KathyIGH
Dive professional
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Hi Peter_C.
I spoke with Susan Long, DUI's CEO and President, about waterproof zippers. Here is what she had to say:
WATERPROOF ZIPPERS
DUI uses YKK waterproof zippers - the most proven waterproof zipper on the market today. Over the years YKK purchased the other waterproof zipper companies (BDM, Talon, etc). Therefore all companies making a drysuit use YKK zippers. DUI has been working closely with YKK as well as all of our other vendors to improve their quality and designs.
Recently a company called TiZip from Germany began producing a viable potential option. We have been testing their zippers, and other manufacturers that come along, over the years. Many of these are made with plastic. The designs have been improving whether that is the zipper material itself, teeth design and most importantly, reinforcements.
Reinforcements are vital to the longevity of the zipper. For example, one drysuit company showed someone folding a plastic zipper in half and banging it with a hammer. This never happens in real life. What happens in real life is someone opens the zipper - and not all the way - and "muscles" in or out of the suit splitting it at the end or at the teeth. This is the most common way a waterproof zipper breaks. Of course, they don't show you that on a video!
DUI just built a device that will open and close a waterproof zipper 100 times and then pressurize behind it looking for leaks. We've shown it to the zipper manufacturers and they are impressed! None of them have anything like this. And they probably wouldn't want to as most of them state their zippers are good for 300 or so cycles. Since you open and close the zipper a minimum of 4 times for one dive, it doesn't take long to get to 300 cycles.
That takes us to the interesting fact that no zipper company offers any type of warranty. The fact that DUI provides a one year warranty on a waterproof zipper is completely backed by DUI. One would think that if these companies truly believe in their product, they would offer a warranty.
So you know, DUI is calling 2013, "The Year of the Zipper." We have already started the process of thoroughly testing every waterproof zipper (again). This will include our new cycle test as well as our tried-and-true mixer test. This is where we put samples in a cement mixer and turn them for hours at a time. This helps to expedite wear and we can compare it to how our current zippers wear. We run it for 100 hours and then test the zippers. We do the same with materials, seams, etc.
Keep the questions coming and we will always do our best to answer you quickly, completely and honestly. But don't expect us to jump on the latest craze without thorough testing. We know people put their lives in our products and we take that very seriously.
Thank you for asking!
I spoke with Susan Long, DUI's CEO and President, about waterproof zippers. Here is what she had to say:
WATERPROOF ZIPPERS
DUI uses YKK waterproof zippers - the most proven waterproof zipper on the market today. Over the years YKK purchased the other waterproof zipper companies (BDM, Talon, etc). Therefore all companies making a drysuit use YKK zippers. DUI has been working closely with YKK as well as all of our other vendors to improve their quality and designs.
Recently a company called TiZip from Germany began producing a viable potential option. We have been testing their zippers, and other manufacturers that come along, over the years. Many of these are made with plastic. The designs have been improving whether that is the zipper material itself, teeth design and most importantly, reinforcements.
Reinforcements are vital to the longevity of the zipper. For example, one drysuit company showed someone folding a plastic zipper in half and banging it with a hammer. This never happens in real life. What happens in real life is someone opens the zipper - and not all the way - and "muscles" in or out of the suit splitting it at the end or at the teeth. This is the most common way a waterproof zipper breaks. Of course, they don't show you that on a video!
DUI just built a device that will open and close a waterproof zipper 100 times and then pressurize behind it looking for leaks. We've shown it to the zipper manufacturers and they are impressed! None of them have anything like this. And they probably wouldn't want to as most of them state their zippers are good for 300 or so cycles. Since you open and close the zipper a minimum of 4 times for one dive, it doesn't take long to get to 300 cycles.
That takes us to the interesting fact that no zipper company offers any type of warranty. The fact that DUI provides a one year warranty on a waterproof zipper is completely backed by DUI. One would think that if these companies truly believe in their product, they would offer a warranty.
So you know, DUI is calling 2013, "The Year of the Zipper." We have already started the process of thoroughly testing every waterproof zipper (again). This will include our new cycle test as well as our tried-and-true mixer test. This is where we put samples in a cement mixer and turn them for hours at a time. This helps to expedite wear and we can compare it to how our current zippers wear. We run it for 100 hours and then test the zippers. We do the same with materials, seams, etc.
Keep the questions coming and we will always do our best to answer you quickly, completely and honestly. But don't expect us to jump on the latest craze without thorough testing. We know people put their lives in our products and we take that very seriously.
Thank you for asking!
