Thermalution vs new seals,service on drysuit

[maremd50]

I'm going diving in the Pacific and am told that average temps in that locale are 65-66. WAY to cold for me in my 7 mm! I have a DUI drysuit that needs a new neck seal and wrist seals, and needs the inflation valve serviced too, since its been several years since I've used it (I just don't like the hassle much, and I prefer warm water diving) I've been seeing ads for the Thermalution vests and it is intriguing. I know I'd spend upwards toward $500 to get my drysuit ready, and then am afraid it would sit around again and let the latex get old and weak, since I'm not that big a fan of cold water diving. I might get more use out of the heated vest - but not if they don't work well, or have a lousy battery life, or whatever.... So - I'm asking for feedback. Has anyone used the vest? Is it better to go with the wired one (cheaper but shorter battery life) or the wireless (risk of losing the remote but longer battery life)? I appreciate any feedback you can give me.

 

[Buoy_A]

Couple thoughts:

• If you had Zip Seals (or similar designs) installed, you could get Silicone seals instead of Latex seals and they would last indefinitely. The problem I have seen w. Silicone seals though is they tend to rip more easily than Latex. I don't know that many people would agree with that but that's what I've seen. Sending the suit off to DUI might be expensive (I live 10 minutes from them and still have never sent them anything...LOL). You might get a quote from Dive Right In Scuba, Gamble Scuba Drysuit Repair, or Superior Drysuit Repair.
  
• When you say 65-66 degrees, where are you talking about? If you're talking about the West Coast of the U.S., you're looking at sub-60 degrees all along our coast.

 

[tbone1004]

contact @Dive Right In Scuba about the drysuit, that sounds expensive for seal replacement. You can DIY with their seal tape as well btw.

I don't have any faith in the thermalution. Have heard far too many scary issues with it. I am a huge fan of active heating vs passive, but haven't been able to find a reliable wetsuit version yet which I am desperately trying to find. UTD Solar is probably the one I would buy in a pinch, but I'm unsure of it's long term durability in salt. Likely better than Thermalution though

 

[guyharrisonphoto]

I have a thermalution. The cheap one with wired remote and the smaller batteries. Even the small batteries give almost two hours of run time. The thermalution works great! If I were to do it again, I would get the wireless one with the bigger batteries as you could easily get in a 3 dive day without changing batteries. Still, it is easy to swap batteries in the one I have and that is what I do after the second dive. One tip, the heating elements are on the back. I wear mine "backwards" so the elements are in the front, which is better because I am in horizontal trim most of the time and the warmth percolates up from my chest to my back and warms all of me.

I hate drysuits and I dive wet. If, however, you have a good drysuit and don't mind diving it, then you might be better served by spendng the $$ to fix it up. If you want something you can use anywhere you dive wet, though, look into the thermalution.

 

[BEVANJ]

Another option would be to have a sitech necktite and one of their wrist systems fitted to that suit of yours. That way, you have silicone seals as an option - no more perishing latex, and if you split a seal on the dive site, you can easily swap them out! Win - win.

The necktite can be a tad interesting on people with pronounced collar bones. I find mine is fine though.
The oval wrist system is fantastic (so long as you don't try and use the Antares dry gloves with it).

Bevan

 

[CoolCanuck]

I love my Thermolution for both dry and wet. I have the "wired" version and the run time is excellent. I would go with the wireless version next time to make temperature adjustments in my drysuit easier to accomplish.