Reflections of shopping for a drysuit

[fireflock]

I've spent the last 6 months, off and on, shopping for a drysuit. I've made my choice, and this suit will easily be the most expensive piece of dive gear I own. It was also the hardest to buy. I think there is a real opportunity for some innovative dive retailers to make life easier for divers and make some money along the way.

Fit is everything. That's the message that came through loud and clear when I started looking six months ago. The other half of the message, which I learned the hard way, is that it can be nearly impossible to find suits to try on. I understand why a retailer can't afford to keep a large range of drysuit sizes in stock. What I can't understand is why no vendor has worked to come up with a creative way around this problem.

I would have gladly paid round trip shipping to be able to try on a stock size if there was a manufacturer who kept suits available to dealers for customers to try on (make the shipping apply towards the price of a new suit and I would have jumped on the offer even sooner).

If there was a Zappos of the drysuit world I likely would have bought a suit much sooner.

If you can't keep a full range of drysuit sizes in stock (or even available via UPS), would it be possible to have some other kind of fabric cut to the same sizes to try on?

At the end of the day I decided to go with a custom cut suit from a company that does things a little differently that most of the others. At more than 1 point along the way I was ready to gladly handed over the credit card if only someone would have found a way for me to try on a stock sized suit.

Buying a drysuit with confidence that it fits properly is harder than it should be in my part of the world. There is an opportunity for someone to make some money providing real service to divers I think.

Rich

edit: Reflections ON in the title

 

[do it easy]

Some of the drysuit manufacturers have a demo days where they load up the wagons and bring the drysuits to you. This year, I went to a Whites and DUI demo.

At the DUI demo I was able to try on 2 different suits on 5 different dives, with 3 different undergarments, and 2 different styles of gloves. I would finish a dive, get out of the suit, hand it back to them and ask for what I wanted next. It was a drysuit toy store on wheels. I could have tried on more, but I already had an idea of what I wanted. I also got measured for a custom suit. I left there very confident of what I wanted and what to expect.

I didn't try on any suits at the Whites demo since I was shopping for a DUI suit, but a buddy did and the process was easy. They'll even add a drysuit hose to your reg if you don't have one already.

So what suit did you buy??

 

[CLEAR BLUE]

Right now there is a DUI Demo going on at Lake Rawlings in Virginia.

 

[Web Monkey]

Fit is everything. That's the message that came through loud and clear when I started looking six months ago. The other half of the message, which I learned the hard way, is that it can be nearly impossible to find suits to try on. I understand why a retailer can't afford to keep a large range of drysuit sizes in stock. What I can't understand is why no vendor has worked to come up with a creative way around this problem.

You just need to find a bigger shop.

I think we have somewhere around 50 in rental. Not only can you try it on, you can take it diving and see if you like it.

Terry

 

[fireflock]

Being in the southeast is part of the problem (hence, the 'my part of the world' stuff in the original post).

Yep, DUI is in VA this weekend, Whites I think came through at some point, and DiveRite had a demo day somewhere around here. If I went to all of the events I could have tried on suits from 3 brands and it would have taken close to a year to get all the events in. It's better than nothing, but there has to be a better, easier, way.

I did consider making a trip to somewhere cold, where drysuits are more common.

Rich

 

[docmartin]

demo days work only if 1. they are reasonably close and 2. happen around the time you want to buy. once a year does not quite cut it. i liked the idea of a cheap dummy to try on (cheaper material, no seals, no watterproof zipper etc). around here it's reasonably easy to try a DUI but the smaller brands are a challenge.

 

[PerroneFord]

A trip down I95 to cave country could have been very helpful. But I had much the same thoughts as you when I went shopping for a drysuit. I attended a Dive Rite demo day locally. I spoke to Pinnacle and they were willing to ship a suit to my local dealer. In the end, I went with a custom cut suit from USIA, and am very pleased. But the process could be easier.

The demo day model of selling may be the only really cost effective way for all parties involved though. It's a hard proposition.