Trilam vs. crushed neoprene drysuit

[Still Kicking]

What's the difference between Neoprene, Compressed neoprene and Crushed neoprene

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[Tassie_Rohan]

Neoprene suits are better in the water, while trilam suits are better on the surface.

See the following for a summary: Dry suits-neo vs crush/ comp neo vs laminate vs fusion. How do they dive/feel?

When it comes to drysuits - a good fit is the most important factor. As its an investment that you will be using for the next 10-15+ years I would go custom/made to measure rather than what's sitting on the shelf of your local dive shop, even if that means waiting for a few months.

A custom suit means you can also add key features such as user-replaceable silica seals, fittings for dry gloves, neoprene socks (rather than fixed boots), decent pockets, a pee-valve and debatable color choices. Personally I wouldn't dive a suit without these features.

Dive gear manufacturers produce relatively simple, mundane items and need to find a way to compete with other manufacturers producing identical items. They do this by slapping 3-word acronyms on every feature and calling even the simplest demand valve, fabric or air-bladder-on-a-belt a 'technology' that separates them from the rest. In theory compressed is slightly warmer and more buoyant than Crushed (tm), but I wouldn't worry about the difference: I cant even tell if my old neo suit is crushed or compressed.

Cheers
Rohan

 

[gmerick]

I've had both. I find a TLS to be more baggy, it doesn't stretch, and when trying to have minimal air in the suit I get black and blue marks from the folds. My CF200 (front zip) has considerable stretch, and fits my legs and arms more like a wetsuit than the baggy TLS. I only have one "fold" in the crushed neoprene suit at belt level around the waist. The rest of the suit fits quite smooth and is lofted evenly by my long johns.

One big difference, I am much less likely to get air trapped in my legs wearing neoprene - usually it is the opposite problem, I loose trim and insulation because I can't maintain an adequate bubble around my calves.

 

[WillieJustice]

I took the easy way out: I asked the opinions of very experienced people who were doing the type of diving (extended range, Great Lakes shipwreck diving) I was hoping to do, and then I opened my wallet! Never looked back. No buyer's remorse. (Well, I did have pockets added and a protective zipper installed when I had my original DS zipper replaced after owning my suit for about six years.)

ETA: If I were to make the purchase right now, I would order silicone wrist seals (to go with dry gloves) instead of the neoprene fold-under wrist seals I have on my suit. I've been watching a lot of videos about diving Iceland's Silfra fissure, and water temps there are barely above freezing--much too cold for me for cold-water gloves or three-finger mitts!

rx7diver

That's one of the selling points Seaskin has. You can get that kind of seal on either a compressed neoprene suit or membrane suit. Same with socks vs. attached boots.

And as somebody pointed out, waiting a bit to get it right is probably less expensive in the long run than going the wrong way or making do with an off the shelf size and configuration. I'll admit to being a little weirded out by a pee valve. A convenience zipper seems like a better option. For me anyway.

You should mention what type of dives you do (like do you travel to dive, duration, water temps etc) and everyone will be able to highlight some pros and cons that will be relevant to you

For example, if you only dive locally and don’t fly to dive, then the fact that neo suits take longer to dry and thus are not preferred when you have to fly home the day after your last dive (as they will add extra weight) doesn’t matter

Good point.

I don't expect to travel with a drysuit. It's going to be used regularly in Puget Sound, probably nowhere else. Whether it's heavy or dries fast doesn't matter much to me. Also, most of my dives in a drysuit will be shore dives. I like the idea of rock boots over neoprene socks far better than attached, thinner boots. At this point in my diving career, I get through air pretty fast, so dives are a half hour to 45 minutes. I'm hoping that over time, my air use will decrease enough to stay down for an hour or more. Water doesn't vary all that much - mid 40s to about 50F. It might get colder sometimes or a little warmer, but not by much.

