Silicone neck seals....Yay or nay

[claymore]

I only got in a few dive last year with my Silicone neck zip seal. My biggest impression is that the neck seals are harder to get laying flat on the neck, they seem thicker and stickier. Maybe it just takes some use to get it figured out.

 

[eelnoraa]

I can only describe my own experience with latex vs silicon seals, both neck and wrist, sitech vs DUI. I found latex is tougher than silicon in term of taking normal wear and tear. Latex however will degrade over time and lose its elasticity, maybe 4 years or so even with good care. Silicon seems to more resistance to natural degrade. Silicon has less tension, seals need to be trimmed tighter. In my DUI case, In DUI case, both wrist and neck were trimmed 1 ring smaller. The issue is silicon also has max stretch point. If you go beyond that, you will permanently damage the seal. So be careful putting on neck seal especially. Silicon is more comfortable, softer less tension on neck/wrist, no comparison there. So silicon = comfort, better again natural degradation. Latex = tougher, can take more abuse.

As for Sitech seal vs DUI, I think sitech win hand down on wrist. For neck, they are about equal. Obviously, once you install the sitech ring, sitech is much cheaper. Sitech neck ring does affect range of motion for me, but I am small, 5'6" 135lb. DUI neck ring is softer and lower profile, un-noticeable in water.

For both of my DUI and White, I have latex wrist and silicon neck now.


In DUI case, both wrist and neck were trimmed 1 ring smaller. However, Silicon also has max stretch point. If you go beyond that, you will permanently damage the seal.

 

[rkufske]

I'm using the DUI silicone seals while my buddy has the latex. Of the two he has less problems with his than me, but he's the better diver as well and he took to his drysuit more naturally. I heard others having problems with tearing of the silicone but I've not found this.

The silicone tends to attract beach sand and it's more difficult to have it lay flat on the skin. The latex has more stiffness so it's easier to keep it from rolling over. I also think it's right that silicone is easier to overstreatch.

Use DUI zip seals and had the same problem until I realized that seal saver was getting on the silicon. I powder them with talc or body power now and the silicon seals slip on and off with no rolling and they don't pick up dirt. Silicon is the best, but I use latex wrist seals with my Si-tech dry glove system.

 

[boulderjohn]

I think things have changed a lot in both latex and silicone seals in the last few years. About 5 years ago latex seals were breaking down chemically with no warning, suddenly getting a gooey spot and that quickly became a hole. It was happening a lot with Whites, but other brands were experiencing it, too. In one year, every wrist and every neck seal in the dry suit inventory in our shop had to be replaced for that reason. The companies were blamining it on some kind of contamination in our diving, but I experimented with every possible contaminant and could not reproduce it. I talked with two Ph.D chemists who said the contaminant theory was BS--it was poorly made latex breaking down. I switched to latex then and got my first Sitech ring system because of it. Then I experienced the fragile silicone seals ripping for no good reason. It was very frustrating--there seemed to be no good solution.

Now, several years later, I have no problem either way. I have latex wrist seals and a silicone neck seal, and I have not had a problem with either in years. I have not heard complaints about the latex from anyone. I suspect the makers of both improved their their products during that time.