How many dives on your Fusion?

[Potapko]

Love my fusion!
About 50 dives. Same pilling and problem with the suspenders as stated. Would suggest using a different supplier for the suspenders. Seems to be a common problem and one I didn't have with previous suits. Do we have to send the suit back to get a replacement?

 

[Kern]

The Fusion does not come with hard Kevlar style knee pads because that would take flexibility away from the suit. The whole idea around the Fusion is the mobility, stremlining and flexibility. If we added a hard knee pad, the diver would lose stretch in that area and defeat the purpose of the suit.

Yes, solid knee pads would be counter productive. There are however materials out there that are both very stretchy & tough. An example would be the strata inserts that Cressi uses. My Ice is about 7 years old, it's done a lot of crawling over rocks & onto pitching boats. The knee pads are very stretchy & will probably outlast the usefulness of the suit. I'm not saying you should use strata inserts, just that there are other alternatives that may be more suitable.

Instead a "Tough Coat" was put on the knees for abrasion resistance and it works very well in that regard.

Hasn't been my experience I'm afraid.

Having said that, we value the feedback of eveyone out there who dives the Fusion and are always looking for ways to innovate and improve our product.

That will explain why every contact I'v initiated with Whites was ignored. (oops, getting a little bitchy)

When an upgrade is available as Fusion owners you simply need to buy a new skin and you have a brand new suit. So as the technology improves you can keep up and not be stuck for years with an out of date drysuit. Remember, the DryCores all stay the same and only the skins are changing!

I think it's a great idea.

The pockets on the Fusion are attached to the skin and are a bellows style pocket that expands out if you need it, and contracts if you don't. There is an easy to open velcro flap, gromets installed for bungee attachment, and a drainage vent on the bottom. My experience with the pockets has been nothing but positive, however we realize that some divers are used to different systems so we will continue to use your feedback in our future endavours.

The rubbery drainage vents were cracked & split when mine arrived. The stitching at the lower corners of the pockets is cutting it's way through the leg material. If things get out of hand I'll just cut them off. Now thats an expensive throw away. None of this is really that big a bother to me. It's not the best addvert for Whites though. If I wasn't on the other side of the world I would have sent it back for an exchange. I was having enough problems at the time getting an exchange on the very second hand sports skin supplied with my package.

Just so we're clear; I love this suit. I hope I can organise an easy replacment for my bracers as I don't want to go back to my semi wet for even one of my wreck deco dives this summer. To keep things in perspective, I will kill this tech skin, it's only a matter of time. But it won't be this year, I doubt it'll be next year or even the year after. Then I can just slip on my sports skin & carry on.

 

[TSandM]

I just want to say that my cave diving involves a lot of crawling around on my knees (no, not IN the caves, but getting in and out of them). I've been nervous about the possibility of damage to the bag, since the pad on the knee seems so flimsy, but to date, neither the pad nor the underlying suit has shown any wear.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I agree with TS&M. Mine has held up very well in caves and wrecks and I am past the point of being concerned about damaging it any more than I have been with trilams in the past.

All of the zippers used on the Fusions are manufactured by YKK, which is considered a leader in zipper quality. The "fraying" that some people are noticing is simply a result of the amount of extra material that YKK has extended past the zipper teeth, and does not affect the zipper quality or performance in any way. Granted, it does give the perception of deterioration, but all you need to do is gently burn away the extra fraying with a lighter, and problem solved. Also, proper zipper maintenance using a high quality wax on both sides of the zipper helps to conditon the material and prevent this fraying from occuring.

I am not in agreement about the zipper. I have owned several dry suits over the last 20 years all with YKK zippers. The one on the Fusion does not have any more material past the teeth than any of my previous zippers, it just frays more. I do agree you can keep burning off the extra fraying, but that does not solve the problem, as the fraying continues and eventually it gets so far back that it leaks.

In regards to lubrication, it gets rewaxed every other dive - a schedule that has gotten me at least 5 years of leak free diving on every other drysuit I have owned.

