I'm buying a drysuit, whites aqua pro, I could use some advice please...

[Rimp]

Neoprene suits take hours to dry and you weight 2X your normal weight when you get out of the water. This can be horrible if your planning a multi-dive day or have to hike up any hills to get to your car. Also, after a while, they stink real bad as the bacteria grows. They are very heavy suits.

A shell suit on the other hand (the bag) dries instantly when you get out of the water, weighs almost nothing, and if fitted correctly, will not restrict your movements at all. They are very comfortable. The disadvantage is they are more expensive. Hay, at least they never stink..

 

[ranger]

I have an Aqua Pro that I am selling because it is what I call a cold suit. Without thinsulate underware, or in other words using their Polartec underware I get cold. The workmanship is great but I had to send it back to have the wrist seals replaced in under a year because one actually split. The seals were replaced under warranty, but not until myself and the dealer forced them to pick up the tab. They also lost my suit, and it and depending on who you talked to at White's, the suit was being repaired or the suit had been sent back to me. This went on for over 4 months, and the last day I called I was assured that my suit was being repaired that very minute, but when I arrived home, the suit had been delivered to my front porch by UPS. They have a communication problem that I hope has been taken care of.

I have another suit, not a White's, that I prefer to dive because it is much warmer. It is neoprene, which makes it warmer of course, but it is just a more comfortable suit period for me. I am not trying to steer you away from the White's because it is a good suit, but make sure you invest in some GREAT underware. You can purchase Bear's thinsulate 200 underwear from LP for a fraction of the cost of White's underwear, and if you dive in very cold water you will need it.

 

[keelhaul123]

I used to be a die hard trilam fan. A trilam bigot even...until I had a zipper leak and was forced to borrow a neoprene drysuit. I was very impressed. Now I own a neoprene drysuit and the trilam is strictly a backup.

You get a much snugger and more streamlined fit with a neoprene suit and still do not sacrifice anything in terms of range of motion. Even with a custom trilam, there are still tradeoffs between range of motion and bagginess and the degree that you have to tolerate one or the other varies with the underwear. I have found I am much more comfortable in unusual attitudes with a neoprene drysuit as with the snug fit, there is not nearly the tendency for air to rush to your feet. You can also comfortably dive with much less air in the suit and are less prone to a squeeze in a neoprene suit. I have found that when diving doubles and stages where use of the wing for bouyancy control is manadatory, that much less attention needs to be paid to maintaining the volume of air in suit and that task loading is reduced with no sacrifice in comfort.

In my opinion, a neoprene dry suit is also slighty easier to get into as there is normally no requirement to don heavy underwear first and then don the shell. It feels less bulky and is more comfortable to wear in most circumstances

Best of all, with a good fitting neoprene suit, your streamlining is as good as with a wet suit which benefits efficiency in speed and air consumption. Unlike nearly all shell suits, it virtually disapears once you are in the water.

As for longevity, I have heard that neoprene suits do not last as long, but my spouse has put about 4 years and 300 dives on her Atlan neoprene drysuit and it is still going strong - and she bought it used with an unknown number fo dives already on it. That is about as many dives as I have put on either of my trilaminate suits, so if a neoprene suit lasts until you want to replace it anyway and costs half as much initally, it's hard to argue with the economics of a neoprene suit.

Weight wise, with a 7mm neoprene drysuit I need about 4 more pounds than with a trilam in most circumstances but I also stay warmer. For travel the suit is slightly heavier but not bulkier to pack than a trilam and it neccesarily heavier underwear.

So my thoughts are to not rule out a neoprene drysuit based on old predjudices and beliefs associated with older neoprene suits that had problems with valve placement and zipper designs that are no longer a factor. A well designed neoprene drysuit can be an excellent choice.

If you go with a shell suit, you definitely want to go with something with a lot of stretch to it rather than with a traditional trilam material.

Ok...here I go singing the praises of Neoprene again. I also have an Atlan neoprene drysuit. I bought it on the reccomendation of a number of divers and quite honestly the price from my LDS couldn't be beat. My biggest concern naturally was to get a suit that would provide me more warmth than my 7mm wetsuit could do, and this suit has more than done that. My last 4 dives were done in temps ranging from 42F to 48F and bottom times of 37 minutes to 55 minutes. Summer diving in temps of +or- 55/60F I usually get by with nothing more under it than a bathing suit and maybe a t-shirt. Being a cheapskate I didn't want to spend the big $$$ on a "real" set of undergarments, so I bought some heavyduty polypropylene underwear from my local Army/Navy store and the combination keeps me warm as toast. I don't find it particularly heavy, but then I was used to a thick neoprene wetsuit before. Considering how big a market there seems to be in replacement/repair of latex seals I feel more confident(perhaps falsely) with the thicker fold back neoprene seals as well. Just my 2 cents worth

 

[Bob3]

Keep an eye on which type of Thinsulate is used, the "boot grade" is much more compression resistant. (as in "B200").
You won't need anything nearly that heavy (B200) under a neoprene suit, unless it's crushed or very compressed.
Atlan suits are commercial diving grade, by the way. Very well put together with the best materials.