cork2win:
Dear God that experience was almost enough to make me say "forget it, I'll do my checkouts by referral on vacation". At least that way I wouldn't have had to endure all this torture! Sheesh!! I sure hope my Henderson Hyperstretch gets here tomorrow and that it's easier to deal with than that darn rental suit!!
After the Wife and I's checkout dives earlier this year in the 7mm john/jackets/hood, we were certain that they were either hazing us, or using it as a weed-out factor to see if we could take it or not. 3XL x 7mm == a lot of lead as well - we were both overweighted as well, with 30+ lbs on each of us. Thankfully we were able to borrow the DUI W&T's which helped a lot. In any case, between the suit, ambient temperature, and weight, SWMBO had a minor panic attach before hitting the water, and I wasn't in such a great mood either which didnt' help.
Needless to say, our first gear purchases after certification were suits - 5mm hyperstretch + core warmers -- best gear purchase so far for us. Being comfortable drastically improved our diving experiences, and being able to buy stuff off the rack that actually FIT was nice. I can certainly see why the shop uses the 2-piece suits to give more flexibility in fitting, and 7mm is not uncalled for the local quarry where they do checkouts, but it sure made the day interesting. Unfortunately for the LDS, we ended up getting suits at a different LDS who actually had things in stock for us to try on, and that was selling them for a more reasonable price than simple "MSRP".
Wife has since acquired a normal (pocketed) weight belt from the LDS where we trained and likes it better than the W&T, but my lack of hips and butt means I'll probably be ordering the DUI W&T soon, and they'll get the order even at MSRP since they were the ones who introduced me to the product.
Good luck!
Atta girl 
