cephalophilia
New
I'm a long-time lurker who has benefitted on many occasions from this board. So I thought I would contribute a review of some new kit I've been diving in, about which (since it is relatively new to the market) I was able to find very little online: the Waterproof W3.
Headline: the W3 is a full-length 3.5mm wetsuit that I would not hesitate to recommend.I have been using it for dives between 26 and 30 daegrees recently and have found it to be a good fitting and high-performing suit, and one which feels very well made indeed.
Previous to this acquisition I wore a Fourth Element Proteus 3mm: another suit near the top end of the 3mm market.
A word about me: I am below averagely susceptible to cold, and this is the reason really good 3mms appeal to me - as well as wearing it for general protection in the warmest waters, I can also happily wear one in conditions where some people would be thinking about a 5mm, so if I buy a good quality one then I know I will be able to get away with it for a pretty wide range of trips.
The FE Proteus is an awesome suit and I particularly liked its warmth and its ninja looks. Since I am relatively slim, it fit like a glove. This, plus the seals on the wrists and ankles, made it exceptionally resistant to water circulation, and is the warmest 3mm I've been in, bar none.
If there was an issue, though, it was that I found it a bit of an effort to get on. That stretchy neoprene and those uber-seals required a lot of working their way onto my frame, and I came to feel this was a bit of a drag. Then there was the built-in back/neck layer - an excellent idea and phenomenal for warmth but again a little difficult to don - really much easier with your buddy's help.
Anyway, suffice to say I had my interest piqued by the thought of a warm 3mm that was a bit easier to get on and off, so I tried the Waterproof at my LDS.
First surprise was the sizing. I wore a Medium Proteus and it fit so well it looked like I had simply been dipped in black paint. In the W3 I started with a hefty looking small and went down to XS immediately. I can only conclude the sizing is all calibrated to Swedish norms: fine, but if you are below 5'7" don't expect to get a mens suit that fits.
That said, the fit is very good thanks to a number of design features. First, the panel count is relatively high, so the effect is much more one of the suit being sculpted around you than stretched over you. Then the elbows and knees have corrugated/concertina sections to help movement and comfort. Getting the suit on is also made about easier thanks to ankle and wrist zippers and a nice suit lining. No more staggering around the dive deck while my fully-kitted-up co-divers look on.
In the water the suit ticks the boxes of being very warm and comfortable. The concertina panels work well to make movement easy. For the heck of it on one dive I tried the matching H1 hood, which has a nice smoothskin seal to go under the suit collar. Toasty. Given that Waterproof has also announced an undervest called the U1 to go under the W3, I expect I could dive this thing repeatedly in relatively cool water. YMMV of course, and that said, I'm just speculating about the U1 - I do intend to buy one, but at the time of my suit shopping they didn't appear to have made their way into stores.
Gripes? Well, the seals on the wrists and ankles are really just single layers of lycra, whereas when I tried on the W2 5mm suit I was impressed by the proper smooth skin fold-back seals, as well as the 3D sculpted knee pads, and I would have loved for these details to have been incorporated into the W3. Apart from that it's a thumbs-up!
Headline: the W3 is a full-length 3.5mm wetsuit that I would not hesitate to recommend.I have been using it for dives between 26 and 30 daegrees recently and have found it to be a good fitting and high-performing suit, and one which feels very well made indeed.
Previous to this acquisition I wore a Fourth Element Proteus 3mm: another suit near the top end of the 3mm market.
A word about me: I am below averagely susceptible to cold, and this is the reason really good 3mms appeal to me - as well as wearing it for general protection in the warmest waters, I can also happily wear one in conditions where some people would be thinking about a 5mm, so if I buy a good quality one then I know I will be able to get away with it for a pretty wide range of trips.
The FE Proteus is an awesome suit and I particularly liked its warmth and its ninja looks. Since I am relatively slim, it fit like a glove. This, plus the seals on the wrists and ankles, made it exceptionally resistant to water circulation, and is the warmest 3mm I've been in, bar none.
If there was an issue, though, it was that I found it a bit of an effort to get on. That stretchy neoprene and those uber-seals required a lot of working their way onto my frame, and I came to feel this was a bit of a drag. Then there was the built-in back/neck layer - an excellent idea and phenomenal for warmth but again a little difficult to don - really much easier with your buddy's help.
Anyway, suffice to say I had my interest piqued by the thought of a warm 3mm that was a bit easier to get on and off, so I tried the Waterproof at my LDS.
First surprise was the sizing. I wore a Medium Proteus and it fit so well it looked like I had simply been dipped in black paint. In the W3 I started with a hefty looking small and went down to XS immediately. I can only conclude the sizing is all calibrated to Swedish norms: fine, but if you are below 5'7" don't expect to get a mens suit that fits.
That said, the fit is very good thanks to a number of design features. First, the panel count is relatively high, so the effect is much more one of the suit being sculpted around you than stretched over you. Then the elbows and knees have corrugated/concertina sections to help movement and comfort. Getting the suit on is also made about easier thanks to ankle and wrist zippers and a nice suit lining. No more staggering around the dive deck while my fully-kitted-up co-divers look on.
In the water the suit ticks the boxes of being very warm and comfortable. The concertina panels work well to make movement easy. For the heck of it on one dive I tried the matching H1 hood, which has a nice smoothskin seal to go under the suit collar. Toasty. Given that Waterproof has also announced an undervest called the U1 to go under the W3, I expect I could dive this thing repeatedly in relatively cool water. YMMV of course, and that said, I'm just speculating about the U1 - I do intend to buy one, but at the time of my suit shopping they didn't appear to have made their way into stores.
Gripes? Well, the seals on the wrists and ankles are really just single layers of lycra, whereas when I tried on the W2 5mm suit I was impressed by the proper smooth skin fold-back seals, as well as the 3D sculpted knee pads, and I would have loved for these details to have been incorporated into the W3. Apart from that it's a thumbs-up!
