NJDiver_Chris
Registered
A little background first, I have been diving for about 3 years, all my diving is done up here in the lovely north east where water temperatures can reach a scalding 55*F at depth in August! I have been diving a Neosport 7mm farmer john, it kept me alive but not very warm at all. I wanted to get warmer because let's face it, the beginning stages of hypothermia get old after a while. My only problem is I am a broke 24 year old just out of college and a dry suit is just not in the cards for me so I decided a semi-dry should serve me well. Routine dives for me are around 90-130ft with 5-20ft vis and average temperature is about 50*F.
Ok, so before buying this I looked high and low for any indepth reviews on this suit or maybe even some pictures of it but alas, there was nothing, so I took a plunge (diving pun intended) and bought one of these off leisure pro for $329.99. It seemed like the best bang for the buck, it is fairly new to the market, reputable manufacturer, lots of awesome new features (including Lavacore but i'll touch on that later), and above all IT HAS POCKETS!
Alright, so for all the features (remember I said I would touch on them later, well, it's later...) It is not one thickness neoprene, the "core" of it (shoulder to shoulder, down to the crotch area) is all 8mm, the arms and legs are 7mm and the back of the legs and inside of your elbows is 6mm which helps with mobility, all the neoprene is compression resistant which is a nice feature if you are used to thick suits. The suit is a one piece with a zipper in the front for entry. The zipper is the same quality as that of a dry suit zipper, has a good tough bulky feeling to it. The knees, elbows and butt all have a tough liner feeling material for durability, there is also a built in spine pad which is quite noticeable in a good way, definitely makes you improve your posture. There is also a built in hood with a good seal around the face. All seams on this suit are stiched and glued, amazing seams, better than some thousand dollar suits i've seen. As for the most important part, the pockets, because let's face it, you can NEVER have too many pockets and these bad boys are great. They are very large pockets, I didn't measure them but you can easily fit two masks in each pocket, there is an internal d-ring inside of each pocket, the velcro is a bit tough to open which is a good thing, you don't want your pockets flying open while diving.
Onto the inside, The arms and legs have a water damn around 8inches from the opening for the wrist and ankle, it is an inch piece of neoprene. The neck area inside of the suit has a built in damn as well, same thickness as the ankle and wrist damns that you must done before closing the top. Inside of the suit is Lavacore, a joint effort by several big names in the industry (one of which is Hollis, shocker that it found its way into their only wetsuit), The description of this suit leads you believe that the Lavacore only covers the core area but truth be told, it runs from the ankles to the wrists in sections to keep you warm. It is a very nice feeling material, sort of a fleece feel which is comfortable. Overall this suit is very warm, from other reviews I have read, people have stayed warm in this down into the low 40s on long dives. I am trying to think of anything that i may have missed but I think I covered most of it, if you have questions ask away, and if I think of anything else I will update it.
I took a bunch of photos, most importantly of the inside so people can see what it looks like.
Without further adieu:
Out of the box, looks like a wetsuit in a bag, no surprises
First time out
A look inside at the Lavacore liner and the upper section of the spine pad, also if you couldn't guess, it's made in China
Close up of the zipper
Neck damn
Arm damn close up, also note how far down the Lavacore goes, remember how I said its not just the core, one other thing, check out the seams.
One of the pockets
Backside of the suit
One other thing, people will always know what brand of suit you are wearing, it has Hollis or the Hollis Logo in 7 places on the suit as well as NEOTEK written twice across the chest. Not sure if that bugs people, personally I don't mind.
Thanks for reading, hope it helps someone out there.
Chris
Ok, so before buying this I looked high and low for any indepth reviews on this suit or maybe even some pictures of it but alas, there was nothing, so I took a plunge (diving pun intended) and bought one of these off leisure pro for $329.99. It seemed like the best bang for the buck, it is fairly new to the market, reputable manufacturer, lots of awesome new features (including Lavacore but i'll touch on that later), and above all IT HAS POCKETS!
Alright, so for all the features (remember I said I would touch on them later, well, it's later...) It is not one thickness neoprene, the "core" of it (shoulder to shoulder, down to the crotch area) is all 8mm, the arms and legs are 7mm and the back of the legs and inside of your elbows is 6mm which helps with mobility, all the neoprene is compression resistant which is a nice feature if you are used to thick suits. The suit is a one piece with a zipper in the front for entry. The zipper is the same quality as that of a dry suit zipper, has a good tough bulky feeling to it. The knees, elbows and butt all have a tough liner feeling material for durability, there is also a built in spine pad which is quite noticeable in a good way, definitely makes you improve your posture. There is also a built in hood with a good seal around the face. All seams on this suit are stiched and glued, amazing seams, better than some thousand dollar suits i've seen. As for the most important part, the pockets, because let's face it, you can NEVER have too many pockets and these bad boys are great. They are very large pockets, I didn't measure them but you can easily fit two masks in each pocket, there is an internal d-ring inside of each pocket, the velcro is a bit tough to open which is a good thing, you don't want your pockets flying open while diving.
Onto the inside, The arms and legs have a water damn around 8inches from the opening for the wrist and ankle, it is an inch piece of neoprene. The neck area inside of the suit has a built in damn as well, same thickness as the ankle and wrist damns that you must done before closing the top. Inside of the suit is Lavacore, a joint effort by several big names in the industry (one of which is Hollis, shocker that it found its way into their only wetsuit), The description of this suit leads you believe that the Lavacore only covers the core area but truth be told, it runs from the ankles to the wrists in sections to keep you warm. It is a very nice feeling material, sort of a fleece feel which is comfortable. Overall this suit is very warm, from other reviews I have read, people have stayed warm in this down into the low 40s on long dives. I am trying to think of anything that i may have missed but I think I covered most of it, if you have questions ask away, and if I think of anything else I will update it.
I took a bunch of photos, most importantly of the inside so people can see what it looks like.
Without further adieu:
Out of the box, looks like a wetsuit in a bag, no surprises
First time out
A look inside at the Lavacore liner and the upper section of the spine pad, also if you couldn't guess, it's made in China
Close up of the zipper
Neck damn
Arm damn close up, also note how far down the Lavacore goes, remember how I said its not just the core, one other thing, check out the seams.
One of the pockets
Backside of the suit
One other thing, people will always know what brand of suit you are wearing, it has Hollis or the Hollis Logo in 7 places on the suit as well as NEOTEK written twice across the chest. Not sure if that bugs people, personally I don't mind.
Thanks for reading, hope it helps someone out there.
Chris
