My first experience with a drysuit was:

[ClayJar]

Other than a bit of condensation and a little dribble of ice-cold water once when I turned my neck just perfectly wrong, I was quite dry, indeed.

 

[scubadale]

First time, soaking wet. Someone didn't completely zip the back zip. After that time only time wet was due to condensation and once by leaking wrist seal (8 yrs old).

Other than that absolutely wonderful diving dry.

 

[OceanObsessed]

First time was bone dry. I hated wearing it though. It was just too restrictive. I don't even like wearing a wetsuit.

 

[BarryNL]

Had some wet forearm dives at first, but then I realized I wasn't tucking the sleeves of my undergarments properly. Took care of that, and with well fitting wrist seals, no more wet forearms.

That's a good one - the only time I got wet in my new drysuit was when I got some clothing caught under the wrist seal. Now I check the seals carefully after putting the suit on to make sure there is nothing trapped under there.

Other than that, provided the seals have been correctly sized for you by an experienced shop you should not be getting any water coming in. Neoprene seals especially require sizing by an experienced fitter. Latex can be a little more tolerant.

 

[fisherdvm]

You know, it's threads like these that make me wonder if I ever want to bother getting a drysuit, seeing as the cold water doesn't mind me and I'd only be doing it for convenience to stay dry...

You know Tim, as you are aspiring to be an instructor, it might be good to rent and get a dozen dives or so with a drysuit. It is probably cheaper than buying and maintaining one.

As I understand, folks who dives doubles often use it to offset the negativity of their steel tanks. Kind of like a redundant BC.

 

[fisherdvm]

My assessment of this data makes me wonder if DUI had custom fitted a drysuit for each folks, the experience of each person would be completely different. I saw a young girl struggle with her drysuit a couple weeks back, and I wonder if it was just a little too baggy at the legs.

If one had suit that was custom fitted, and with drygloves.... I wonder if the data would be much better.

 

[fairybasslet]

I answered bone dry, which is true, but I felt like a total spaz.

 

[drl]

My dry suit has never leaked a drop in 3 years, except for once or twice when I flooded a dry glove, and a little water migrated up the equalization tube and dampened my forearm. That isn't the suit's fault.
The first time I dove it it tried to kill me, but that's a story I won't tell here. Let's just say there was a steep learning curve...
but dry!

 

[TSandM]

Although we laugh about dampsuits, and it's true that dry suits are plagued by small leaks, a dry suit should keep the vast majority of you dry IF the seals fit correctly. My first dive in a dry suit was in the pool, during my OW class, and I came out pouring water out of my boots. I was assured that that wouldn't happen in the open water dives, as it was all the shenanigans of practicing skills that was causing the leak. Foolishly, I believed them. My first two open water dives ended up with me soaked from head to toe, and hypothermic enough to be quite sick.

When I bought my own dry suit, with proper seals, I was dry for a long time, except for the little pesky crotch seam leak. My current dry suit, which is a Fusion, has now been bone dry for about fifty dives.

 

[Scubadoo72]

My first dive with my suit was also in the pool...Neck seal was a tad big, so we used a "choker", but still had a very slight leak..Once that was made to fit..no leaks since.