Which drysuit to choose?

[gwiazda79]

Hello there folks,

I need help to decide which drysuit to buy.
Diving most of the time in Ireland (boat diving, wrecks)
I have two options Santi eMotion Plus or Bare x-Mission Evolution.
I read here lots of reviews of both, my mind was set on Santi til I spoke with the shop owner where I am going to buy it who told me I better get Bare. Also waiting time for Santi is still 3 months while Bare is around a few days.
Also here people say Bare leaks and it doesn’t have smart seals like Santi.
Price for both is same.
What should I go for?

Thanks a lot !!

 

[explore_DMC]

I have the santi. The boots suck for shore diving...rocks, shells etc will chew them up. I replaced mine with socks and am much happier now. I have no other problems with the suit. Most people I know with Santi in US-PNW have leaky boots and they seem impossible to patch. I’ve heard of a couple people that have issues with leaks in the smart glove system that they cannot remedy, but mine have been great.

I don’t know anyone with a Bare trilam right now but outside of a manufacturer defect I assume it’ll be good. FWIW, my gf has a bare neoprene (tech dry) that is great. However, this was a manufacturer provided replacement for her neoprene XCS2 that had failed seams just about everywhere.

 

[Mike1967]

I have two options Santi eMotion Plus or Bare x-Mission Evolution.

Why only those two, are they the only two you can get or are those the two you've narrowed it down to?

 

[Mike1967]

I've got the Fourth Element Argonaut 2.0 Stealth and I love it! It was custom made in the UK and sent to me in Australia, they measure you up using BIOMAP and is a perfect fit. One of my dive buddies has a Santi and he wishes he got the FE, and our Tec instructor has both and says the FE shits on the Santi.
Each to their own though, Santi are very popular. I think that might be the lag on from when that was the best you could get.

https://fourthelement.com.au/argonaut2-0/

 

[Mike1967]

Btw I wouldn't let waiting time factor into it unless you can't choose taking everything else into account, it's a big investment so if there's a clear winner I'd wait how ever long it takes. Good luck with it!

 

[Wibble]

What about the other "nearby" suit manufacturers— Otter, Predator, Hammond, OThree

 

[gwiazda79]

Thank you all for replies,

There are more options I suppose, I just narrowed down to these two, because of their price up to 2000€.

This is the shop I use , it’s only in polish language and they use polish currency but you can see the other options in there, and price up to 9000zl

If anyone see anything better there, please let me know. I always use them because they are based in town I am from and they are by far cheaper than rest.

 

[grantctobin]

I've got the Fourth Element Argonaut 2.0 Stealth and I love it! It was custom made in the UK and sent to me in Australia, they measure you up using BIOMAP and is a perfect fit. One of my dive buddies has a Santi and he wishes he got the FE, and our Tec instructor has both and says the FE shits on the Santi.
Each to their own though, Santi are very popular. I think that might be the lag on from when that was the best you could get.

https://fourthelement.com.au/argonaut2-0/

It may have changed and it’s perhaps semantics, but that suit was more likely made in Finland for FE than it was custom made in the UK.

 

[Wibble]

Thank you all for replies,

There are more options I suppose, I just narrowed down to these two, because of their price up to 2000€.

This is the shop I use , it’s only in polish language and they use polish currency but you can see the other options in there, and price up to 9000zl

If anyone see anything better there, please let me know. I always use them because they are based in town I am from and they are by far cheaper than rest.

Ah, see your Polish connection. Santi; expensive but very good reputation.

 

[admikar]

OP, you also have Seaskin. Made to measure in UK, cost me €1600 with import tax and VAT, with modular seals, drygloves and p-valve.