Newbie wetsuit help

[ChrisA]

One thing to know about wetsuits is that "fit" is as importent as thickness in determining warmth. The suit really must be skin tight with zero room between you and the suit. If not water is cirulate. Soif the wife s cold in a 3mm suit make sure if is a well fitting 3mm suit before desiding to get a thicker suit.

Also women are harder to fit then men as there is more variation in body shapes.
If she can't find and off the rack suit that fits concider a custome suit.

A 7mm suit is _way_ overkill in a pool. A 3mm tropical suit would do fine. The difference between no suit and a thn suit is huge.

Here in So Cal the water at the surface can be up to 60F but at depth it is low 50s "everyone" uses a 7mm wetsuit, hood or hooded vest. If she _realy_ does need a 7mm suit in a pool (I doubt it) then you are absolutlly loking at buying a dry suit for "real diving".

I heard a story from a local California diver. He only owned one wetsuit and went to florida in his 7mm full suit. No one there uses a 7mm. The divemaster noticed his 28 pounds of lead on his belt and didn't want him to jump off the boat. I guess the DM had never dove in cold water and thought 28 lbs was "nuts". He had to actually go find an AL80 with 500 PSI left in it and do a weight check to convince the DM. that he needed the weight.
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[RonFrank]

Here are some Unofficial guidelines for protection. Of course some people get cold easier than others.

Lycra - 80F+
3/2mm - 75F+
5mm - 70F+
7mm - 55F-70F+
SemiDry - 45F-70F
Dry - All conditions depending on the suit, and underlayer.

If you plan on diving where you live on a regular basis, the 7mm, or even a semi-dry like the Mares Isotherm is a must.

IMO, you would be better off renting, and doing some research on what suits fit well, if you want semi-dry, is a full suit what you want, or a farmer john, etc., before purchase.

For the two of you depending upon what you end up with and where you get it, you can spend $800 on a pair of suits. That would not be money well spent if you decide you hate to dive quariers and what to do mostly tropic vacation diving (which maybe the best way to describe the majority of divers out there).

 

[spectrum]

I'd be careful with the 7/6/5 I know in my case I'll feel chill in my arms first since they are still and and extrtemity. I don't think you want 5mm sleeves. If the 5mm is something like a flex patch at the elbow and maybe in the lower back then that's a nice feature. A nice well fitting 7mm suit isn't that bulky when you get all geared up. You both need what you need to be protected. Be cautious about having tunnel vision with 1 trusted local dive shop.

Pete

 

[rottielover]

I def. have more research to do. I think I'm going to take spectrum's advice and try to find a couple other dive shops around the area, just to see what they say. I'm also going to re-visit the manufactures websites again.

Thanks for the help all!