Recomendations for a cold water wetsuit?

[idratherbediving]

i have a dry suit, a 7 mil wetsuit and a mares isotherm, i have to say, that unless its cold on the surface or below 40 degrees in the water ,i will only use my semi dry. i love it, not too tight, water in it keeps you cool in warmer water, and warm in colder water. the thing i hate about wetsuits is while your in cold water you constantly have water circulating in and out, at least mine did, so always gettings cold water down the back, my wet suit was a pretty good fit too. im the kind of person that gets cold relatively easy and i dont like to be cold, and i love my semidry, a little pricey but well worth it. i usually have bottom times around 30-40 min and as long as your moving around they stay pretty warm. as a matter of fact, when i get to the surface and get ready to take my suit off, i pull back the ankle seal and the water is hot. hope this helps.

 

[crpntr133]

Good comment about the water at the ankles. I had a bunch of people wanting to know how warm it kept me. The way I do my boots the water doesn't flow out of the suit and I end up with a couple cups of water in the leg. So when I got out of the water I had them put there hand under the seal before I opened it. They couldn't believe how warm the water was. The quarry water was about 65 and the suit water was toasty warm.

I also like the fact that it doesn't have to be tight AT ALL. I used the chart from Mares and I thought about getting the next size smaller but I had troubles getting in it. With me the wrist seals could be a bit snugger but I really can't complain.

 

[fubari]

FengShui - 70 minutes is a long dive in my book.
For me, colder water is usually deeper (75' or more),
I average from 45min (60') (55-65F) to 10min (120') (45-55F).

When you suit up, do you use the inner/outer seals on arms & legs? suit on, unzip & peel back thick outer neoprene layer, thin latex layer should be smooth down to the wrist, don glove & fasten gauntlet-part over the thin latex layer, then fold outer neoprene layer over the glove & zip snug. I did my first few dives putting the glove on over _all_ of the isotherm suit (because that was how I rigged my other wetsuit).

 

[scubahorse]

Average from 30 to 50 (40 feet-80 feet) 50F-65F. 65F is very warm summer water in California. Even 3rd or 4th dive, I wnot be cold with my Mares semi-dry.

 

[Sam308]

Thanks for the responses. I was browsing on the computer the other night and came across a package for 174.99 which included a 7mm Henderson Neosport farmer john suit along with cold water hood, gloves, boots and a heavy duty hanger. This setup was very similar to the rental suits I have used in the past with success.

The surface water temp is around 70 and at around 30 feet down you will encounter about 50. Most of the dive quarrys are not very deep so my hope is this budget priced suit will do the job.

 

[cdoyal]

My budget on diving equipment has already been spent for this year. However, I would like to make one more purchase. I'm looking for a low price on a cold water wetsuit. Can you recommend one?

Joe

Buy the best you can afford and beware of people who brag about ice diving in a wetsuit and how comfortable they are when the water temp. is in the 40's. These are exceptions to the rule - not the norm. Only you know your comfort level and how much it takes to keep you warm and fuzzy all over.