So far, I have been completely comfortable in rented DUI rental drysuits. I used a two piece wetsuit for one dive and was plenty comfortable in that as well, with the exception that I struggled with buoyancy because the suit was so floaty by comparison. I ended up using eight more pounds than I did with the drysuit, and even that wasn't enough to keep from having a bit of trouble staying at the safety stop. The good part is that after a half hour, I still had a whole lot of air left. That might be because I'm learning, but it also might be because I didn't wear a drysuit. I don't generally put much air in the drysuit, though, so there's that, and using the drysuit for buoyancy instead of a BCD didn't cause me any problems.

Any time I fly to dive, it's to a warm place. Maybe someday in the future that will change, but it will be more the exception than the rule.

 

[lexvil]

You can shave two weeks off the wait if you order your Seaskin today, opposed to waiting two weeks before deciding.

As to the original question, as corrected to compressed vs crushed, it depends, I have both from Seaskin and overall diving the neoprene is great but I dislike rear zip enough that i use the trilam 95% of the time.

 

[WillieJustice]

You can shave two weeks off the wait if you order your Seaskin today, opposed to waiting two weeks before deciding.

As to the original question, as corrected to compressed vs crushed, it depends, I have both from Seaskin and overall diving the neoprene is great but I dislike rear zip enough that i use the trilam 95% of the time.

I got an email from them mentioning the timing. I'm hoping to be able to measure everything in cm here pretty soon. Everything I have seen leads me to think Seaskin is the way to go, for me anyway. I'm debating whether compressed neoprene or membrane is a better option, for me. I'm leaning toward membrane, but if you ask me tomorrow, I'll be leaning toward compressed neoprene. And then it will flip back again in another day.

 

[lexvil]

I got an email from them mentioning the timing. I'm hoping to be able to measure everything in cm here pretty soon. Everything I have seen leads me to think Seaskin is the way to go, for me anyway. I'm debating whether compressed neoprene or membrane is a better option, for me. I'm leaning toward membrane, but if you ask me tomorrow, I'll be leaning toward compressed neoprene. And then it will flip back again in another day.

Nova is a good choice, the are apps for conversion from ‘murican to CM

 

[Boarderguy]

I got an email from them mentioning the timing. I'm hoping to be able to measure everything in cm here pretty soon. Everything I have seen leads me to think Seaskin is the way to go, for me anyway. I'm debating whether compressed neoprene or membrane is a better option, for me. I'm leaning toward membrane, but if you ask me tomorrow, I'll be leaning toward compressed neoprene. And then it will flip back again in another day.

If you're going to be around there will be at least 3 Seaskin trilam suits at Redondo tonight around 7pm. 1 has 250-300 dives over the last 18 months. 1 has near 200. Mine has 80 ish.

 

[WillieJustice]

If you're going to be around there will be at least 3 Seaskin trilam suits at Redondo tonight around 7pm. 1 has 250-300 dives over the last 18 months. 1 has near 200. Mine has 80 ish.

It would be fantastic if I could get down there tonight, but that's not going to happen. This is the usual Thursday night dive? One of these days, I sure hope to get there. I think you may be the man I bought a pair of fins from a couple months ago or so. Small world!

I will probably be buying tanks soon as well, so I don't have to plan ahead quite so much when the urge to dive hits.

 

[Boarderguy]

It would be fantastic if I could get down there tonight, but that's not going to happen. This is the usual Thursday night dive? One of these days, I sure hope to get there. I think you may be the man I bought a pair of fins from a couple months ago or so. Small world!

I will probably be buying tanks soon as well, so I don't have to plan ahead quite so much when the urge to dive hits.

I haven't sold any of my horde yet, but I do have quite a few sitting around unused lol. Yes, this is part of the Thursday night crew in search of 6-gills. Marker Buoy will be out there tonight as well. YSS should have some killer deals on tanks fir black Friday. Next Thursday - Saturday UW Sports will be having their annual sale and tanks will be part of it.