Xaryo
Contributor
I'm starting to look for a drysuit and I would like advice on the difference between them.
Pros and cons...
Pros and cons...
Trilam or compressed neoprene
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evil_xander
Contributor
Please use the search, it's your friend. This topic has been beaten to death already...
In a nutshell, unless you go ice diving, trilam. Packs smaller, lighter, dries faster, repairs easily, no buoyancy swing.
In a nutshell, unless you go ice diving, trilam. Packs smaller, lighter, dries faster, repairs easily, no buoyancy swing.
Trilam suits are the do everything compromise suit - light weight, reasonably durable, dries fast, low average swimmability and flexibility. Since the fabric does not stretch, flexibility and range of motion must be achieved with a fairly loose cut dn there is a fine line between loose enough to be fully mobile and baggy which adds extra drag in the water. They can be obtained with shoulder entry or diagonal across the chest self entry zippers.
Compressed neoprene has some inherent insulation and is a bit warmer. It also has some stretch so it can have a trimmer cut and still have a full range of motion. It is however heavy, takes forever to dry and can be harder to find and repair leaks. They have the same zipper options as a trilam.
Uncompressed neoprene is less expensive (1/3rd th 1/2 the price of a trilam) and is very swimmable as you can have a very snug fit, and is quite warm as it has the same insulation as a 7mm wet suit with the benefit of being dry and being able to add additional underwear underneath. But becase of the warmth you can't wear it anywhere warmer than you would take a 7mm wet suit. It is also heavy, takes forever to dry and can be hard to find and repair leaks. The suit also only lasts about 1/2 as long as a trilam. And the zipper is essentially limted to an across the shoulders rear entry option.
Vulcanized rubber suits are the 800 lb gorillas of the dry suit world. They are very durable, dry very fast, are the best choice incontaminated water, and are very easy to repair (5 minutes with a tire patch kit) But they are heavy and the material has very little stretch so you need the same cut as a trilam with the disadvantage that the material is much stiffer you cannot have a folding torso, so they are rear entry across the shoulder zippered suits only.
Whites develped their Fusion a year or two ago and uses a different approach. It uses a fairly loose bladder with a stretchy spandex or neopre/spandex outser skin. The result is a durable suit that is very flexible and very swimmable, very easy to patch, lightweight, and can give a great fit with only a few standard sizes. The price is also 2/3 to 1/2 what you'd pay for a comparable trilam. It also usesa very good across the chest self entry zipper design that allows self entry wth no need for an extra long torso. The downside is that the neoprene tech skin tends to dry a bit slow, but the spandex skin dries faster. .
Over the last 20 years I have used trilam suits, neoprene suits and vulcanized rubber suits, but I recently bought a Fusion and feel it is the best suit I have ever owned in terms of flexibility, swimmability and general utility.
Compressed neoprene has some inherent insulation and is a bit warmer. It also has some stretch so it can have a trimmer cut and still have a full range of motion. It is however heavy, takes forever to dry and can be harder to find and repair leaks. They have the same zipper options as a trilam.
Uncompressed neoprene is less expensive (1/3rd th 1/2 the price of a trilam) and is very swimmable as you can have a very snug fit, and is quite warm as it has the same insulation as a 7mm wet suit with the benefit of being dry and being able to add additional underwear underneath. But becase of the warmth you can't wear it anywhere warmer than you would take a 7mm wet suit. It is also heavy, takes forever to dry and can be hard to find and repair leaks. The suit also only lasts about 1/2 as long as a trilam. And the zipper is essentially limted to an across the shoulders rear entry option.
Vulcanized rubber suits are the 800 lb gorillas of the dry suit world. They are very durable, dry very fast, are the best choice incontaminated water, and are very easy to repair (5 minutes with a tire patch kit) But they are heavy and the material has very little stretch so you need the same cut as a trilam with the disadvantage that the material is much stiffer you cannot have a folding torso, so they are rear entry across the shoulder zippered suits only.
Whites develped their Fusion a year or two ago and uses a different approach. It uses a fairly loose bladder with a stretchy spandex or neopre/spandex outser skin. The result is a durable suit that is very flexible and very swimmable, very easy to patch, lightweight, and can give a great fit with only a few standard sizes. The price is also 2/3 to 1/2 what you'd pay for a comparable trilam. It also usesa very good across the chest self entry zipper design that allows self entry wth no need for an extra long torso. The downside is that the neoprene tech skin tends to dry a bit slow, but the spandex skin dries faster. .
Over the last 20 years I have used trilam suits, neoprene suits and vulcanized rubber suits, but I recently bought a Fusion and feel it is the best suit I have ever owned in terms of flexibility, swimmability and general utility.
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