Drysuit course with rental suit?

[blueskies_up_ahead]

So it's pretty much in the title, but longer version: I'm a rather new diver. I knew a drysuit was on the horizon as I want to dive year round in local lakes (Germany). The initial plan was to do the course in fall and possibly rent a suit for this first winter as it's quite expensive. But then I went diving on the canary islands and discovered I'm apparently exceptionally easily cold. I froze my butt off in 21°C water in a 7mm suit + hooded vest... So basically I've come to discover most of my diving is probably gonna be in a drysuit. So the whole thing has become more urgent now...
While I have a basic understanding of what suit I may want, there are things I'm not a hundred percent certain or would like to try for myself (e.g. socks vs boots and the type of undergarment and position of the exhaust valve). So my idea is to do the course in a rental suit asap and then order a custom suit. The issue I see is that I've been told dryuit diving sucks with a suit that doesn't fit. And off the rack rarely fits me well. So am I doing myself a disservice by renting a suit as a total beginner? Or is it ok to test those options in the course and I'll be ok even if the suit doesn't fit 100% right? What's your recommendation?

 

[Lorenzoid]

Will your dive op have rental suits with different options to try? That would be nice, but my guess is their fleet of rental suits will be similarly configured.

I bought a suit first, configured based on recommendations from divers doing the kind of diving I was interested in, then took the drysuit course.

 

[steinbil]

Make sure you take the class from someone who teaches to use the BC for primary compensation and drysuit only enough air to keep the squeeze and cold away. Managing a dry suit with too much air is not fun, especially if the suit doesn't fit you. And with all that in mind, what you want is a shoulder dump on the outside (so called DIR position), so it's easy to vent just by slightly raising your elbow.

I took my OW class in a rented drysuit and was fine, but the suit fit was not terrible. It did leak though l, so I was wet and cold on all dives

 

[Aura]

The issue I see is that I've been told dryuit diving sucks with a suit that doesn't fit.

I took a peek at your profile and it says you're female. My own experience with rental drysuits as a woman has been extremely bad. My AOW course was totally ruined because every suit they put me in catastrophically flooded. All the seals were cut to fit a man. It was beyond uncomfortable, it was straight up dangerous. So while I'm sure renting a drysuit can be possible if a shop has a large rental fleet, you need to be particularly careful as a woman that they don't just give you a suit fit for a much larger man, since that's likely their usual clientele.

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

So it's pretty much in the title, but longer version: I'm a rather new diver. I knew a drysuit was on the horizon as I want to dive year round in local lakes (Germany). The initial plan was to do the course in fall and possibly rent a suit for this first winter as it's quite expensive. But then I went diving on the canary islands and discovered I'm apparently exceptionally easily cold. I froze my butt off in 21°C water in a 7mm suit + hooded vest... So basically I've come to discover most of my diving is probably gonna be in a drysuit. So the whole thing has become more urgent now...
While I have a basic understanding of what suit I may want, there are things I'm not a hundred percent certain or would like to try for myself (e.g. socks vs boots and the type of undergarment and position of the exhaust valve). So my idea is to do the course in a rental suit asap and then order a custom suit. The issue I see is that I've been told dryuit diving sucks with a suit that doesn't fit. And off the rack rarely fits me well. So am I doing myself a disservice by renting a suit as a total beginner? Or is it ok to test those options in the course and I'll be ok even if the suit doesn't fit 100% right? What's your recommendation?

It sounds like you have sort of answered your own question - whether or not it is a good idea will depend on how well the rental suit fits.

The other thing that I would ask is how well did the 7mm that you tried fit you? Was it a rental suit that didn't fit that well? Diving in either a wetsuit or a drysuit that doesn't fit properly sucks.

 

[blueskies_up_ahead]

Ok so to adress some of the questions / comments:
My local shop is not a "get them in & out as quickly as possible" type of shop. They have drysuits and I fully trust those are in good shape.
As for teaching, they're affiliated with Padi. Not sure if that says something about what they'll teach in terms of main buoyancy control. I do trust they care more aboit the quality of the teaching than an agency, though.
Finally, the wetsuit is my own and fits as well as any wetsuit could. Literally the only one that fit me after trying everything I could find. I'd say it fits well. Tight but not restricting. Only caveat, it's a fake semi dry (no neck seal to fold).
So my take away is: see if they have a reasonably well fitting rental drysuit. If so, ok. If not, buy first. Is that what you're saying? What should I pay most attention to? Not too much room in the legs, tight enough seals? Anything else?

Regarding the DIR valve: I don't quite understand where that would be positioned in comparison to a non DIR valve. Can someone explain please?

 

[Aura]

I'd ask them specifically if they have a women's suit that's your size. If they only have a men's (or unisex lol) suit with seals that fit you, you can dive it but you definitely won't love it.

Regarding the DIR valve: I don't quite understand where that would be positioned in comparison to a non DIR valve. Can someone explain please?

DIR valve placement is just further back towards the triceps rather than on the biceps. Makes it easier to vent air if you're horizontal.

 

[berndo]

I'd get a seaskin rather than renting and do a class when you have the suit. Renting for a season isn't going to be that cheap. Your shop wont like it and you'll probably have to pay more for the class but it's the best option.

You can use the suit for buoyancy. It's not a problem at all as long as you're just using a single tank and aren't carrying too much weight.

 

[happy-diver]

The guy that made my suit doesn't include exhaust valves so I asked him how to exhaust and he raised his arm

That was my course

 

[PR_SMITH]

I'd get a seaskin rather than renting and do a class when you have the suit. Renting for a season isn't going to be that cheap. Your shop wont like it and you'll probably have to pay more for the class but it's the best option.

You can use the suit for buoyancy. It's not a problem at all as long as you're just using a single tank and aren't carrying too much weight.

I agree with getting a Seaskin drysuit, but not with using the suit for buoyancy.

I prefer to add just enough air to the suit to relieve suit-squeeze/keep thermals from getting crushed.
Much easier/faster to dump air from a wing or BCD. Managing a large air bubble in a drysuit is harder for a new diver to deal with.