KWS, I think I'm reading you to say that a 3mm suit with seals will keep me as warm as a 5mm suit that doesn't have seals.
I was looking at a 3mm Akona suit on LeisurePro. It's $150 and I think I read somewhere where it has wrist and ankle seals. From what you're telling me, that sounds like a pretty good deal and should be warm enough for the Caribbean in Dec and Hawaii in March?
I think, more than the seals, where a WetWear suit really shines is the fit as it's custom made to your measurements. A good fitting suit will limit water flow greatly and also hold a lot less water in the pockets around your body which an ill fitting suit will have quite a few of, regardless of whether it's a rental or one you bought off the rack. My wife has a custom WetWear suit with the seals and I dive an AquaLung SolaFX which also has similar seals. From our experience, the seals will not prevent entry and exit of water completely but will definitely slow that down enough to make a noticeable difference in warmth when you're on your dive. They hold water enough that when we exit from the dive, there's a noticeable bit of accumulation at the ankle seals.
Couple more things about WetWear that came up in this thread -
1. Customer service is not the greatest but it's not bad either (at least not in our experience). We did have to call them a couple of times to make sure our order was in process or not but they were very accommodating with many requests we made as far as delivery times and last minute shipping changes. I would recommend calling them instead of email.
2. The suit will be pricey depending on what options you add to it. And, believe me, they add up real quick. The one I would most recommend is the EZON zipper system they have - it makes donning and doffing insanely easy compared to any other wetsuit.
3. I would not get a WetWear unless you were looking at 5mm or above (I don't even know if they make less than 5mm). For warm water where you can get away with a 3mm, the suit fit and seals become less important and I don't think I can justify spending that much money on a wetsuit.
The only reason I decided to drop the coin for WetWear was that we figured out one purchase would work for my wife in all water temps (in some combination or the other).
My wife has a WW 5mm full suit and 7mm shorty (total came to around $1k) and a LavaCore base layer.
- All 3 layers for NorCal diving, the coldest we've measured was 51F and she was fine (a little cold but not uncomfortable)
- LavaCore + 5mm full suit for Lake Tahoe dives, where we measured 65F
- 5mm full suit with no layer for an aquarium dive we did in 72F water, she was very comfortable.
I think for slightly warmer water, she'd still wear the 5mm full suit with no layer and keep the EZON zippers open which would allow tons of water in and out. You can easily open and close them underwater if you ever need to warm up a bit.
Hope this helps.
elgoog
