The Whites Fusion drysuit.
I finally bought one and wanted to write down my thoughts about how I arrived at the decision to get one.
I have lived on Guam for the past 3 years, prior to that I lived in Anchorage, AK for a couple of winters. While living in Anchorage I took a dry suit class with Scott Anderson, owner of Dive Alaska. Once I moved to Guam I would fly back to Anchorage once a year, rent a dry suit, and dive. That was my only prior experience with diving dry, a rental TLS350 and the DUI 400 gram undergarment.
I’ve recently moved to Japan and wanted to buy my own dry suit for local diving and travel.
This is where I ran into the same problems every other new dry suit purchaser runs into….how to decide on which dry suit to get? I read every thread I could find on “dry suit” “undergarment” “Fusion” “tri-laminate” ‘crushed neoprene” “p-valve” “condom catheter” “dry gloves” “wrist rings” “DUI” “Santi” “Waterproof” “Pinnacle” “Bare”, etc., etc.
I finally had to break down what was important to me in a dry suit. One important factor for me was the ability to easily repair it myself, since I have lived outside of the Continental U.S. for so long. I didn’t want to deal with shipping a suit back for repairs. I needed to be able to take care of it myself. This made the Sitech user replaceable wrist and neck seals very appealing.
The Sitech SLT system that can be had on a new Whites Fusion for an upgrade price of $250, this was tipping the balance in favor of the fusion suit. I realize the Sitech wrist and neck seals can be retrofitted to just about any suit, but from reading online the cost for that retrofit is around $450.
The Waterproof D7 Pro was a suit I was seriously considering also, since it also comes with replaceable seals. The wrist seals on the D7 are the oval rings, and there’s currently no dry glove system for it yet. I wanted the Sitech Glove Lock system on whatever suit I ended up getting.
I talked myself into and out of the Whites Fusion so many times. That suit certainly has its down sides….pocket issues and sagging are well known problems with the Fusion. Since I was also going to be traveling with the suit, drying time and pack weight were factors for me. The Bullet would win on the pocket decision, but lose out on the drying time. The Tech skin seems like the best compromise all things considered. Of course there is the option of a Sport skin and X-shorts. But for me, the Tech skin would be the choice. Besides, it’s inexpensive enough to add a Sport skin and X-shorts later if needed for travel, or to resolve pocket compromises.
As for shell suits, the Santi was one I was also considering. What finally steered me away from shell suits was fit. I have lost weight over the past 5 months, with plans to continue with what I’m doing in terms of fitness. I didn’t want to buy a shell suit that would end up not fitting me in a year, or not fit me well.
The Fusion won out in this area. I didn’t want to be faced with buying another suit later as I pursue my fitness goals. I needed a suit that would grow with me and one that would best be able to accommodate thick and thinner undergarments.
I watched all the videos I could find about the Fusion, and one that stood out was the one that Mike from Dive Right In Scuba did. He cut his suit with a razor blade and repaired it with a patch and a heat gun in a matter of minutes. That was certainly appealing to me. I want to be able to repair a suit easily, shipping it off for repairs is not really an option.
There are some things about the Fusion that stand out…….the flexibility and its ability to accommodate various thickness undergarments is a big positive one. There are some negatives that stand out when reading about them. Many don’t like the donning of the suit, there are also mixed feelings from users about the boot options, and the pockets are problematic.
I do see quite a few of them listed for sale also, which was a cause for concern.
I started to realize that no matter which dry suit I chose, I’d be taking the good with the bad.
Even with shell suits there are factors to balance out…..such as:
Its real heavy duty vs. its not flexible enough.
Its warm and doesn’t require as thick of an undergarment vs. it takes forever to dry.
It doesn’t fit well vs. I need a custom cut.
The list goes on.
With the Fusion, for me at least, it became a matter of deciding if the upsides were worth the downsides…..could I live with the downsides? Nothings perfect, but I wanted to try and get close.
