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tbone1004

Mr Speed Nuts
ScubaBoard Supporter
Scuba Instructor
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Location
Greenville, South Carolina, United States
# of dives
I'm a Fish!
Mike/Rich,
any chance of giving a good run down of some of the wetsuits you guys carry? Which ones you choose to dive with and why? Obviously drysuits are spectacular, but for some of us, we can't use them year round due to air or water temps, specific goals etc. Waterproof has been one of the go-to's for a long time, but Fourth Element has come in and seems to be gaining traction, is the Merino in the Pinnacle suits worth it? etc etc
 
Both great choices. The 4th Element, Waterproof, and the New Bare Reactive, are all great suits. What are you looking for? 3mm, 5mm, or 7mm? What water temps? Are you looking for max warmth, max flexibility, ease to don/doff?

Great questions and something we will work on
 
I prefer to dive wet, despite owning a fabulous Rofos drysuit from you guys. I also have certain types of diving where I have to dive wet, some work with the Scientific Diving teams, summer in Cave Country, working with OW groups etc etc. I have a very old beat up scubapro that needs replacing. I don't believe in 7mm's, too thick, may as well dive dry, and don't think 3mm's offer enough insulation to justify a full suit, so 5mm it is. Durability, ease of donning/doffing, resistance to compression *I have abused my Scubapro and taken it too deep, too many times, so it is now "crushed" to about 3mm per calipers*. Unfortunately very few places actually stock wetsuits, and even fewer pay attention to details like you guys do. You sell most every brand, have the opportunity to sell basically whatever you want, so I would love to see a "I choose to dive this suit, and this is why", which for you used to and may still be a Proteus, but at $420, what do I get over say a Pinnacle Tempo with Merino, or a Waterproof W4, why would I choose the Bare Reactive over their Velocity etc etc. No one has ever really done a cross brand comparo before.

Would also love to see someone take the time and actually draw up a buoyancy chart on the suits, or try to muscle the brands into giving the actual wetsuit buoyancy numbers to make instructors lives much easier with weighting.
 
ha ha, you have a great memory. I still have a 5mm Proteus. They came out with the New Xenos because not everyone liked the pricetag and features of the Proteus (mainly the neck dam system). Nothing, nothing fits like a Waterproof. They can looking a little silly, and not everyone loves them, but the fit due to all the paneling is amazing. The new Reactive is pretty damn warm, and extremely flexible. The Pinnacle is still a great suit, I've had plenty of those over the years too. The merino is a great choice, and they have a good fit overall. All in all, in wetsuits right now, I would probably go with a Reactive if I were buying one today. Those suits are amazing with the new technology they included with the celliant.

Let me get past all the Black Friday and X mas sales, and I will get you nice little rundown on them :wink:
 

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