Jupiter31
Contributor
Thanks Tom
Tropical Hypothermia???
- Thread starter Pre BC
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Jupiter31
Contributor
I clicked the "auto thanks" and it didn't work!
OP
Are there any more divers out there who have first hand personal experience with tropical drysuits of any brand?
Those of us considering going warm water dry would very much appreciate your first hand accounts (both in and out of the water). If they are great in the water but miserable on the surface, we would like to know. If the are great everywhere, even better! If they are aweful everywhere, you will have saved us a bundle!
We have one very positive review each on the the DUI 30/30 and the White Tropical Explorer... More is better... None us want to spend over $1,000 based on only one diver's input... no matter how enthusiastic or well written :cool2: (Thank you again to RJP, Tom Winters and Big Blue Planet!).
If there are any other brands of lightweight breathable drysuits out there, it would be great to know.... It is easy to get stuck just looking at the major brands.
Additionally, we have a lead on one dive shop in Florida that demos DUI 30/30s all year round. Is there anyplace else in the country where Tropical Drysuits can be demo'd whenever a customer wants to. In particular, it would be great if there was a place to demo both the White and DUI!
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread to date!
P
P.S. What started as a simple question is looking increasingly like something that is going to cost me a bundle...
Those of us considering going warm water dry would very much appreciate your first hand accounts (both in and out of the water). If they are great in the water but miserable on the surface, we would like to know. If the are great everywhere, even better! If they are aweful everywhere, you will have saved us a bundle!
We have one very positive review each on the the DUI 30/30 and the White Tropical Explorer... More is better... None us want to spend over $1,000 based on only one diver's input... no matter how enthusiastic or well written :cool2: (Thank you again to RJP, Tom Winters and Big Blue Planet!).
If there are any other brands of lightweight breathable drysuits out there, it would be great to know.... It is easy to get stuck just looking at the major brands.
Additionally, we have a lead on one dive shop in Florida that demos DUI 30/30s all year round. Is there anyplace else in the country where Tropical Drysuits can be demo'd whenever a customer wants to. In particular, it would be great if there was a place to demo both the White and DUI!
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread to date!
P
P.S. What started as a simple question is looking increasingly like something that is going to cost me a bundle...
These guys in the UK can build you whatever you want.
Dry Suits from Seaskin Custom Drysuits home page
Dry Suits from Seaskin Custom Drysuits home page
RockinDOG
Registered
Great subject! I saw some posts that you don't see often - mostly that everyone is different. One person can be comfy as can be in 75 degree water and the next person is in a 7mm wetsuit and still cold. In addition to personal metabolic rate, you have to take into consideration the water temp, your activity level and exposure time. Heck, a speedo is rated to 32 degrees if you jump in and jump out 
First - my disclosure - I'm the President of DUI and a 30/30 diver. I did 20+ dives in the Red Sea in August of 2008 in a 30/30. I wore a really thin StretchLiner underneath. Others were wearing 1m to 5m wetsuits. For quite a few it took them longer to get into their wetsuits than my drysuit. I was really comfortable. The thing that took the longest to don were the ankle seals.
Second - yes 30/30 (aka Tropical drysuit) is different that other drysuits. The same applies in that a drysuit keeps you dry and what you wear underneath keeps you warm. The big difference is that it is breathable (works great in Egypt in the Summer!), slimmer cut so you have as little extra material as possible, and ankle seals so you can wear full foot fins - it also works to keep you cooler on the surface as your feet are bare.
Third - if you want to try one - we have them on our DOG Rally & Demo Day truck. The tough part is that many of the locations that we have our events are cooler/cold water. But we still have one of most every stock size available for you to try. Some of our dealers have them to demo as well. They are not everywhere, but their numbers are growing. Call DUI and they'll be glad to steer you in the right direction.
I also wrote a quick blurb on the DUI site and it's under WHATS NEW about my vacation to the Red Sea and diving my 30/30 drysuit. Everybody on that boat (and they were either vacationers from Spain or crew from Egypt) was fondeling and oogling over my DUI. I don't mind being oogled!
Enough for now. I hope this helps. Keep up the great discussions and let us at DUI know how we can help!
See you at a DUI DOG Rally & Demo Day!
Susan Long
First - my disclosure - I'm the President of DUI and a 30/30 diver. I did 20+ dives in the Red Sea in August of 2008 in a 30/30. I wore a really thin StretchLiner underneath. Others were wearing 1m to 5m wetsuits. For quite a few it took them longer to get into their wetsuits than my drysuit. I was really comfortable. The thing that took the longest to don were the ankle seals.
Second - yes 30/30 (aka Tropical drysuit) is different that other drysuits. The same applies in that a drysuit keeps you dry and what you wear underneath keeps you warm. The big difference is that it is breathable (works great in Egypt in the Summer!), slimmer cut so you have as little extra material as possible, and ankle seals so you can wear full foot fins - it also works to keep you cooler on the surface as your feet are bare.
Third - if you want to try one - we have them on our DOG Rally & Demo Day truck. The tough part is that many of the locations that we have our events are cooler/cold water. But we still have one of most every stock size available for you to try. Some of our dealers have them to demo as well. They are not everywhere, but their numbers are growing. Call DUI and they'll be glad to steer you in the right direction.
