Cheap... eBay drysuit undergarments

[hudson]

Now.. I have lost some weight, and also took a lot of weight off my belt, and now in 52F water, I'm easily getting cold in the quilted 200g with crushed neoprene and a polypro liner. It's fine for about 15 minutes, then I get chilled. Going to add a fleece vest this weekend and see how it works out. My hands also get very cold, so this may be related, but I'm warm elsewhere (head & feet).

So.. if you are fairly thin, get cold easy and don't want to dive with too much lead, pay attention to the temperature ranges in the auctions, turns out they are fairly accurate after all.

To update: with a second inner thermal polyester and a fleece vest, I managed to stay ok under the same conditions for about 30 minutes. Wasn't really warm though..

 

[JanR]

This is an old thread, but it apparently continues to be relevent so I'll throw in my two cents.

I just received my Antartic undergarments from Ron this week. I have yet to dive with them, but if they are anywhere as good as the service they'll work out great.

As evidenced by much of hte preceding thread, the issue of sizing is one of concern. I'm 170 pounds, 5'11' with a 42 inch chest, 34 inch waist, and about a 32 inch inseam. I sent Ron a message when I ordered the undergarment on Ebay with my dimensions. Within 24 hours, I had an email from him asking to confirm my inseem as he was concerned I might be in-between sizes. I replied to him the next day and was answered with the news my undergarments (a large) was on the way.

I had also asked about the socks. On eBay, I had only seen size: Large. I sent him my shoe size. He noticed from my email I am in the military and threw in the socks at no added charge.

Within 2-3 days (I was out of town when the package arrived) I returned to my house to find the box with my undergarment at my front door. I quickly tore into the box and tried them on and was happy to find they seem to be a perfect fit.

This weekend, I do my open water dives for my dry suit course and will follow with a review. But even if I still get chilled, I'll consider my money well-spent just for having a vendor treat me as if he really cared to get it right.

Review to follow this weekend.

v/r

Jan

 

[fobturbo]

I bought a "4WAY FLEX DRY SUIT FLEECE UNDERGARMENT" a little while back and took it diving in a rented DUI TLS. Like the others have said, there is a "fat boy" cut to it in the stomach area. I'll probably need to have that part tailored out. I was originally going to wear a fleece sweater underneath, but forgot it in my rush to leave home. I did have a small polyester vest from my snowboard jacket underneath. I went down to 114 feet @50 degrees. I was a bit chilled but it was tolerable. I think if I had my fleece sweater on I'd been fine. Definitely a good buy since I can put on my snowboard layers to add insulation. If you want a single piece of insulation at 50 degrees, then this might not be for you. I may look into buying one of the artic ones.

 

[BORG]

I tried out my 4 way Antarctic Undergarment this past weekend. It was alot more buoyant than I thought. I had on 20lbs of lead with my Zeagle Ranger LTD BC and my Pinnacle EVO2 dry suit, 95LP steel tank and I was like a cork. I should have brought at least another 15lbs. to the dive site. This was in fresh water at a lake north of Atlanta. I will need at least 30 lbs. of lead to sink this puppy. I know it will keep warm though, if I can just get it under the surface.

 

[Ken abucs]

Also watch your exhaust valve. Mine is so fluffy I couldn't get the exhaust valve to vent properly. Next time I'll try a little duct tape on the undergarment to allow better airflow.

 

[zinmaker]

I've purchased both the 500g and 250g undergarments to replace my Diving Concepts TLS extreme. The flexible fleece material in my new undergarments is far superior, not only in movement while diving, but also in warmth. The 500g is going to work perfect while diving the 46-48 degree water, the 250g for diving the warmer waters down south. Never thought I would be bragging about undergarments.

 

[hudson]

What is the 500g? Is it the 2 layer polartec 250g?

If so, I've got the same undergarmnet. I suspect it is not quite as warm as the Antarctica, but it's better than my previous 3-layer quilted 240g fleece. It is also considerably thinner than both, looks better and is very stretchy. Love it.

Sizing is a little smaller than the quilted around the chest area.

 

[Matt S.]

That is what I needed to know, Hudson... I have the quilted one and want to replace it since it never fit quite right. Something warmer and stretchier is just what I need.

Are you referring to this?
http://cgi.ebay.com/2-LAYERS-250G-S...14&_trkparms=72:1205|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

Or this?
http://cgi.ebay.com/250wt-2-LAYER-3...14&_trkparms=72:1205|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

 

[D_B]

I'm not sure about those particular undies, but Ron made a custom quilted 3 layer for me and the price was , well, the same .. I do not know if that holds true for any others, or even that one , I think it was maybe cause I had to wait a bit for it

Can't say enough good things about Ron and his service

 

[Matt S.]

Thanks. I'll have to get in touch with him and get his recommendations.