problem and what trade off will the diver have to make to get this outer shell.

 

[Chad Carney]

When scuba diving we often make 4 to 8 dives a day, and while freediving it's more like twice that for water entries and exits. That's a lot of drying off and covering up that would be very convenient to discontinue.

My experience with drying my cold core while suited and covering with a polartech coat is, that it's better than nothing, but not as good as peeling the suit to the waist at least, and then covering with the coat.

I have only worn the Ultra Dry one day on a fast open boat, but it was great being dry almost all of the time. Needing no overcoat would be nice from all aspects, including cost.

Will the Insta Dry suit be durable and wear well? That's the hardest question to guess next to, when will they become available?

Chad