The issue I see looming is that as I come up on the warranty expiration date I am going to send my nearly 1 year old suit with a zipper with about 4-5 years worth of fraying back to Whites whether it leaks yet or not as it is clear it will leak long before it should.

Other minor issues:

One other issue with the pockets is that they sag a bit. One member has suggested gluing velco to the dry core under the pocket and sewing the mating piece of velcro to the skin under the pocket to keep it in place. It sounds like a good idea, I am just not sure what adhesive to use to do it. This might make a great factory option.

I had to size up to a 2XL/3XL as the calves are to skinny in the dry core in the XL. That leaves me under tall for the 2XL/3XL which is not a problem - except I was also advised to get the matching 2XL/3XL tech skin. It is too long in the torso and legs. The legs are not really an issue but the torso could use a 4" tummy tuck to shorten it - I am just not quite ready to take a $400 skin to the tailor to get it done - partially due to the need forit to still stretch radially. Life would be simpler if Whites would have just made the lower legs a bit roomier in the XL in the first place and/or advised me to go with the XL tech skin rather than the too tall 2XL/3XL.

 

[Kern]

So;
some zippers are holding up well, some aren't;
some knee pads are holding up well, some aren't;
some suspenders are holding up well, some aren't;
some ..........?
is there a quality control problem here.

 

[fdog]

Hmmm. Well, my Fusion has about 290 dives. Maybe more than 300, I haven't really looked through my logbook that closely.

I LOVE it. It has held up superbly. I haven't had zipper issues, I'll admit that I occasionally space out waxing after a dive and the zipper will stiffen up, but after a coouple of waxes it runs smoothly again. In all honesty it behaves like every other drysuit zipper I've owned.

I'm really pleased in the durability department. I understand why folks wonder about the outer skin durability, it does present differently what we've been programed to expect as a "durable feel". I switched to a Tech skin at about 140 dives, and the lycra skin still looked great. The Tech skin still looks almost new.

I have had an issue...my cat bit some holes in the feet. I used a heat gun and the White's heat activated patches, and had it fixed myself in about 5 minutes. That was nice, I didn't have to send it anywhere.

Hey - at about 300 dives, I've been very happy. The Fusion has exceeded my expectations in every way.


All the best, James

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Your Fusion came with a patch kit? Mine did not have one, which I thought was odd - but it is possible it was a dealer screw up.

 

[skdvr]

I only have about 40 dives on my Fusion and I really love the suit... I have not noticed any zipper problems yet and hopeuflly I will not. The common problem that I have noticed is with the suspenders. Mine are starting to come apart. Nothing major (yet) but it is a little annoying with such a new suit. I have heard about the tight leg thing from a few people. A buddy of mine bought one and he is about 5 inches shorter than me but had to go with the same size suit as me becuase he could not get his legs into the Med suit. Even with a light undergarment on he could not completely bed his knees. The Lg/Xl is a big big on him but still fits him better than any other suit he had used.

I love my pockets, but then again I have never had pockets on any other suit. So with this being my first experience with them they seem great to me... I too have thought about the velcro attachments to keep my pockets from moving, because while the sag on the surface does bug me a little, it is when I have big dryglove on and am trying to get something out of the pocket with it moving around a little that can get annoying...

Anyway, like I said I love my suit though and recommend it to anyone that is looking for a new DS...

Phil

 

[Rick Inman]

35 dives or so?

Yes, I solved my sagging pockets with some velcro strips glued between the layers, and it is working great! Zero sagging now. The stitching around the pockets is starting to open up a bit, but I would guess that is due to abusive shoving of stuff into them while I got used to the new pockets. Also, with my big feet and layers of socks, it's a push to get my feet past the ankles.

All that said, I absolutely love the suit! I saw my backup DC UltraFlexPro hanging in my dive room the other day and thought, thank goodness I don't have to wear that heavy, cumbersome thing anymore.

 

[fdog]

Your Fusion came with a patch kit? Mine did not have one, which I thought was odd - but it is possible it was a dealer screw up.

No, it didn't come with the suit - I plunked down the extra $40 for it. Totally was a worthwhile investment. Easy to use and the applied patch is like it came from the factory.


All the best, James