Custom wetsuit - Boggled by neoprene types sold by different custom wetsuit companies

[Bronson]

Why go for a custom made wet suite at this point your dive career. The off the rack models are all pretty good in many colors and sizes that you will use for a long time.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

Hi Bronson,

If you'd like to know more, you could read back in this thread or in a couple of others I've posted. But to summarize the reasons I chose to buy a custom wetsuit:

1) There are no ready-made or off-the-rack wetsuits that fit me. That makes them hard to use, since the three most important features are fit, fit, and fit (I'm not really into colors, but if the rack suits had fit I suppose I could have lived with them.)

2) Even though I'm a new diver, I still need to wear a wetsuit when I dive. The extremely poor fitting rentals made it very cold and uncomfortable, not to mention just generally unpleasant.

3) I'm an avid snorkeler (and not at the "new" point in that endeavor). The dive skin I have was not keeping me warm, and even in 80º to 85º water I was shivering and had numb hands and feet. That took some of the enjoyment out of it.

Those are the high points.

B.

 

[Scott L]

Why go for a custom made wet suite at this point your dive career. The off the rack models are all pretty good in many colors and sizes that you will use for a long time.

Let me take a stab. Why would a new diver not want to be perfectly fitted in a wetsuit that will last for many years beyond that of a cheaply foreign produced unit? Nearly every diver has in the beginning stages of their diving career opted for a less costly and less functional alternative only to replace most equipment several years later. One of the biggest benefits of SB is the fact that a diver (new especially) can inquire into the thoughtfullness of their impending purchases with many, many experienced divers of all descriptions. Most beginning divers do not listen but many do including this thread's OP (Not a beginner) who obviously "gets it"....

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

So BlueSparkle...how did your wetsuit work out?

 

[Royce]

Hi All. I'm another newbie and looking into getting a wetsuit. Ironically, I have also been seriously leaning towards wetwear and a 3mil suit with at 5mil shortie. I haven't settled yet but I spoke with Christi and she was great.

Another option I was looking at was Harvey's wetsuits which was also recommended to me, but they tend to be a bit more $$.

It's all very confusing since, being new, you don't know where the majority of your diving will be so how warm a suit will I need? Part of that question is what led me to wetwear and that combo which seems to have a great deal of flexability with a wide temp range covered.

One of my instructors suggested a warm suit for the colder areas and a cheap (non-custom) suit for the warmer areas so that is another option.

How did you make out Sparkle?

 

[Scott L]

Send her a PM for quicker responce. She is nice...

 

[Blue Sparkle]

Hi folks,

Say I'm on the road right now and just stopped for a moment to check the web. I'll write up a reply and post it next time I have access - probably tomorrow.

B.

 

[Nemrod]

I have to tell you, I have a Wetwear suit, Rubatex G231, it is a couple of years old now, the Rubatex is great, as always. The suit quality is poor, poor sewing, poorly made edges and clasps, the plastic zippers are poor and the fit is poor. I sent it back when the beaver tail clasps fell out as I took it out of the box, all they did was bend the poorly bent keeper back down on the clasp that promptly fell back out when I took it out of the box the second time. The suit was expensive, I expected better. N

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I have to tell you, I have a Wetwear suit, Rubatex G231, it is a couple of years old now, the Rubatex is great, as always. The suit quality is poor, poor sewing, poorly made edges and clasps, the plastic zippers are poor and the fit is poor. I sent it back when the beaver tail clasps fell out as I took it out of the box, all they did was bend the poorly bent keeper back down on the clasp that promptly fell back out when I took it out of the box the second time. The suit was expensive, I expected better. N

Wow, that sucks.
I could recommend Don at M&B wetsuits. That's where I got my last two. I'm very very happy with both of them.
One is a skin-in 1/2" G231, and the other is a 7 mil of the same cut, but it's made out of some material that is the densest I've ever seen and from what Don tells me is the densest on the market.
The older I get the better the 9 mil denser grade Yamamoto looks, which is fairly spongy next to my other suits but still very high grade, and comfortable and easy to move in for a thicker suit.

M&B can make suits out of any material you want according to what the suit will be used for from fun warm water recreational diving to hard core cold water commercial diving.

PM me and I'll get you his number.
He's in Long Beach, CA.

 

[Royce]

I have to tell you, I have a Wetwear suit, Rubatex G231, it is a couple of years old now, the Rubatex is great, as always. The suit quality is poor, poor sewing, poorly made edges and clasps, the plastic zippers are poor and the fit is poor. I sent it back when the beaver tail clasps fell out as I took it out of the box, all they did was bend the poorly bent keeper back down on the clasp that promptly fell back out when I took it out of the box the second time. The suit was expensive, I expected better. N

I'm kind of suprised to hear this on a number of counts. First, your profile shows no dives logged and not certified, but you have had a Wetwear suit for 2 years? Second, I'm not sure what you are referring to about the edges and clasps... As far as I know, there are no clasps... just the zipper Finally If you got a custom suit, how could the fit be poor? They get your exact mesurements, make the suit and send it to you. you then send it back to them with any corrections and they do the final stitching and gluing. Why would the fit be poor?

are we talking about the same thing?