opinions on brass vs plastic dry suit zipper

[Stoo]

Mrs Stoo and I both got new drysuits in the past couple of years... SANTI and Bare.

Between the two of us, we have gone through four plastic zippers in about 170 and 60 dives respectively. By contrast, all of my previous 6 drysuits (over say, 40 years of diving dry) had brass back zips and in perhaps 3000 dives, I NEVER replaced one of them. And NONE of them ever leaked.

I agree that the plastic is flexible and in front entry, much easier to close. But IMHO opinion, they're crap.

Mrs Stoo just got her suit back from Bare, and I expecting a new suit from SANTI any minute, so we'll see how these ones go...

If I was still in a back entry suit, I would definitely go brass.

 

[H20doctor]

well im glad to find this thread today because i am also a victim of the dreaded Tzip plastic zipper ..
i have been diving since 2001 .. my first drysuit was an atlan front zip metal YKK .. i put 8 years on that suit , Next suit was another Atlan but i had issues with the boots .. traded it in on a Bare dry lam tech , custom fit front zip , $1300 for the drysuit .. Love it , dive it .. works great ... But now 2 years Later 196 dive put on the suit .. the Tzip is leaking between the teeth .. called Bare , 1 year warranty on the zipper .. And he said the same thing they BARE stopped using Tzipper does to leak issues and problems . they now use YKK plastic zippers
So i heard a lot of good and wonderful things over the past 5 years about the tzip and how everyone loved them , so on and so forth .. My zipper looks brand new , and i keep very good care of my drysuits.. im not happy about Tzippers and my leak issue , cause im gonna hafta replace a zipper .. But i am going back to metal YKK .. more durable , and last longer in my opinion

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

Yes, the Tizips from that era are bad, there is no doubt about it. They are good NOW, that doesn't mean a suit built 2 years ago won't have issues.

Send me the suit, and I will get your zipper covered under warranty by Tizip. You just pay me the labor charge, and I'll get you a free zipper. Sound good H20Doctor? Bare should have covered you....I'll even reduce the labor to $150 for you!

To all else, Plastic IS the way to go from this current point in time forward. 99% of the issues with YKK and TiZip are worked out. We haven't seen any issues of that 1% to even know what they are, but I won't give anything a 100% passing rating until more time has passed. We see issues with new Brass Zippers wearing out or bending, and I put the failure rate of what's known at this point in time as the same as brass. The pros of a plastic far outweigh the metal.

We replace and sell more zippers than anyone in the US. Trust me when I say the plastics are on point now. That doesn't mean old suits with plastics won't still have an issue or that a manufacturer doesn't have old stock of zippers. It means any NEW zipper is solid. I know this because we've never replaced one twice, and any new ones never had a delam issue.

 

[rick00001967]

thx for the input from DRIS. i just hope i got one of the good zips.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

Send me the suit, and I will get your zipper covered under warranty by Tizip. You just pay me the labor charge, and I'll get you a free zipper. Sound good H20Doctor? Bare should have covered you....I'll even reduce the labor to $150 for you!

All I can say is, WOW!

 

[jqjcn]

T-Zip had a major problem with a large percentage of their zippers. That's why both SANTI and DUI dropped them "Nothing lasts forever..." is true, but a zipper needs to last more than 50 dives. It sounds like you got one of the good ones.

Mine was literally bubbling along about 60% of it's length when I soaped it up. At that point, it had never been in anything other than the pristine fresh water of Tobermory. No shore dives. No dressing on shore. It was essentially used in a "sterile" environment. When I connected with the Halcyon rep, he didn't even question it. He just said send it in and we'll replace it.

Having said that, I have friends in SANTIs that have maybe 300 - 400 dives on theirs and the zippers are tight.

welcome to choose thre JQJ metal dry zipper

 

[FreeFlyFreak]

Not sure if this will help but thought I'd post it.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I've had three brass zippers replaced over the years. I keep reading about the new plastic zippers being better than the TZips from a couple of years ago, but how will I know if I get a replacement with old stock or a new plastic zipper?