Exposure Suit Recommendation

[MaxBottomtime]

I have used a vulcanized rubber drysuit. Heavy, bulky and seems to made for walking on the bottom instead of swimming. My TLS350 Trilam was good for traveling. It is lightweight and dries in just a few minutes in the Sunlight. Unfortunately, it's way too fragile for the majority of my dives. It also creates a lot of drag when swimming. I now own a crushed neoprene suit. It feels more like a wetsuit as far as fit, which helps while swimming. I also don't have to be concerned about diving around rusty wrecks or traversing the goat trails of Palos Verdes to get to the dive sites.

 

[headhunter]

This is all DUI suit information....

Thanks, this is all great info. It's the kind of info that helps one keep from buying new things too often.

Christian

 

[headhunter]

I have used a vulcanized rubber drysuit. Heavy, bulky and seems to made for walking on the bottom instead of swimming. My TLS350 Trilam was good for traveling. It is lightweight and dries in just a few minutes in the Sunlight. Unfortunately, it's way too fragile for the majority of my dives. It also creates a lot of drag when swimming. I now own a crushed neoprene suit. It feels more like a wetsuit as far as fit, which helps while swimming. I also don't have to be concerned about diving around rusty wrecks or traversing the goat trails of Palos Verdes to get to the dive sites.

Phil,

Since you are diving the stuff I'm interested in, did you find the TLS350 got ripped up by the wrecks you were diving? Did you also find that the access around Palos Verdes caused a lot of damage to the TLS350?

Thanks.

Christian

 

[mer]

The old style over lay is also the pattern they are currently using on the CLx450 suits... covers the arms. You can get this overlay in nylon (least durable), tough duck, or Cordura.

Also, some of the cave divers over in Europe use TLS suits with the old style overlay on the upper body and on the lower body they over for a Cordura (??) overlay that covers most of the front of the legs rather than knee pads. Just something else to look into.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Phil,

Since you are diving the stuff I'm interested in, did you find the TLS350 got ripped up by the wrecks you were diving? Did you also find that the access around Palos Verdes caused a lot of damage to the TLS350?

Thanks.

Christian

I was constantly repairing tiny pinholes in the suit. The Turbosole boots did not hold up to walking on pavement at Redondo and Marineland. My wet to dry ration was at least 10-1 with that suit. Other than the cuff dump, I'm happy with my Diving Concepts crushed neoprene.

 

[jonnythan]

Funny thing I've noticed... people who have a load of dives on the TLS suits invariably say things like "drysuit is a misnomer, there are no truly dry dives." This confuses me... the only time I've gotten wet in my Bare drysuit has been when I stabbed through the material with a knife.

My next drysuit will definitely not be a TLS. I do not need to spend my time getting wet and chasing down small leaks, which seems to be a constant problem with the material. Sure it's thin and lightweight but the last thing I want in 38 degree water is leaking.

I definitely won't get a Bare for a variety of reasons, but I will most likely get a Diving Concepts and be dry and happy.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I think it depends on how much you pay for a suit as well. I paid full retail for my TLS350, $1895. Out of around 250 dives in that suit, I was dry on maybe a couple dozen. A friend of mine bought a Bare suit on Ebay for a couple hundred and never got wet.

 

[RTodd]

Funny thing I've noticed... people who have a load of dives on the TLS suits invariably say things like "drysuit is a misnomer, there are no truly dry dives." This confuses me... the only time I've gotten wet in my Bare drysuit has been when I stabbed through the material with a knife.

My next drysuit will definitely not be a TLS. I do not need to spend my time getting wet and chasing down small leaks, which seems to be a constant problem with the material. Sure it's thin and lightweight but the last thing I want in 38 degree water is leaking.

I definitely won't get a Bare for a variety of reasons, but I will most likely get a Diving Concepts and be dry and happy.

Wet is a misnomer. More like some moisture you don't notice with the right undergarments. Once you start spending long amounts of time in the water maneuvering stages, scooters, dealing with P-valves, some water is completely unavoidable regardless of the suit. My girlfriends properly maintained (and newer) TLS which is only used for typical 1 hour open water dives stays completely dry. You guys can use whatever suit you want. I really don't care. Kraken actually asked for advice from people that have owned and dived them all. Having spent more money on the wrong suits over the years than most people will spend on diving in a lifetime, I was just trying to help.

Turbosoles suck. But, the rock boot things are even worse.