Undersuit - Weezle, Flectalon, or...?

[Ber Rabbit]

I'm diving a Viking 400g thinsulate suit that I bought from Bob3, a Viking dealer here on the board. It may be thicker than what you want but I like it because it takes up the excess space in my drysuit. I had a lot of suit flooding problems and I've done a second dive in 55 degree water after flooding the suit on the first dive and managed to stay relatively warm (I'm ALWAYS cold). I usually wear a nice pair of polartec expedition weight undies under the 400g suit. Bob3 told me that most people only wear the 400g in water that is 40 degrees or colder because they are so warm. OK so I'm not most people I have a pair of the booties too and love them because they take up all the extra slop in the boots that are connected to my Viking Extreme. I just wish they came in a smaller size, I have the smallest ones they make and they could stand to lose about 3 inches of length. My husband wears a size 9 shoe and they fit him perfectly (I'm a woman's size 7 @ men's size 5 so you can see the problem). My feet do not get cold at all now and my husband had the same experience after he bought a pair. I like my 400g undies so well my husband bought a pair of the 200g ones (he would ROAST in 400g).

Just throwing something else into the pot from one person who gets cold to another.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[wedivebc]

I have been diving a weasle extreme + for a couple of years now in mid 40s water. I have experienced the problem Boogie spoke of and I started putting a wool sock with the toe cut out over my left arm to contain the problem. I have not had an uncontrolled ascent but sometimes I have to move my arm around a bit to get all the air out of my drysuit.

 

[mnj1233]

I dive the BARE CT-200 very nice, thin and warm undergarment. Durable as well. I dive cold water from 32-50 degrees generally.
http://www.scuba.com/shop/product.asp_Category_159_page_2_recs_10

 

[String]

Ive got a Weezle extreme and love it. Ive tried a 400g thinsulate suit as well and went back to the weezle.

I found it to be less restrictive (you wouldnt know its there) and very warm. With a squeezed suit its lovely and warm, put some air in the suit and its even better.
I tend to dive fairly squeezed (just about enough air so i can move around without being restricted) and for deco stops etc completely empty the wing and put all the air in the suit for extra warmth.
Ive also got 2 very leaky drysuits. Even with a large amount of water in the suit you dont notice until taking the suit off as it does a superb job of keeping water away from your body and wicking sweat away.
There are some people mentioning about it jamming dump valves. Ive never experienced it but guess it MIGHT be an issue if you dive very shrinkwrapped with some valves. I have cuff dumps on both my suits and found with any undersuit wearing a sports bandage on my lower arm greatly helps airflow out of the valve so its not just the weezle that suffers this. I do know of a few people that use a similar idea on the shoulder area (but i also know of more people who dont bother and theyre all still alive and ascending normally).

Ive also got the extreme booties and they work nicely as well to keep my feet warm although you may not have enough room in your boots to wear them as theyre quite bulky.

Id say go for weezle.

 

[Redshift]

I have a Flectalon 300 and I love it. Compared to other undersuits is much thiner and it keeps you warm. A couple of weaks ago I did four dives in the same day in water around 12º C (53º F), one of which at night and I stayed in the undersuit all day and didn't feel even a bit cold.

 

[Bob3]

It's hard to pass up a chance to make a plug for Viking's Thinsulate; the only way to keep warmer (without going the Michelin Man route) is to add electric undies, or better yet, a hot water suit.
Viking takes their lightest weight undie & sandwiches Thinsulate inside the critters, so a B400 suit will have a higher rating than other mfgrs. (think B500) Same for their B200 Thinsulate, it'll provide more insulation value than other mfgr's.
I'm always astonished at folks that dive the B400 - I used to do 4 hour stints in 28°f water using the B200 with a couple extra layers of military surplus Polypro underneath. The only times I'd get chilled was doing a second 4 hour dive; 8 hours in that stuff is downright chilly.
One of the things that made me steer away from Weezle happens to be one of their advertising points; its outstanding compressibility allows it to be packed up into a very small volume.
I just may get myself a Weezle to wear around the house if the heating prices go skyrocketing.
Flectalon is good cozy stuff with a low compression rate, very stiff fibers & great venting capabilities, but it won't keep ya nearly as warm as Thinsulate if the suit floods.

Oooo... forgot to mention that the Viking undies are made in Canada!

 

[Derek S]

Before you consider the Weezle, you should read this thread:

http://www.thedecostop.com/forums/sh...ghlight=breach

I can't say much about the Weezles, I owned an Extreme+ undergarment for one dive and sold it (Christmas present).

Most people swear by their Diving Concepts undies. I've heard good things about the DUI Thinsulate undies except that they are notoriously larger in size (ie a Medium is really more like a Large) and that custom cut ones are very expensive through DUI.

I'm currently using polypro underwear and DUI Polartech fleece undies over that. Has kept me warm down to 34*F water, but I tend to have a warmer body temp than most.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

I pack my 400g in one of those vacuum bags that you roll up to get the air out. That makes it small enough to fit into my drysuit bag fairly easily.

Bob did try to talk me out of the 400g I dive it in a wide range of water temps with 73 degrees finally reaching the uncomfortably warm level--told you I'm always cold. Above 65 degrees I usually skip the expedition weight undies under the 400g though.

Dry gloves were what finally made me feel "warm" in the suit. I found out that as long as my hands were warm I was one happy camper.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Another vote for the flectalon - dived everything from 5 C (40F) to 16 c (60F) in my flect 100 and stayed toasty warm - even when partially flooding the suit: didn't notice until I got out of it. For colder water I add a layer to it. The suit doesn't compact, allows decent rates of moving and venting air. I love it - probably the best diving item I've bought.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[BlueDolphin]

You really need to check out the OS Systems Dual Layer DU-SJ2. It stretches to your every move. It is so comfortable you will want to wear it around the house. You can also buy in single layer and layer the undergarments.

If you wanna go cheap.... check out the "Arctic" undergarment on Ebay for $79. VERY thick. Stretchy, but too warm for me. Well made. A bit bulky also.