Dry suit newbie. Love it. Need recomendations.

[abies]

I dive a bare trilam and like it, it fits me well and other than the crap rental I used for my course it is the only dry suit I have used. User replaceable seals are a great idea. Don't give up on dry gloves to soon I use Diving concepts dry gloves and they are far and away the best accessory I have ever bought, and may be my favourite piece of gear.


ben

 

[Patoux01]

You can dive a drysuit in 25°C if you want.

You may want extra pockets later on.
Fins don't slip off due to soft boots (ie socks), fins slip off due to poor gear setup.
Inflator location can be changed on some (all?) custom made suits, you just have to ask.

 

[eelnoraa]

I highly recommend to get thigh pockets on both side. You may not think need it now, but it is the almost the universal way of carrying stuff in diving especially if you move up to tech or cave. The additional cost of thigh pockets when ordering the suit is minimal. It is a lot more expansive to put them on later.

 

[TSandM]

Malibugary, if you are only going to dive a dry suit four times a year, would you consider just upping your wetsuit insulation? Dry suits are really something that goes better with some skill, and you develop skill by practice. I can't imagine doing most of my diving wet, and just switching to a dry suit a few times a year -- I'd be too frustrated to enjoy myself.

But if you are going to buy a suit, the Fusion is a very reasonable mid-priced, highly durable suit. It comes with three skins, the Sport, Tech and Bullet. The Sport skin is Lycra, and allows incredible flexibility, but you cannot put pockets on it. The Tech skin is a mixture of thin neoprene and Lycra, and you can put pockets on it, but it definitely is heavier, slower to dry, and reduces flexibility. The Bullet skin is neoprene, and is more durable, but much heavier, the slowest to dry, the most annoying to care for, and it dives like any other dry suit in terms of mobility. When I use a Fusion, I use the Sport skin with a pair of pocket shorts over it, because the pockets are better, and the suit retains the mobility and lightness that make it so attractive.

 

[Subcooled]

"I would use a dry at least 4 times per year"

Please use it more often. A drysuit is like a bicycle. If you are inexperienced, you will fall. A trilaminate drysuit is "cold" making it suitable for both warm and cold waters depending on undergarments. You want a back zipper if you want your buddy to help you pee. Otherwise a front zipper is convenient. Some love rubber.

And finally, as a piece of clothing, it needs to fit.

---------- Post added April 29th, 2015 at 01:26 PM ----------

If you're diving that cold on a regular basis I'd recommend neoprene over a shell suit.

I dive regularly in 35..39F and I am enjoying a shell suit. I have tried a neoprene suit and will never again do that. I want to feel flexible. It's all about undergarments and the only real problems are how to keep fingers and toes warm. Heating vests exist too. Personal preference... Also note that while there are some really nice and expensive technical undergarments available, plain wool has been used in diving for centuries.

 

[victorzamora]

Based on what I've tried I will want to do a custom fit suit. Tri-lam for sure as the crushed neophrene suit seemed over bulky(plenty of undergarment options). Don't need extra pockets really. Defiantly want an attached ridged boot(easy to get on) as I had soft boots and a fin slipped off. Don't care about dry gloves but wouldn't hurt if an option. Easy to repair wrist and neck seals in field if needed. Can you get a suit and pick the inflator location(mine was too high imo). Biggest issue is able to zip up on my own. I hated the back zip I had. Other than that is a dry suit ok for say 70* water and colder? Liked dry suit vs. my 3 mm.

I dive dry if the water is under 78F. So, yeah, you can dive warmer. Especially in a shell/trilam suit you're extra fine in warm water.....just don't wear much by way of undergarments. I've done Florida Keys in a drysuit. I have two types of exposure protection: Drysuit and 2mm shorty.

 

[FinnMom]

If you have the drysuit you might be surprised how much you use it. You can hugely vary the amount of insulation under the suit. Case in point: I have comfortably spent 4 hours in a 29C pool wearing my membrane drysuit (as a student the same pool made me feel like a heatstroke victim when wearing my 7mm wetsuit).

 

[KevinNM]

If you have the drysuit you might be surprised how much you use it. You can hugely vary the amount of insulation under the suit. Case in point: I have comfortably spent 4 hours in a 29C pool wearing my membrane drysuit (as a student the same pool made me feel like a heatstroke victim when wearing my 7mm wetsuit).

Yup. I practice in a very warm pool in my trilam drysuit with just the base layer. It's fine. I dove in Hawaii in the drysuit with the base layer, though sometimes - when I would be fairly immobile - I used a scubapro midlayer I bought on sale for $80 or so. They both worked fine, though after an hour with just the base layer it got a little chilly.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I've been diving a HOG suit made by USIA for several years. Very happy with it. Had new seals put on after about 400 dives in it. Other than that no maintenance issues.

Tomorrow night I'll be putting my new Otter Britannic Mk 2 Telescopic suit in the water. Just got it yesterday and like the way it fits. It fits a little better than my HOG.

Main differences is it has rock boots instead of integrated, and the zipper is the new plastic type vs metal. Supposed to be less maintenance. We will see. I really like the torso and the way the crotch strap assembly is set up.

The pockets are velcro but the flaps have mini pockets on them. I see those being highly useful for cookies, arrows, and one of the mini back up lights I have. It came standard with bungee loops in all the pockets. Main and the mini flap ones.

 

[Malibugary]

The shop I go to is an Aqua Lung dealer. The Fusion suits look nice. I've went around town here in KC but nobody stocks dry suits for sale so there's no way I'd be able to try in a pool prior to purchase. There's a demo in Mermet Springs, IL formScuba Pro? in September however I'd,like to buy sooner. What about the SLT on these suits? Looks like seal replacement would be easy on the boat. I'm a buy once type of person and don't like using stuff that's not mine. I just started diving last year and have no regrets buying my own equipment.

---------- Post added May 10th, 2015 at 11:53 PM ----------

Also can someone explain the difference in the fusion suits? Sounds like each one has a different construction and layers (I've checked the website out). I dove with a guy that had an old Whites but no one at the dive shop (I find odd including the owner and instructors) has an Aqua Lung/Whites which is what they sell.