What is the best drysuit?

Thal:

Crushed, laminate and vulcanized suits have no inherent insulative properties so they are totally depended upon underwear and gas trapped in the suit for insulation. As you descend you add gas to the suit and that keeps both buoyancy and thermal characterizes constant

Uncrushed neoprene (and please understand that there is a HUGE difference between the neoprene many suit manufacturers use and quality Rubatex, in terms of compression) will crush with depth, but not 1/2 at 33 foot, 1/4 at 99 ft, etc. As is does, you must introduce gas into the suit to maintain neutral buoyancy, just as with a membrane suit, and that keeps the insulation about the same, so I think that viewed from the outer cover of the suit in the argument about needing more weight with neoprene and losing the insulation at depth is a bit specious.

Which is best? I don't really know. I've had Unisuits, Jetsuits, Vikings, DUIs, Gates, O’Neil’s and a Polaris (Rubatex suit from a small Santa Cruz custom house) over the years. I currently have the Polaris which I prefer for shore diving, a Viking for polluted water (nothing else can really be disinfected) and a DUI that is a joy for boat diving. I use an old set of Unisuit woolies under the Polaris and a ripstop/holowfill/synthetic pile (the blue and gray, kinda baggy ski-suit like stuff) set of Viking underwear under the Viking and the DUI.

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