I need some advice

[Titan8883]

I am a new diver (just got my OW cert) and am planning on slowly acquiring my own dive gear (college is expensive!). I live in Chicago and plan on diving mostly locally in the summer and take the occasional tropical trip. For my OW cert I dove in Kentucky with a 3mm full body suit, booties, gloves,and a 4mm hooded vest in 60 degree water and was okay up until our fourth dive. I am simply wondering what you guys would suggest as a wetsuit setup for me. I would like to keep it flexible for when I go to warmer waters, but still effective for temperate dives (I don’t plan to dive in any water below 50-55 degrees…yet). Any combinations anyone has that seem to work well? Thanks for your help.

 

[Bob3]

For your local diving, I'd suggest a 7mm suit for sure.
Do you still have that 3mm / 4mm vest? If you do, then you're pretty much all set if you pick up a 7mm, preferably a 1-piece jumpsuit that you can use with the vest.
You'll be hard pressed to find a single suit to be adequate in all water temps, something is going to always be a tradeoff & in the long run you'll be kicking yourself in the butt for trying to squeak by on the cheap.
Have you checked the "for sale" section on the board here?

 

[Titan8883]

For your local diving, I'd suggest a 7mm suit for sure.
Do you still have that 3mm / 4mm vest? If you do, then you're pretty much all set if you pick up a 7mm, preferably a 1-piece jumpsuit that you can use with the vest.
You'll be hard pressed to find a single suit to be adequate in all water temps, something is going to always be a tradeoff & in the long run you'll be kicking yourself in the butt for trying to squeak by on the cheap.
Have you checked the "for sale" section on the board here?

I should have mentioned the the suit setup I wore on my OW cert was not mine. Thanks for the advice!

 

[ChrisA]

I am a new diver (just got my OW cert) and am planning on slowly acquiring my own dive gear (college is expensive!). I live in Chicago and plan on diving mostly locally in the summer and take the occasional tropical trip. For my OW cert I dove in Kentucky with a 3mm full body suit, booties, gloves,and a 4mm hooded vest in 60 degree water and was okay up until our fourth dive. I am simply wondering what you guys would suggest as a wetsuit setup for me. I would like to keep it flexible for when I go to warmer waters, but still effective for temperate dives (I don’t plan to dive in any water below 50-55 degrees…yet). Any combinations anyone has that seem to work well? Thanks for your help.

For "upper 50's to 60F you want a 7mm suit. and a hood, booties
and gloves You may also want a hooded vest. The water off Calif.
is about the same temp and a lot of people like dry suits but most
do OK in 7mm neopene. When it gets below 55 then a dry suit is
in order. One other option is a farmer john with a "step through"
jacket (aka "two piece suit) because the two parts puts 14mm
of material over the torso. Make sure the fit is perfect, zero
space between you and the suit.

Buy a second suit for tropical water, a 3/2mm shorty maybe
use the hooded vest under it if the water is not quite all
that tropical. 3/2 shorties are cheap, well under $100
and in winter put it under your 7mm suit.

 

[IndigoBlue]

I am a new diver (just got my OW cert) and am planning on slowly acquiring my own dive gear (college is expensive!). I live in Chicago and plan on diving mostly locally in the summer and take the occasional tropical trip. For my OW cert I dove in Kentucky with a 3mm full body suit, booties, gloves,and a 4mm hooded vest in 60 degree water and was okay up until our fourth dive. I am simply wondering what you guys would suggest as a wetsuit setup for me. I would like to keep it flexible for when I go to warmer waters, but still effective for temperate dives (I don’t plan to dive in any water below 50-55 degrees…yet). Any combinations anyone has that seem to work well? Thanks for your help.

I presume that so far you own your fins, mask, snorkel, booties, and weight belt. If not, that is what I would buy first. The pouch style fabric weight belts with soft weights are the most versatile.

Next a dive watch and depth gauge, or a bottom timer, are what you need in order to dive with tables. If you can afford a nitrox dive computer, that would be a great purchase instead.

I would then try to buy your own regulator set up. A quality 1st stage (ScubaPro, Zeagle, Atomic, etc) and 2 good second stages, with an SPG and a LP hose for your B/C, is well worth it.

With all the above, you are now set to scuba travel or to rent whatever else you would need locally. You can easily rent a suit. I would not buy one until you have the other gear. You might find a store that rents drysuits, and by taking their drysuit class, that would entitle you to rent their drysuits.

Once you can afford a drysuit, that would be the best purchase. The only other suit you would ever need, if you had a drysuit of your own, would be a 3mm wetsuit for warm water diving. And a 3mm wetsuit is almost no wetsuit at all, so your weighting with a 3mm suit would be just a little more than with no suit at all.

That would be my advice to you.

Good luck, and congrats on certifying while you are in college. You will turn out to be one of the best divers here, after a few years, since you are starting out young.