Semi-Dry Suits...thoughts?

[Azza]

I used a semi-dry for a few years before I bought my drysuit and have to say it is a big improvement on a wetsuit, but nothing compared to a drysuit.

I dive in 10-15 degree water here in Wellington and use my drysuit all year round. The other day my wrist seals died and I had to send it away to get fixed. Now normally I wouldnt have dived but I had a class on this weekend so I had to bring the old Semi dry out of retirement. I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn't as cold as I thought I would be, but after two dives the thought of getting back in the water did not appeal one bit.

In 2-6c water I would run with the drysuit for sure!

 

[String]

Have many peopled used these semi-dry suits? What are your thoughts? Are they much warmer than wets and less cumbersome than drys?...etc.
I dive in 2-6 C Canadian waters... Give me your experiences and opinions. ie. Should I considered trying one?

cheers!!

No question about it - dry suit. A "semi dry" suit is a wetsuit with a tighter seal. You still get cold water next to your body, you still get wet, you still get cold.

In those temperature waters a drysuit is the only safe and sensible one to wear.

 

[Boogie711]

There are several thread about semi dry's here..just do a simple search. You will find that most will say if you can't afford a dry suit then go semi. I have the Mares Isotherm and like it.

Um - no, not even close. I think, like this thread would indicate - if you can't afford a drysuit, get a cheap rental wetsuit, dive the crap out of it, suffer like heck for the first year while saving your pennies. Or, spend an extra $100 over the cost of a semi dry and get a hefty-bag drysuit. But semi-dry's aren't worth the money.

(Former Isotherm owner.)

 

[OE2X]

If you really have your heart set on a semi dry, then buy a drysuit. Eventually it will become a semi dry anyway.

 

[lairdb]

Um - no, not even close. I think, like this thread would indicate - if you can't afford a drysuit, get a cheap rental wetsuit, dive the crap out of it, suffer like heck for the first year while saving your pennies. Or, spend an extra $100 over the cost of a semi dry and get a hefty-bag drysuit. But semi-dry's aren't worth the money.

Now, wait a minute. It's not like a drysuit is 5% more than a semi-dry. More like 5x, and a significant annual maintenance burden. What does it cost to have new seals put on? Oh yeah: nearly half the cost of a top-of-the-line semi-dry.

I'm quite interested in this discussion, but it'll be more productive if we can keep a sense of fairness between the alternatives.

 

[RonFrank]

Um - no, not even close. I think, like this thread would indicate - if you can't afford a drysuit, get a cheap rental wetsuit, dive the crap out of it, suffer like heck for the first year while saving your pennies. Or, spend an extra $100 over the cost of a semi dry and get a hefty-bag drysuit. But semi-dry's aren't worth the money.

(Former Isotherm owner.)

I purchased a Mares Isotherm Semi-Dry for $150. It has maybe 25 dives on it, and is in excellent condition.

I would agree that a dry suit is the way to go for those who want to do a lot of diving in cold waters. However for those of us who are diving mudholes in 55F water, the semi-dry is a MUCH less expensive alternative.

So if you know where I can get a DRY-suit for $250 please post, I'm all ears. However anything that I've seen even used in great condition run well over $500 (which is more like 3X plus the cost of my semi0dry) and the reality is that a good semi-dry suit is going to run well over 1K new, likely closer to 2K which is 7X-14X the amount I paid for a used semi_dry.

 

[cnctina]

I got my semi-dry suit off a discount rack for $100 8 years ago, it is just now getting some tears around the seals. I figure 2 more years and I'll toss it out and buy another one cheap someplace. $100 divide by 10 years = $10 per year. That is probably less than the maintenence alone on a dry suit. It's plenty warm for the diving I do in Lake Michigan. And I didn't neet to take a PADI class on how to use it.

 

[Boogie711]

Now, wait a minute. It's not like a drysuit is 5% more than a semi-dry. More like 5x, and a significant annual maintenance burden. What does it cost to have new seals put on? Oh yeah: nearly half the cost of a top-of-the-line semi-dry.

I'm quite interested in this discussion, but it'll be more productive if we can keep a sense of fairness between the alternatives.

OK - it wasn't $100 more... ifor reference, I paid over $400 for an Isotherm several years ago. At the time, a Bare NexGen was between $600 and $650. My main point is that I would have been far better to have just picked up a cheap wetsuit and saved my money towards a drysuit. After all, let's be honest - a semi-dry is just barely warmer than a good fitting regular wetsuit.

And your seals argument doesn't hold a drop of water - do I need to explain why, or are you going to figure it out yourself? (Hint - what do both a drysuit and semi-drysuit share?)

Come on now, Lairdb - I'm quite interested in this discussion, but it'll be more productive if we can keep a sense of fairness between the alternatives.

 

[cnctina]

The Isotherm seems to be a popular choice for a semi-dry, why?

 

[MAK52580]

Go straight to a drysuit.

Agreed... dont waste your money on a semi-dry. just add the money to a decent dry suit. You'll never regret it.