Pinnacle Or Oneill? please help

[mjsess13]

Just got into diving. I dive in the puget sound where the water is in the 40's and sometimes 50's. I am wondering what suit i should purchase. looking for wet not dry. I have looked at the Oneal Jstyle, and the Pinnacle Kodiak. What are your thoughts? thanks
ps. i get cold very easily too

 

[Divertim89]

I have lots of experience with pinnacle wetsuits and drysuits. All I can say is that they make really good stuff. I would recommend a semi-dry if you go the wetsuit route. I dive the puget sound regualarly as well and pinnacles semi-dry suits do an awesome job of keeping out the cold.

 

[Divedoggie]

Pinnacle

 

[mjsess13]

diver tim. do you think the Kodiak semidry would do the job in the puget sound? i get cold easy and its only a 8 mil. compared to the oneal which is 14 in the core areas.

 

[Divertim89]

I have and dive a pinnacle extreme which I think is very similar to the newer Kodiak suit and I absolutely love it. Believe it or not, the 8mm + the wool lining is plenty warm for diving in the Puget Sound area for me.
What I've noticed about diving a semi-dry suit and a dry suit back-to-back is that they are both remarkably warm. Obviously, the dry suit is more comfortable at deeper depths and your thermal status when you get out of the water but I love the simplicity of the semi-dry suit (or semi-wet) and the value is unbeatable.
It all comes down to you, how often you dive, the depth of your dives, the time of year you mostly dive in, and your budget. Above all else, ask your LDS if you can take the semi-dry for a test swim and then a dry suit if it’s available. I really hope this helps. Let me know what you think.

 

[Blue982]

For the Puget Sound, I would be surprised if you were warm in any wetsuit. You can certainly be not-hypothermic, but you won't be warm. You can be warm in a drysuit.

Another thing to consider is comfort out of the water. In the winter here, it's really cold during surface intervals in a wetsuit. It absolutely sucks getting out of a thick wetsuit when it's still cold outside (it's not even much fun in the summer). In a drysuit, you get out and not only are you dry, you're in pajamas.

That being said, I dive a 7mm pinnacle wetsuit and I find that it's possible to do a ~50 minute dive followed by a 20-30 minute dive in the winter. The second dive was called because I was worried about hypothermia - 45 degree water is not a joke. Needless to say I only did this once last year.

If you can't and won't be able to get a drysuit, I recommend pinnacle, but I don't have experience with O'Neal. Personally, I would save for a drysuit - I am saving for a drysuit.

Another option is to get a cheap wetsuit (a farmer john can be as cheap as $150), dive it this summer, and save for a drysuit by winter. Cheers!

 

[a22shady]

I have seen the pinnacle's and they look like a nice wetsuit. From what I have read and seen If i was to buy a wetsuit it would either Be Pinnacle/Bare/Henderson. Personally would not spend the money on a Semi-Dry as You can usually pick up a drysuit on here used for the Price a New semi-Dry would cost. The waters your going to be Diving are Cold. Can it be done in a wetsuit sure I have seen people do it. Dive's are typically short and usually they add some warm water to the suit.

The thing Where as the drysuit has an advantage is during the Surface Interval. Once it get's cold you probably will no longer be diving as having a cold surface Interval can be quite miserable. Also with those water temps very few people will make repetitive dives as with each dive you begin to colder sooner. For the price you can buy a new Wetsuit/Semi-dry you can find a good used drysuit here on the board. Good luck happy diving

 

[kiwiguy]

I used to dive in a semidry (Tusa) and loved it. Just bought a Pinnacle Evolution2 drysuit and had one dive..having dived in 9 degress C in both I sure as hell wont be going back to a semidry..see if you can get a drysuit to try. I was lucky and got my drysuit reduced from NZD3000 to NZD1400 because it was last one in stock..a good semidry here will be NZD800...yes the drysuit costs more but imho is now so worth it even after one dive when we came back to shore and it was a biting southerly wind and rain, to be able to slip off suit and hop into the car while everyone else was towelling off and getting changed was invaluable........try a dry suit

 

[kuma1720]

Pinnacle suits are awesome

 

[keithbt]

Ive used/owned Oneill wetsuits for more than 25 years....old man Oneill invented them I have the J-stye for diving and it keeps me very warm...temps down to low 50s..my girlfriend has the sector 7 and she loves it..when its really cold she wears a hooded vest..the j-suit is great with 12mm in the chest...for your temperatures most go with a dry suit...You can buy a wet suit heater from Scuba.com to any wetsuit...they work great...make sure to find a way to stay warm.. nobody has fun cold.....