I also wrote a quick blurb on the DUI site and it's under WHATS NEW about my vacation to the Red Sea and diving my 30/30 drysuit. Everybody on that boat (and they were either vacationers from Spain or crew from Egypt) was fondeling and oogling over my DUI. I don't mind being oogled!
Enough for now. I hope this helps. Keep up the great discussions and let us at DUI know how we can help!
See you at a DUI DOG Rally & Demo Day!
Susan Long
fdevine
New
First - my disclosure I'm a retail manager and one of the Instructors at Pro Dive International in Fort Lauderdale, an authorized DUI dealer, and we are one of the shops, if not the one PRE BC mentioned, that DEMO DUI Dry Suits year round.
Second - Being located in South Florida and running a dive charter that schedules 15 dive trips a week year round, we see up close the seasonal variation and individual differences in comfort levels between divers, particularly in women versus men. It is not at all unusual to see a diverse range of thermal protection (from skins on up) on the same trip, even in the winter. Although, none of the instructors here wear skins in January, I've seen it often enough to wonder at human thermal capabilities.
Third - Dog Rally & Demo Days are great and if there is one scheduled near you, you should definitely go. HOWEVER, if there isn't one near you or you just don't want to wait, you can demo the DUI 30/30 here at Pro Dive 365 days a year. To fill in the blanks on PRE BCs reply, We have a couple ways to try things out. If you are already a drysuit diver, show us your card and one dive with the 30/30 is on us. If you aren't already a drysuit diver, we will give you the drysuit specialty course for the price of a Discover Scuba and the use of the drysuit is free. It's an easy way to try a tropical drysuit before you decide whether or not to buy, it is that simple.
And fourth - while we feel our spot on the map is pretty priviledged when it comes to diving, many of you are not going to jump on airplanes and fly from where you live to Fort Lauderdale just so you can demo a drysuit with us. The bottom line is that it is very difficult for divers to find places where they can try before they buy high ticket items. As Susan said, the numbers are growing and we just happen to be one of the full service shops she is talking about that are committed to encouraging customers to look, touch, feel and use a product before making a large financial commitment. I would be very interested to hear from other shops offering free demos of either the DUI 30/30 or the Whites Tropical Explorer After all, a side by side comparison would be the best way to decide which suit has the best fit and function for your needs. Hopefully there are progressive dive shops in your area that both demo high ticket items and credit a portion of rental fees against purchase prices.
For local dive shops to survive against the pure price competition of the internet, they have to offer customer service that is so special that there really is a difference The days of dive shops surviving by guilting their customers into paying higher prices out of a sense of duty are long gone.
I would also be very interested in reading more testimonials from actual tropical drysuit users. Given that there have been almost 1,000 visitors to this thread. I am apparently not the only one who thinks this discussion has been extremely interesting and informative!
Second - Being located in South Florida and running a dive charter that schedules 15 dive trips a week year round, we see up close the seasonal variation and individual differences in comfort levels between divers, particularly in women versus men. It is not at all unusual to see a diverse range of thermal protection (from skins on up) on the same trip, even in the winter. Although, none of the instructors here wear skins in January, I've seen it often enough to wonder at human thermal capabilities.
Third - Dog Rally & Demo Days are great and if there is one scheduled near you, you should definitely go. HOWEVER, if there isn't one near you or you just don't want to wait, you can demo the DUI 30/30 here at Pro Dive 365 days a year. To fill in the blanks on PRE BCs reply, We have a couple ways to try things out. If you are already a drysuit diver, show us your card and one dive with the 30/30 is on us. If you aren't already a drysuit diver, we will give you the drysuit specialty course for the price of a Discover Scuba and the use of the drysuit is free. It's an easy way to try a tropical drysuit before you decide whether or not to buy, it is that simple.
And fourth - while we feel our spot on the map is pretty priviledged when it comes to diving, many of you are not going to jump on airplanes and fly from where you live to Fort Lauderdale just so you can demo a drysuit with us. The bottom line is that it is very difficult for divers to find places where they can try before they buy high ticket items. As Susan said, the numbers are growing and we just happen to be one of the full service shops she is talking about that are committed to encouraging customers to look, touch, feel and use a product before making a large financial commitment. I would be very interested to hear from other shops offering free demos of either the DUI 30/30 or the Whites Tropical Explorer After all, a side by side comparison would be the best way to decide which suit has the best fit and function for your needs. Hopefully there are progressive dive shops in your area that both demo high ticket items and credit a portion of rental fees against purchase prices.
For local dive shops to survive against the pure price competition of the internet, they have to offer customer service that is so special that there really is a difference The days of dive shops surviving by guilting their customers into paying higher prices out of a sense of duty are long gone.
I would also be very interested in reading more testimonials from actual tropical drysuit users. Given that there have been almost 1,000 visitors to this thread. I am apparently not the only one who thinks this discussion has been extremely interesting and informative!
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I guess the powers at White's disagree since they discontinued the Tropical Explorer a while back. When I first saw the suit at a DEMA, I thought it was a pretty cool idea, especially for the liveaboard market.
After that, I never thought that they were properly presented to the market place, and now I guess White's agrees.
After that, I never thought that they were properly presented to the market place, and now I guess White's agrees.
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