UPSIDES: Flexibility, fit, it will take different undergarments and still fit well, it has user replaceable seals, ease of self-repair, Fusion boots (these are a downside to some), compatible with Sitech Glove lock system (The SLT system is cheaper as a factory option from Whites), durability (long ago proven by TS&M, FDOG, and other early adopters). Its in-the-water performance as reported by other owners was a major selling point for me.
DOWNSIDES: Looks….seriously…..this proves I value function over form J, pockets/sagging, and donning (I won’t have a problem with it, but users DO report it as a hassle…it is what it is.)
So, I got in touch with Mike from D.R.I.S. while I was in Afghanistan and fired off a LOT of questions to him……I bugged the hell out of Mike, no doubt about it. J I can’t thank him enough for his objective views on the Fusion.
I bounced that against what I read from the posts of TS&M, FDOG, and other (early adopter) Fusion users.
It all lead to me concluding that the negatives about the Fusion were minor enough to me and that I could live with them. The positives about the suit were all worthwhile to me, so I decided to go with the Fusion.
I was still suffering from analysis paralysis on which skin to get. I asked Mark Vlahos about his Bullet skin, since I really wanted more insight on that. I had to decide on whether or not it was worth it to me to get a Bullet. I had travel in mind, and was concerned about the drying time.
I ended up going with the Tech skin.
I just wanted to write down my thought process in my decision while it was still fresh in my mind. Being able to tap into the posts here was a big help to me in deciding on what suit to buy. Hopefully this will help someone decide for or against a Fusion themselves.
So, I got a full set up of dry diving gear......Fusion boots, SLT replaceable seals, Sitech Glove Lock dry gloves, Light Monkey p-valve, extra seals, and a Thermal Fusion.
Why the Thermal Fusion?.........Because Lynne has (tested) one and says it's good!
Thanks again to Mike at Dive Right In Scuba. You are awesome Man!
I can’t thank you enough for everything you've done!
I appreciate you making yourself available when I only had a crappy Skype connection in Afghanistan! It means a lot!!!!!!
Take care,
Mitch
I finally bought one and wanted to write down my thoughts about how I arrived at the decision to get one.
I have lived on Guam for the past 3 years, prior to that I lived in Anchorage, AK for a couple of winters. While living in Anchorage I took a dry suit class with Scott Anderson, owner of Dive Alaska. Once I moved to Guam I would fly back to Anchorage once a year, rent a dry suit, and dive. That was my only prior experience with diving dry, a rental TLS350 and the DUI 400 gram undergarment.
I’ve recently moved to Japan and wanted to buy my own dry suit for local diving and travel.
This is where I ran into the same problems every other new dry suit purchaser runs into….how to decide on which dry suit to get? I read every thread I could find on “dry suit” “undergarment” “Fusion” “tri-laminate” ‘crushed neoprene” “p-valve” “condom catheter” “dry gloves” “wrist rings” “DUI” “Santi” “Waterproof” “Pinnacle” “Bare”, etc., etc.
I finally had to break down what was important to me in a dry suit. One important factor for me was the ability to easily repair it myself, since I have lived outside of the Continental U.S. for so long. I didn’t want to deal with shipping a suit back for repairs. I needed to be able to take care of it myself. This made the Sitech user replaceable wrist and neck seals very appealing.
The Sitech SLT system that can be had on a new Whites Fusion for an upgrade price of $250, this was tipping the balance in favor of the fusion suit. I realize the Sitech wrist and neck seals can be retrofitted to just about any suit, but from reading online the cost for that retrofit is around $450.
The Waterproof D7 Pro was a suit I was seriously considering also, since it also comes with replaceable seals. The wrist seals on the D7 are the oval rings, and there’s currently no dry glove system for it yet. I wanted the Sitech Glove Lock system on whatever suit I ended up getting.
