I've had it with silicone seals.

[Hatul]

I'm finally changing the neck seal of my DUI drysuit to latex. The last straw was a small tear that appeared on the top of the seal.

Here are the problems I found with silicone:
1. they're thin and prone to curling up, so I always need someone to help me flatten out the neck seal against the skin
2. I believe they get stretched in time and gradually get looser to the point of leaking
3. They collect beach sand like crazy with beach diving
4. worst of all they're prone to tearing.

 

[macado]

I would agree. I initially installed silicone seals on my drysuit however I switched them all back to latex seals.

While silicone seals are a lot more stretchy than latex I've had a bunch of them spontaneously fail while putting them on without any warning. They just didn't seem as durable and attracted too much grit/sand and tore very easily. They were less than 4 months old.

At least with latex you generally get warnings signs when they're going to fail and need to be replaced.

I also had the same issue with my silicone neck seal. It bunched / curled up like crazy.

I would say that unless you have a latex allergy or very thin bony wrists I would stick with latex seals. They seem (at least for me) to last longer as long as they're properly cared for.

 

[victorzamora]

The argument I've always heard was silicon breaks more easily but is that much easier to replace

 

[buddhasummer]

Seems to be the general consensus. I moved to silicone with replaceable system as getting latex repairs for me is somewhat problematic and expensive. So far with only 2 drysuit seasons under my belt I've had no longevity issues with either, the silicone neck seal hasn't leaked, the latex did. Bear in mind I've only done around 100 dives so I guess longevity shouldn't have been an issue anyway. As with most things in life there is a price to pay for everything. For me the ability to change my own seals in a matter of minutes was worth the price of more frequent repairs.

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

I skipped over silicone but am happy with neoprene neck seals and latex for wrist seals. That may just be what my large bulbous head does to neck seals. DUI seems far more interested in their short term gain than in their customers so I would look elsewhere. It's not that they don't make good products but the value may not be there.

 

[WhiteSands]

How long did yours last?

I definitely agree with #3, but so far (touch wood) have not experienced 1, 2 and 4.
If I understand #1 correctly, you just need to pull the seal down below your Adam's apple and that itself usually fixes the folding.

PS: My seals came with my Santi suit, and so far so good. Not sure what brand of seals they use. They seem easier to put on/take off then my buddy's latex seals, and don't cause rash burns on your neck (my buddy gets rash burns with the latex seals). I don't use any lubrication/powder on them and they are "slippery" enough, even when dry.

I'm finally changing the neck seal of my DUI drysuit to latex. The last straw was a small tear that appeared on the top of the seal.

Here are the problems I found with silicone:
1. they're thin and prone to curling up, so I always need someone to help me flatten out the neck seal against the skin
2. I believe they get stretched in time and gradually get looser to the point of leaking
3. They collect beach sand like crazy with beach diving
4. worst of all they're prone to tearing.

 

[WarrenZ]

I found that the Silicone seals seemed to stick when putting on and taking off more than the latex so I am going back to latex I think thats why I tore my last wrist seal. I use talc on my seals by the way not sure if I want to have a large bottle of KY Lube in my dive bag with some of the people I dive with.

 

[BenjaminF]

I found that the Silicone seals seemed to stick when putting on and taking off more than the latex so I am going back to latex I think thats why I tore my last wrist seal. I use talc on my seals by the way not sure if I want to have a large bottle of KY Lube in my dive bag with some of the people I dive with.

That's to help with the TSA. Not for anything to do with diving

 

[Peter69_56]

I have silicon and have had no issues to date. I love the idea of being able to change them within a few minutes. I will be sticking with them over latex.

 

[WarrenZ]

I am using the oval rings on my new suit so it was easy to replace the ripped silicone seal and replace it with a standard latex seal.