Local Drysuit opinions

[np251]

Hi All

I was very fortunate to get an awesome deal on a brand new Bare Trilam HD Tech at the thanksgiving sale at our local shop. I fit a stock large perfectly and couldnt walk away from it. I love it. Literally saved more than I spent, the deal was that good.

My fiance, KLJ here on the board, was also in the store and tried on a number of DUI and Bare suits, but couldnt find anything that fit. The staff at the shop measured her for suits from both companies and we heard back today that both recommend a custom cut suit. This is where it gets interesting- our shop is awesome and the prices for either the Bare Trilam HD Tech or the DUI TLS350 end up being within $100 of each other. So price is effectively out of the equation.

What we are hoping for is some opinions on how the two suits stack up to each other in our local dive environment. We dive moderately hard- we hit 100 wetsuit dives this past year and were routinely doing 50-60 mins in 48-52 oF water 2-3 times a day (we dont get many days out, but we make them count).

Personally, I like the 'heft' of the Bare. I like the fact it just looks the part- rugged, well styled and fits great. I dont mind the extra weight and the slightly larger packing dimensions. I tried a TLS 350 at a DUI dog day rally last year and was, well, underwhelmed by it. Granted, it wasnt fitted, but the material feels a lot thinner and the suit is very light. I guess my mind equates those factors with it possibly not being as durable. But thats me. Ive also heard of people having problems with the TLS leaking more than the Bare (in fact, guys at the shop we go to almost exclusively dive the Bare because they seem to always have a couple TLS350s in for repair at any one time).

Pros for the TLS350 are its ease of donning, it has a less restrictive feel to it, is lighter and smaller to transport (not that we really travel to dive much).

So, given equal suit specs and price, what would your choice be? We are going for two pockets, p-valve installation, heavy duty seals (neoprene neck and HD bottles wrists on the Bare- regular latex, not Zip, on the DUI) and kneepads. Going the neoprene softsock and Chuck T all stars boot route.

Also, we have the undergarments sorted. We got great deals on a couple of Bare hi-loft and are hoping that coupling those with drygloves, chunky REI hiking socks, under-armor medium base-layers and thin tilos 100 undersuits will meet our needs.

Thanks guys, we really value your opinions and hope to make the first purchase the only purchase.

Neil
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[andrewy]

i dive tls and like it, my buddy dives bare and likes it go figure.

 

[sander8]

I have the same view of the Bare as better made and more durable. Many buddies have the DUI but the Bare that I dive is better and has fewer problems. Zippers, seals, valves all better.

 

[Ben_ca]

My first drysuit was a Bare Nex Gen... my second was a used TLS 350 Going from the Bare to the TLS was like going from denim to pajamas... yes it is lighter and maybe less durable... but really for diving in our area unless you are going down goat trails in Big Sur or the North Coast you really do not need it to be that rugged.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

One nice thing about the Bare suits is the elastic skirt. No crotch strap.

I have a Bare crushed neoprene suit and I like it.

Kawika Chetron gets the credit for the Converse All-Stars. Me, I have the boots built into the suit.

 

[Peter_C]

I would take flexibility over heft since I want to easily reach my valves. I have a DUI CF200 that served me well for many years. I have had a trilam in the past and would like one now. Currently dive a well loved Fusion, but hate the pockets. Really need to sew a new set on. So if I was buying a suit today it would be either a TLS350 or a FLX Extreme as I haven't researched latter yet. The suit would have a pee-valve (Light Monkey or Halcyon), Halcyon pockets since they are huge and have nice features built in like the wetnote pocket, Turbo Soles for ankle flexibility and ease of donning/doffing (Have them on my CF200 and love them, even hiking goat trails on the North Coast), and ZIP seals or the SI Tech equivalent for in the field repairs (Which also allows silicon seals). Valves can be changed upgraded, zippers should be all made by YKK, at least everyone I have ever bought. Myself I only care about a warranty so much since I do my own repairs. For someone that doesn't it might be worth it to factor that in. FWIW my gal has a suit that was sent to Bare by the previous owner and after a pressure test they stated it needed a new zipper so they decided to sell it. Well I bought it off ebay for $127 shipped, fixed six leaks and other than an exhaust valve I need to go fix it has never leaked from the zipper. Hmmm...customer service??

 

[np251]

Thanks everyone for the info, we really appreciate it.

Since i got the Bare, ive had in on, including all the undergarments, a couple times and done all the stretches etc to verify the fit. I can touch the middle of my shoulder blades with a little bit of effort, so i think ill be reaching my tank valves just fine once i moved to doubles. Installed a p-valve and im about to do a pool check with my full rig. Im definitely going to have to get another pocket- been thinking about the halcyon explorer, but its really spendy for a pocket. ive been doing fine with a pair of xs scuba pockets glued onto golds gym neoprene shorts (diy x-shorts) but i can definitely see the need for a bit more capacity. The bare pocket already installed is about the same size as the pockets ive used before so should be easy enough to use. For Katie, the price we got quoted included two of the DUI large bellows pockets which ive always thought were pretty respectably sized.

Still havent decided on the zip seals. The main reason im not all for them is the price of the replacements. I know there are tricks to keeping the price down, like re-using the zip part of an old seal and gluing it to a regular seal, but I like the si-tech rings a bit better since you can use any make of seal without the extra step. Ive replaced wrist seals before and know that id only be out of diving the rest of the day and do the fix overnight. Not so much with a neck seal, which is why im a little more tempted by the neck-ring, but i also like the neoprene neck seal which is incompatible for obvious reasons.

So, its really looking as though we cant really go wrong with either suit. It really is going to come down to which suit Katie feels more comfortable with, which is great. I have a feeling we moving slightly more towards the TLS since it does have the edge in terms of weight and pack-ability.

Thanks again

 

[ad6e]

One more thought that I didn't see mentioned earlier (maybe I missed it). Personally, I wouldn't go for any suit that I can't get into or out of by myself. Thus, for me it was a no-brainer. I got the TLS350. Just have to make sure I zip it up all the way. Missed by 1/2 inch last month and I learned what an expensive wet suit is like.

 

[np251]

The trilam hd tech is front entry too, so self downing isn't an issue.

I think we are going to go with the bare- the main reason being gear consistency and only having one company to deal with. The other reason is that I really like the blue sleeves, but had to get the black. Of course, she is getting the blue to rub it in.



Sent from my HTC Aria using Tapatalk

 

[jjardin]

Installed a p-valve and im about to do a pool check

In your own pool hopefully?