Um... Every diver is different. I dive SoCal and I have only been to WA once diving (In February with the air temp at 17F, wind chill to Zero Water Temp 43F). But IMHO I would rethink and buy a drysuit.
February in Seattle the water will be somewhere in the 43ish range give or take. For me a 7mm would just not cut it for more than one dive and maybe not even that.
Spend some time at Edmund's or Seacrest Cove on Alaki in Seattle and see what most divers are wearing that dive often. Drysuits can be pricey, but if you look at all the mfg (DUI, Diving Concepts, Whites, Bare, OS, Body Glove, Dive Rite and others) you will find the prices vary from under $1,000 to over $4,000. Then there is the undergarment, but at the end of the day, what is the point of buying a less expensive wetsuit if you quit diving because you are cold.
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My question is: Will a higher quality 7 mil, non Farmer John suit provide as much warmth as a lower quality 6.5 mil Farmer John?
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IMHO No. Let us look for a moment at the two styles. Farmer John has a bottom with a bib that comes up over the chest and a jacket top that covers it. This puts two layers over your core area. So a 6.5 mm Farmer-john has 13mm of neoprene over the core area Vs non-farmer-john 7mm over the core area. That, I would think translates into more warmth, but I could be wrong.
While I am a fan of buying new, a search of Craig's List for WA Seattle area shows several used drysuits for sale:
classifieds - craigslist at reasonable prices.
e-bay would probably get you more hits. By the way, I bought a new DUI drysuit, from the store with mfg warranty, that had been hanging on display for several years for, well lets just say it was reasonable, very very reasonable.
Just my $0.02. You will have to get trained on the drysuit, but in the end if you plan on diving the WA area, I bet you will dive more if you dive dry. A dry suit is well suited to a wide spectrum of temperatures with the appropriate undergarments, more so than a wetsuit.