Insta-dry?

[biloy53]

I have scoured the piostings and find no review or discussion of the Henderson Insta dry. How about it?
Is it comfy?
Does it perform well?
Can you don and remove it easily?
Does it really dry instantly?
Worth the bucks?
More comments please.

 

[RPanick]

I have an InstaDry hood for my dry suit. Basically it has rubber on both sides that prevents it from absorbing water. As a result it drys much faster than most other suits. However, I wouldn't agree with most of the claims I've heard from it. If you can hang it up and let it dry in a way that air can get to every part, it might dry pretty quick. Reality is you toss it somewhere and the water stays inside the suit, and hence wet.

It doesn't have much stretch, roughly the same as what I've seen in most neoprene suits. My gut feel is that the outer surface may not abrade well, so that may be a reason not to get one. I haven't had any problems, but then again since its a hood, I try to keep from banging it into too many things.

Would I spend my money for it, probably not unless I really needed a suit that dried fast for some reason.

 

[CompuDude]

I own Insta-Dry from head to toe.

7mm hood, 7mm fullsuit, 7mm booties, and 3mm gloves.

I would buy the booties and the gloves again in a heartbeat. (My 3mm gloves are warm as some 7mm gloves I have worn, and I really can pick up a dime while wearing them. Way handy for this photographer.) I might or might not buy the hood... I just don't see a huge advantage to the insta-dry material there. I probably would not buy the 7mm version of the suit again, instead opting for a full suit with integrated hood, like the Bare and Xcel suits. (Another reason why I'll pass on the hood next time around.)

The suit does dry very rapidly, as long as you hang it up. (Even plastic sheets don't dry if you leave them wet and folded up in a bag, so expecting truly instant drying is absurd.) However, if you wipe the suit down quickly with a towel, inside and out, it really will be dry pretty much instantly, even on cold days. The material they use to cover the outside does not retain water like nylon does, and the bare neoprene inside does not, either.

As an added bonus (and the primary reason I would buy the booties again in a heatbeat), my entire wetsuit, boots included, smells like clean neoprene after 60 dives in it so far this year alone. (I bought it in February... and yes I pee in my suit.) No special washing other than a quick rinse in the bathtub at home and hanging it to dry. On the second day on a liveaboard, it is bone dry by morning if I hang the suit, without any extra effort on my part.

OTOH, it is true that the external material does not wear as well as nylon-covered material. I had grooves cut into my suit from the crotch strap on my bp/w, and I haven't heard many other people complaining of this phenominon, so I think it's the suit's fault more than the stiffer-than-I-would-like crotch strap.

In warmer waters, however, wearing a thinner version of the suit and a BC without a crotch strap, I wouldn't hesistate. They're great suits. Not cheap, but very good. They're just made a little more expensive because of the wear issues.

 

[JessH]

CompuDude- Do the booties exhibit the same wear issues as the suit? My booties are getting a little nasty so I am thinkin some of these might be on my wishlist.

~Jess

 

[CompuDude]

CompuDude- Do the booties exhibit the same wear issues as the suit? My booties are getting a little nasty so I am thinkin some of these might be on my wishlist.

Yes and no. My booties are in perfect shape except for one small spot where my dive knife's sheath/straps apparently rub it. If you don't wear your knife on your ankle, I don't think you'll have any issues with them. The outsoles are VERY sturdy, and I expect they'll outlast the rest of the boot unless I take up jogging in them.

Highly recommended, and I would definitely buy them again. In fact, I WILL buy them again, when the time comes to replace mine, assuming they're still on the market.