Hippocampus
Registered
Hello everyone,
after having followed this drysuit since it was announced I finally got one myself.
Mike from Dive Right In Scuba made me an offer I simply could not refuse, even though I wanted to wait until it was available in red.
I ordered the suit in the package with the MK1 undergarment, the Glacier footwear liners and the new Altera boots, on top of that I also ordered the new HEAT hood.
It comes complete with a nice carrying bag/backpack, zipper grease, inflator hose and manuals for the suit and valves.
The box:
And the contents of the bag:
After trimming the neck seal down one ring it felt comfortable and off we went to Alexander Springs, Florida.
The water temperature was 73F, air about the same.
Suit from the front:
And from the back:
Altera boot:
I could however not use the MK1 undergarment because the john was missing from the package, the matter was taken care of quickly by Mike from Dive Right In Scuba and the missing piece is on it's way over from Canada already.
So, for this first dive I used polypro and cotton undergarments.
In the water the suit feels absolutely amazing.
I have only been drysuit diving once before in a Scubapro vulcanized rubber suit which
felt absolutely horrible in comparison to this one, it was heavy and restricted mobility, plus, I got horrible floaty legs in it.
Not so with the fusion!
From the moment I submerged I felt more like in a dive skin than in a drysuit.
The mobility is simply incredible for a drysuit and the streamlining is outstanding, especially on the legs, the lycra pulls everything together nicely.
I tested out what would happen if I go feet up and some of the air just migrated into the feet, but nowhere near where you would have to do a roll of any kind to get it back out and yourself upright.
For the first couple of minutes I was smiling underwater thinking how cool this is!
I have heard the comparison to the 3mm suit before, I'd say it is less than 3mm on the legs and arms but feels more cluttered on the torso of course because of all the valves and the extra hose, but still better than a 7mm in my opinion, the range of movement is alot better.
This being my first 'real' drysuit dive it took me some time in the beginning to get used to the air management, I ascended once involuntary but that was not a problem, I got it dialed in after a couple of minutes
.
You don't feel like being in a bag in this suit at all, it's more like having a second skin that keeps one nice and warm.
Speaking of nice and warm, I was for about 45 minutes, then I got cold but I'm very skinny and light (64",111lbs) plus, I was not wearing the proper undergarments.
Overall this suit is excellent and I could not imagine diving any other drysuit after that one.
A word on pockets, I, for myself do not feel the need for pockets at all, they just add unneccessary clutter for me.
The suit in it's natural habitat:
And another guy in his natural habitat:
As I only have one dive on it, I can't really say much about durability, I scuffed some rocks here and there and can't find any tears, so that must be good but I can definitely see where you could go with that skin if you do heavy cave diving and the likes...
Thank you Whites for inventing such a great suit!
And thanks again to Mike from Dive Right In Scuba for his outstanding customer service and response time!
Hope this is helpful
after having followed this drysuit since it was announced I finally got one myself.
Mike from Dive Right In Scuba made me an offer I simply could not refuse, even though I wanted to wait until it was available in red.
I ordered the suit in the package with the MK1 undergarment, the Glacier footwear liners and the new Altera boots, on top of that I also ordered the new HEAT hood.
It comes complete with a nice carrying bag/backpack, zipper grease, inflator hose and manuals for the suit and valves.
The box:
And the contents of the bag:
After trimming the neck seal down one ring it felt comfortable and off we went to Alexander Springs, Florida.
The water temperature was 73F, air about the same.
Suit from the front:
And from the back:
Altera boot:
I could however not use the MK1 undergarment because the john was missing from the package, the matter was taken care of quickly by Mike from Dive Right In Scuba and the missing piece is on it's way over from Canada already.
So, for this first dive I used polypro and cotton undergarments.
In the water the suit feels absolutely amazing.
I have only been drysuit diving once before in a Scubapro vulcanized rubber suit which
felt absolutely horrible in comparison to this one, it was heavy and restricted mobility, plus, I got horrible floaty legs in it.
Not so with the fusion!
From the moment I submerged I felt more like in a dive skin than in a drysuit.
The mobility is simply incredible for a drysuit and the streamlining is outstanding, especially on the legs, the lycra pulls everything together nicely.
I tested out what would happen if I go feet up and some of the air just migrated into the feet, but nowhere near where you would have to do a roll of any kind to get it back out and yourself upright.
For the first couple of minutes I was smiling underwater thinking how cool this is!
I have heard the comparison to the 3mm suit before, I'd say it is less than 3mm on the legs and arms but feels more cluttered on the torso of course because of all the valves and the extra hose, but still better than a 7mm in my opinion, the range of movement is alot better.
This being my first 'real' drysuit dive it took me some time in the beginning to get used to the air management, I ascended once involuntary but that was not a problem, I got it dialed in after a couple of minutes
.You don't feel like being in a bag in this suit at all, it's more like having a second skin that keeps one nice and warm.
Speaking of nice and warm, I was for about 45 minutes, then I got cold but I'm very skinny and light (64",111lbs) plus, I was not wearing the proper undergarments.
Overall this suit is excellent and I could not imagine diving any other drysuit after that one.
A word on pockets, I, for myself do not feel the need for pockets at all, they just add unneccessary clutter for me.
The suit in it's natural habitat:
And another guy in his natural habitat:
As I only have one dive on it, I can't really say much about durability, I scuffed some rocks here and there and can't find any tears, so that must be good
but I can definitely see where you could go with that skin if you do heavy cave diving and the likes...Thank you Whites for inventing such a great suit!
And thanks again to Mike from Dive Right In Scuba for his outstanding customer service and response time!
Hope this is helpful
