Opinions and Information on Dry Suits

[Jsour01]

I am a rescue certified diver and am enrolled in the PADI divemaster program. I live in Arkansas and dive mostly freshwater lakes in Arkansas and Oklahoma. I love to dive so I am wanting to extend my dive season to "year round". I have my drysuit cert class in two weeks and will be using a rental from local dive shop. Having said that I would feel more comfortable and confident diving my own gear. I have done some research on the internet on Dry Suits but am curious to hear your opinions on the different types/brands vs. cost of dry suits available.

 

[soonerwink]

I have owned 3 different drysuits, all of them I bought used. The first was a Harvey trilam suit, the 2nd was a DUI CNSE neoprene suit, the 3rd was a Bare Pro D6, also a neoprene suit. Of the three I liked the DUI CNSE the best. The Harvey suit was just a cheap shell suit I got for $150. It was a little big on me but it never leaked. The Bare suit was a nice suit, but I hated the seals on it. It had a neoprene neck seal and bottlenose wrist seals that were too tight. The DUI suit, I made probably about 60 dives in and was a nice suit, even though it's the cheapest that DUI makes. It now has started leaking and needs all new seals and a zipper. I only paid $300 for it from someone here on SB a few years ago, so I think I got my moneys worth out of it. Last week I ordered a new DUI TLS350 with zip seals. I am looking forward to diving it in about 3 weeks.

I used to go to the DUI demo at Beaver Lake every year, they no longer do the Demo days, and was able to try out most of their suits. If you do get your drysuit, the Oklahoma Aquanauts have several divers that dive year round at Beaver and Tenkiller. We also dive Bennett Springs and have a trip coming up to Mermet in IL.

 

[tbone1004]

pretty simple flow chart that only you can figure out

Bag vs. Crushed Neoprene. Both have their pros and cons. Not sure of your weather, but crushed neoprene, while much more durable, is more prone to evaporative cooling. If it is cold air and windy, then I would go bag suit as they dry much faster. That said, they have no inherent thermal value, so you have to wear more undergarments, but they are also lighter, so they pack better and travel better.

Once you figure that out, it's finding one you like. For crushed neoprene, I like the DUI CF200's, for bag suits, I love my Rofos *similar to the TLS350*. Both have very different uses.

The one universal thing, if you are diving more than an hour at a time, a p-valve is a MUST have item, so get one installed when you get your suit. Used suits are nothing to shy away from, even if they need new seals or zippers as they can be had pretty cheap. In a few weeks Deep6 will have their drysuit out and you'll be able to check that out as well which should be coming in at a fantastic price point.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

Some good reading from folks that have experience with various drysuits.http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ex...est-worst-your-dry-suit.html?highlight=nexgen

 

[sheeper]

i've used several different drysuits. the one i've settled on and just purchased a new (custom) one is DUI (a Flex Extreme). The Santi eMotion is also a very good suit (IMO).

 

[KevinNM]

It depends on what you want to do with the suit. Suits ideal for wreck penetration with may not be ideal for people who are dow not plan crawling around sharp steel edges.

I have a Bare trilam suit and just bought a Santi e-motion, but haven't gotten it yet. I don't recommend the bare trilam but there is a review in the forum by someone who got a gen2 bare SB suit and loves it.

The generally recommended suits among the experienced divers I know are the DUI FLX extreme or the Santi E-lite or E-motion. But there are lots of people happy with fusions and other suits.