Sea Elite / Typhoon / Tusa drysuit?

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FINE, be equipment snobs. Next time I'll ask about a DUI suit. :eek:ut:

Anyway the suit turned up - I'm pretty happy with it (pre-dives!). The material is a sturdy trilaminate, the zipper is a heavy Talon diagonal front entry, the suit comes with suspenders, latex neck and wrist seals, and attached ribbed neoprene boots that fit my feet perfectly when I wear the 300 Polartec socks from Janice (TJ's Softwear). The suit is made by Typhoon in the UK, and is labelled Atlan Nexus on the bag, so Divers Supply is just reselling them. The suit came san-hose, but seeing as I only paid $549 new, I'm not complaining about an $18 hose.

Now I just need a drysuit course :eek:ut:
 
Let me know how you like that drysuit. I have not found anyone using it, and I was scared that their was a reason behind it! LOL. Once you actually get it wet, let me know what you think. Thanks.
 
I just saw the Typhoon as well on eBay, came over to the good ole experts here at scuba board, and found your post, Ben. Please keep us posted on how it goes. Especially on the cut of the suit and the durability(not that you'll know that for awhile, but you never know).:rolleyes:

mike
 
SPEEDSTER once bubbled...
came over to the good ole experts here at scuba board, and found your post, Ben
Hahahaha! Sorry you couldn't find an expert's opinion! :poking:

Actually for me (6'3", 220lb) the XL cut is pretty good - maybe a bit too loose around the chest, even with polartec on. I need to pull the zipper flat against my chest when donning it so there isn't a big hump in the middle of my chest, but other than that, it fits me great. Which is good, because most drysuit manufacturers seem to think the world stops at 6'2". Just because Dick Long is a shortie doesn't mean everyone else in the world is!

The material is quite heavy, heavier than the Bare suits I looked at (ATR light and Nex-Gen), but nowhere near the CLX450, and the kneepads are ballistic nylon. All seams are taped.
 
good ole experts
= sarcasm (sometimes):D

seriously, I CAN'T decide on a drysuit, there's too many out there. The DUI's are the best of course, but too much $$ for me. The tryphoon looks good tho!

mike
 
Unfotunately I haven't been on in a while and missed this one. I have an older imprex drysuit (bought in late summer of 1997). It is also built by Typhoon but with the rear entry zipper. I believe the entire suit is balistic grade nylon (whatever that means). Anyway, the tri-lam is unbelievably tough and heavier than mosts tri-lams my buddies use. It has seen several seasons of fairly heavy use in zebra mussels infested water as has yet to be cut through by those pesky mussels. The knee pads are standing up very well. This season finally saw the end to the latex neck seal and one of the wrist seals. Although it is a good zipper, it would have been nice to see a really heavy duty zipper used, as my suit material will likely outlast my zipper


Anyway, bottom line, it is a great suit, just a tad expensive in Canada.
 
Finally dived the suit today in my drysuit class - it performed well. I had some slight leakage, but I think that was just my thumb loops on the undersuit caught under the wrist seals. The suit is very heavy material, and once I loosened my harness straps about 2" each, I was quite comfortable in the suit. I need to trim the neck seal, and I aborted my second dive because of the discomfort it was causing, but that's not a fault of the suit. Because of the zipper design, I will only be able to mount a single pocket on the left hand side. The attached boots are a bit small for use with turtle fins, so I might have to try some alternative fins still. Anyway it's coming along with me for a 3 day liveaboard this weekend, so I can give a better review after that.
 
Did 12 dives in the suit in the Channel Islands over the weekend, including one to 120'. Water temp averaged 58F, and with a set of one piece 300 Polartec underwear from TJ's SoftWear, I was comfortable temperature-wise.

There was some initial dampness on the first few dives, but I found a random spot of glue on the zipper from manufacturing that was causing the zipper seal to fail - I picked it off with my fingernail, and the zipper then sealed perfectly - the only dampness after that was the occasional leak down the back of the neck if I looked behind me by bending down and looking back between my legs. But that's probably going to happen with any suit - craning your head forward like that is just too much for the latex seal after I trimmed it. Otherwise the suit was dry. The wrist and neck seals are latex. Suspenders are standard.

The boat swimstep required kneeling to get out of the water - I noticed some light scuffing on the ballistic nylon kneepads on the suit after the weekend. The kneepads appear to be replaceable, but I might add some kevlar kneepads over them anyway.

Because of the length of the diagonal front zipper (which has a velcro flap for a zip-protector the entire length), I was only able to add a pocket on the left thigh. I added a Fifth Dimension bellows pocket, which worked nicely. I attached the pocket using E-6000 industrial glue, which held up pretty well - two of the corners have just started to peel back off the suit, but I think that was my fault for doing a rush attachment job the night before the trip. Easily fixed, and that's no fault of the suit itself. Just a bit bummed I can't add a second pocket.

The attached boots are a size 12 - which while a perfect fit for my foot wearing Polartec socks - are too large for XL JetFins, and too small for IDI Turtle fins. I settled on a pair of XL TwinJets which fit perfectly. I bought the fins in a diveshop on the way to Santa Barbara for the trip, so I didn't have time to fit any spring straps to them - what a pain it was going through the kelp with rubber fin straps. Lost count of how many times I hooked a finstrap up on the kelp. The splits are not ideal for wreck penetration with a reel, but I'll have to deal with that when the time comes. The only penetratable wrecks I dive are prepared ones anyway (Yukon & Ruby E), so it's not too big of a deal at the moment. Wish Scubapro would bring out a JetFin with the TwinJet foot pocket on it! If the boots ever need replacing I'll get them replaced with neoprene socks. Better stick those stinky turtle fins in the cupboard for a few years. I wore Halcyon gaiters with the suit on the weekend, something I didn't do in the drysuit course, and they made a very noticeable difference in the drysuit characteristics for the better. I was able to dive in an inverted position while chasing bugs without getting floaty feet, something I experienced during the course.

Apart from the kneepad scuffing and lack of space for a second pocket, I'm very happy with the suit, and would purchase it again if doing it again. Definitely keep an eye out on eBay for them - I saved $200 than buying it directly from Divers Supply. All in all not a bad front entry trilaminate drysuit for under $600!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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