What Dry suit should I buy for Ice diving NH 2-07

I would appreciate any advice you can provide.
My wife and daughter bought me an Ice Diving specialty course for 2-07 in New Hampshire.
I am looking forward to it but would like to be warm. I have mainly been a warm water diver but would like to start three season diving the New England coast and
Ice diving lakes. I don't want a cheap inferior suit or a super expensive professional one either, Value is important.
One other factor is that I'm 6'4" tall and 200 lbs. not fat but not Arnold either.

Thank You for your help,
Mike

If you don't have prior drysuit experience, an icediving course is probably not a good place to start.

I would take the class, get comfortable with your dry suit(it can take people some time to figure out the buoyancy) then attack the ice. I really like the Pinnacle Dry suits. We just brought them in and I dove quit a few while I was deciding which line to bring in. Whites was my second choice(brought them in too ) I havent had time to add them to my online store yet, but here are some links. Let me know if you have anymore specific questions or need prices....

http://pinnacleaquatics.com/productdetails.aspx?prodid=4&toplvl=10&catid=10&catprods=10

http://www.whitesdiving.com/index.php?site=4&id=140&cid=302

mlkco:

I would appreciate any advice you can provide.
My wife and daughter bought me an Ice Diving specialty course for 2-07 in New Hampshire.
I am looking forward to it but would like to be warm. I have mainly been a warm water diver but would like to start three season diving the New England coast and
Ice diving lakes. I don't want a cheap inferior suit or a super expensive professional one either, Value is important.
One other factor is that I'm 6'4" tall and 200 lbs. not fat but not Arnold either.

Thank You for your help,
Mike

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Mike,

If you have "mainly been a warm water diver" and have no experience in cold water with a drysuit, you do not want to be under ice learning about cold water and drysuits.

Edited to add: and if your wife and daughter think about it, I doubt very much they want you under ice learning about cold water and drysuits. My suggestion is that you attend a dive and help out at the surface with tending, etc. before you decide to do the diving. You might decide it's not for you; especially if there are equipment problems during the dives.

G_M

I concur on getting some DS experience first.

As to the suit, there are lots of good brands out there. The key to staying warm is having the right fit and wearing the correct insulation. Insulation is something you'll have to play with. As to fit, in your case I would suggest a custom drysuit. I am currently diving a Diving Concepts, and it's been great. The custom suit (which is a true custom cut, not a piece-meal assembly) is only $200 additional, and well worth it.

Also, look at tri-lams rather than bi-lams for a longer lasting (meaning less seepage) suit.

That's my .02.

I use a Northern Diver Divemaster, compressed neoprene. The price was decent, it's been good for me.

Experience, as others said, is good to get. Personally, I just now consider myself ready for ice diving, and I've had a decent mix of cold water, night, current, did my OW cert dives in a dry suit.

oxyhacker:

If you don't have prior drysuit experience, an icediving course is probably not a good place to start.

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Any reputable instructor/facility would ask to have experience in cold water and dry suit diving..I suggest a dry suit speciality and then the ice course..When we sell a dry suit we include a speciality at no cost to the consumer...that can only be offered as an additional service to the customer that a LDS can supply..

I will go to my local store and see about a dry suit specialty course.
They would have let me take it wet but I want dry.
I will have to make ice my next course after dry suit.
Great input and I'll keep watching for suit recommendations.
Thanks,
Mike

mlkco:

I will go to my local store and see about a dry suit specialty course.
They would have let me take it wet but I want dry.
I will have to make ice my next course after dry suit.
Great input and I'll keep watching for suit recommendations.
Thanks,
Mike

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Wise decision; especially the decision to not dive under ice in a wetsuit.

I know there are many who would disagree with me but diving under ice in a wetsuit does nothing except add one more liability to the diver's well being.

I agree with the above, get comnfortable in cold water first. With 25-49 warm water dives there is no reaon why you can't get acclimated to cold water in a new or rented drysuit. In some places such as Canada and UK we frequently hear of brand new OW divers being dry from dive 1.

Your freedom of movement and how you respond to things are going to be very different and not something you want to be sorting out under the ice. The ocean can be nice diving right through the winter here and the way things are going there may be fresh open water for a spell too.

Have you spoken to the instructor yet?

But to answer your question any suit can be warm, the under garments are where all or most of the insullation is. A neoprene suit will be warmest with the least undergarments and lowest overall cost if going new but there are trade-offs. Spending some time reading in this forum can help you sort things out. Much of it is opinion though attributes are rooted in fact, like most scuba gear. Size and build is a non issue since cutsom suits are readilly available in almost all makes and models.

Pete