Drysuit for Tec diving

[Remy B.]

I know there is a place to post this, but I feel here I will have the most experienced opinions, I have a limited choice to buy a dry suit and that is because of budget.

Any you own or have a buddy that have a Scubapro, Extender Drysuit ?, is it good or do I wait more to gather more money and buy something better like a Bare Expedition X, for example, there are not much options where I am, that I can afford, the Scubapro is the cheapest Trilams I can find around here.

Thanks

 

[decompression]

Do the job if you have the tools

A drysuit is the preferred means of redundancy but there are others. Depends on you and your skills/experience/comfort zone.

I'm not a fan of scubapro drysuits or some Bare suits for that matter. If budget is the big factor (usually is), keep an eye on the board or the scuba swap Facebook page. Lots of deals. Be thorough if you find one (lots of pictures etc) due to your location. For warm-water
I love my whites fusion, I switch the bullet skin to the thinner,lighter tech skin and light undergarment and I'm groovy.

 

[Remy B.]

At the moment I'm in Netherland, water here is cold, but I'm practicing with a neoprene drysuit, which limits my motion a lot specially for the valve drills.

 

[KevinNM]

I'd say the best way to figure out if a given drysuit will work for you is to rent/borrow one and dive it. In particular, dive it with all the undergarments you think you will ever need and determine if you can do all the things you plan to do in the suit. Like valve drills.

For me, a seemingly minor difference in undergarments is the difference between just barely being able to do a valve drill with my screwed up shoulder and not being able to touch the valve at all. I wish I had realized this when I bought this suit...

 

[AJ]

I have a limited choice to buy a dry suit and that is because of budget.

If you are on a budget, don't even think about tec diving. Your drysuit will be not even the most expensive part of your setup. Training, lights, stages and other gear will be much more expensive all together. And when you start trimix diving, even a simple dive will cost you 70 to 80 euros on gas.

Personally I dive in a Santi drysuit. It is used by many tec divers these days. It's a tri-lam suit. Costly, but very good imo.

 

[Centrals]

Unless he is buying all the regs in one go or a DPV, dry suit could well be the most expensive single purchase.

 

[AJ]

For now maybe. I'am planning now for a single course that's more expensive than my drysuit was. Tec diving is really expensive. The suit is a relatively small part of the whole package.

 

[Patoux01]

For now maybe. I'am planning now for a single course that's more expensive than my drysuit was. Tec diving is really expensive. The suit is a relatively small part of the whole package.

Depends where you take the courses, depends on your suit... Some places will let you get AN/DP (equivalents) for little to no cost. Same goes for extended range.


OP, what is "tight budget" ? Netherlands has quite a few drysuits going around at small prices... They can be sufficient for a year or two, and then spend more on a better suit.

 

[sheeper]

i was very impressed by the new drysuit from OMS. It's made by DUI but for much less money. it's not quite as good as DUI's main suits but it is a good value.

 

[Remy B.]

If you are on a budget, don't even think about tec diving. Your drysuit will be not even the most expensive part of your setup. Training, lights, stages and other gear will be much more expensive all together. And when you start trimix diving, even a simple dive will cost you 70 to 80 euros on gas.

Personally I dive in a Santi drysuit. It is used by many tec divers these days. It's a tri-lam suit. Costly, but very good imo.

Everybody start somewhere, and the Drysuit is the most expensive of all not including the scooter