Need a drysuit? Bring your questions to this roundtable!

[laikabear]

Video!

So Mike, Happy Thanksgiving, and... when will DRIS have the Smart Glove stuff?

 

[Malarky]

Looking for my first drysuit. Planning to do a Scapa Flow liveaboard and an Antarctica cruise. How can I be warm enough?

Thinking:
Santi E.Motion Plus or Deep6 Makara Suit (Custom fit, I'm 6' and 150 lbs so slightly taller than the Small Long)
7mm semi-dry three finger gloves
Santi 400 (for Antarctica) (Do these have pee valve access?)
Santi Flex 190 (for Scapa Flow)
5/10 Hood

I can fly to Chicago to get measured at DRiS...

Am I missing anything? I'll take drysuit classes this spring and be ready to roll for the late summer.

 

[JohnnyC]

Looking for my first drysuit. Planning to do a Scapa Flow liveaboard and an Antarctica cruise. How can I be warm enough?

Thinking:
Santi E.Motion Plus or Deep6 Makara Suit (Custom fit, I'm 6' and 150 lbs so slightly taller than the Small Long)
7mm semi-dry three finger gloves
Santi 400 (for Antarctica) (Do these have pee valve access?)
Santi Flex 190 (for Scapa Flow)
5/10 Hood

I can fly to Chicago to get measured at DRiS...

Am I missing anything? I'll take drysuit classes this spring and be ready to roll for the late summer.

Buy a dryglove system. Using thick, wet, neoprene gloves sucks. I had to wear neoprene in Silfra because the suit I had didn't have a glove system. It was a terrible idea. Not because of any lack of warmth, my hands were fine, but the lack of dexterity was a royal pain. I had my Nikonos RS fortunately, so the big controls worked out ok, and it wasn't a situation where I'd possibly have to do anything that required dexterity. If I had had my other camera, or had to shoot an smb or do a valve drill or something, it would suck. Considering the type of diving you'll probably be doing in Scapa or Antarctica, dexterity may be important. I know people dive like that, but it's not ideal.

You can get systems where you can go with or without. Then at least you've got a choice.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

Looking for my first drysuit. Planning to do a Scapa Flow liveaboard and an Antarctica cruise. How can I be warm enough?

Thinking:
Santi E.Motion Plus or Deep6 Makara Suit (Custom fit, I'm 6' and 150 lbs so slightly taller than the Small Long)
7mm semi-dry three finger gloves
Santi 400 (for Antarctica) (Do these have pee valve access?)
Santi Flex 190 (for Scapa Flow)
5/10 Hood

I can fly to Chicago to get measured at DRiS...

Am I missing anything? I'll take drysuit classes this spring and be ready to roll for the late summer.

Great choices! Give me a call, you don't have to come here, although we are glad to have you It you want, buy the suit now, we will get it built for you. Save the flight until the spring, and we can do your drysuit class on our dive boats at Lake Michigan on some sweet shipwrecks!

 

[matt shanks]

I’ve been doing research for a while on drysuits, but I’d like to try some on from various manufacturers. People have recommended to dive in the dry suit your thinking about before actually purchasing one. That would be nice, but seems unrealistic. It’s hard enough to find anyone that has a wide range of suits in stock let alone to rent. Does anyone know of a company in Ca that carries a wide range of suits?

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

Santi Drygloves are ready! Limited stock, they will go fast!!

Santi Smart Gloves Ring System

 

[Lorenzoid]

Santi Drygloves are ready! Limited stock, they will go fast!!

Santi Smart Gloves Ring System

I'd love to hear some reviews of these.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

I’ve been doing research for a while on drysuits, but I’d like to try some on from various manufacturers. People have recommended to dive in the dry suit your thinking about before actually purchasing one. That would be nice, but seems unrealistic. It’s hard enough to find anyone that has a wide range of suits in stock let alone to rent. Does anyone know of a company in Ca that carries a wide range of suits?

Come out to Illinois If you want, give me a call. I've helped thousands of people into the right suit, the first time. I will ask you a bunch of questions, help you focus in on the right suit, and we can see what options are available for you to try on. We carry almost every manufacturer, so we make sure you get into the suit that works for you.

 

[broncobowsher]

DRIS is a good source. Happy with my Ursuit I got a year ago.
Get dry gloves. Very worth it. Warmer, thinner, better dexterity. If I am in the drysuit, I have the dry gloves.
The Santi system looks really slick. Have the Kubi and love them, positive review. Had the SiTech oval, felt way too fragile and didn't like.

 

[laikabear]

Santi Drygloves are ready! Limited stock, they will go fast!!

Santi Smart Gloves Ring System

I'd love to hear some reviews of these.

I got the first one!

I've never used dry gloves before this.

Just got them wet for the first time yesterday. The installation was easy. Just watched their video and paused it a bunch of times. I bought a pair of wool gloves on Amazon for liners. And a few different types of outer gloves (which are basically exactly like dishwashing gloves, except black) on Ebay.

The don / doff was easy. I was a bit worried because I didn't get a very satisfying CLICK in donning them like they had in the video. More like a SQUISH. Then again, my hood was on and I am mostly deaf with the hood on. But they were bone dry. My hands were so warm!

I am never, ever, ever going to wear wet gloves again in cold water.

I honestly think this was better than my first drysuit dive. And no learning curve.

These retain the wrist seals, so if the glove does fail, you won't get a suit flood.

Wool gloves (I wear size 6.5 surgical gloves and bought these in a small. They are a bit short for my E.T. fingers but fit pretty well.)

Outer gloves (Brand - Ansell. These are size 7.5. I also bought a size 8.5. I installed these by mistake, because I wanted to try the bigger ones first. These were fine, but I think I might even like the 8.5 better. For some reason I didn't see any size 8 available).

2 other options for the outer gloves - I bought one of each, but haven't tried them yet. Showa Mapa

DRIS has Santi brand outer gloves, and I accidentally was sent a pair (I ordered and then cancelled the order). I received a Small, which was too large for me, even though that's what I measured using the Santi size chart. So keep that in mind. The Santi gloves are much, much heavier duty than the ones I linked above. I'm going to see how the cheapies hold up. If I am going through them frequently then I will get a pair of the Santi gloves. If you're grabbing on wrecks a lot or something, the thinner ones might not work as well.

10/10 would buy again; totally worth it, order now, etc.