I talked myself into and out of the Whites Fusion so many times. That suit certainly has its down sides….pocket issues and sagging are well known problems with the Fusion. Since I was also going to be traveling with the suit, drying time and pack weight were factors for me. The Bullet would win on the pocket decision, but lose out on the drying time. The Tech skin seems like the best compromise all things considered. Of course there is the option of a Sport skin and X-shorts. But for me, the Tech skin would be the choice. Besides, it’s inexpensive enough to add a Sport skin and X-shorts later if needed for travel, or to resolve pocket compromises.
As for shell suits, the Santi was one I was also considering. What finally steered me away from shell suits was fit. I have lost weight over the past 5 months, with plans to continue with what I’m doing in terms of fitness. I didn’t want to buy a shell suit that would end up not fitting me in a year, or not fit me well.
The Fusion won out in this area. I didn’t want to be faced with buying another suit later as I pursue my fitness goals. I needed a suit that would grow with me and one that would best be able to accommodate thick and thinner undergarments.
I watched all the videos I could find about the Fusion, and one that stood out was the one that Mike from Dive Right In Scuba did. He cut his suit with a razor blade and repaired it with a patch and a heat gun in a matter of minutes. That was certainly appealing to me. I want to be able to repair a suit easily, shipping it off for repairs is not really an option.
There are some things about the Fusion that stand out…….the flexibility and its ability to accommodate various thickness undergarments is a big positive one. There are some negatives that stand out when reading about them. Many don’t like the donning of the suit, there are also mixed feelings from users about the boot options, and the pockets are problematic.
I do see quite a few of them listed for sale also, which was a cause for concern.
I started to realize that no matter which dry suit I chose, I’d be taking the good with the bad.
Even with shell suits there are factors to balance out…..such as:
Its real heavy duty vs. its not flexible enough.
Its warm and doesn’t require as thick of an undergarment vs. it takes forever to dry.
It doesn’t fit well vs. I need a custom cut.
The list goes on.
With the Fusion, for me at least, it became a matter of deciding if the upsides were worth the downsides…..could I live with the downsides? Nothings perfect, but I wanted to try and get close.
UPSIDES: Flexibility, fit, it will take different undergarments and still fit well, it has user replaceable seals, ease of self-repair, Fusion boots (these are a downside to some), compatible with Sitech Glove lock system (The SLT system is cheaper as a factory option from Whites), durability (long ago proven by TS&M, FDOG, and other early adopters). Its in-the-water performance as reported by other owners was a major selling point for me.
DOWNSIDES: Looks….seriously…..this proves I value function over form J, pockets/sagging, and donning (I won’t have a problem with it, but users DO report it as a hassle…it is what it is.)
So, I got in touch with Mike from D.R.I.S. while I was in Afghanistan and fired off a LOT of questions to him……I bugged the hell out of Mike, no doubt about it. J I can’t thank him enough for his objective views on the Fusion.
I bounced that against what I read from the posts of TS&M, FDOG, and other (early adopter) Fusion users.
It all lead to me concluding that the negatives about the Fusion were minor enough to me and that I could live with them. The positives about the suit were all worthwhile to me, so I decided to go with the Fusion.
I was still suffering from analysis paralysis on which skin to get. I asked Mark Vlahos about his Bullet skin, since I really wanted more insight on that. I had to decide on whether or not it was worth it to me to get a Bullet. I had travel in mind, and was concerned about the drying time.
I ended up going with the Tech skin.
I just wanted to write down my thought process in my decision while it was still fresh in my mind. Being able to tap into the posts here was a big help to me in deciding on what suit to buy. Hopefully this will help someone decide for or against a Fusion themselves.
So, I got a full set up of dry diving gear......Fusion boots, SLT replaceable seals, Sitech Glove Lock dry gloves, Light Monkey p-valve, extra seals, and a Thermal Fusion.
Why the Thermal Fusion?.........Because Lynne has (tested) one and says it's good!
Thanks again to Mike at Dive Right In Scuba. You are awesome Man!
I can’t thank you enough for everything you've done!
I appreciate you making yourself available when I only had a crappy Skype connection in Afghanistan! It means a lot!!!!!!
Take care,
Mitch
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