I had a Northern Diver suit for my first suit. I was going to get a Seaskin but I wanted something off the peg as I was keen to keep diving after my OW course. With anything M2M, there is a lead time, which is usually around six weeks for Seaskin. The suits at the dive school, which they will hire to club members, are like tea bags and it is difficult to get one that fits as people on courses will get first choice.
The Northern Diver suit served me very well and was dry as a bone. The only reason I got rid was because when I went onto diving a twinset, I found it too tight across the shoulders when reaching back for my valves. I sold the suit to a lad from my club and it is still going strong.
Northern Diver do seem to attract some bad press though. If you go on the UK based forums (such as '
The Dive Forum') and mention Northern Diver, I have no doubt you will get all sorts of tales of problems and poor customer service. As I say though, mine was perfect and I know many people who are happy with theirs. As with any service, the ones who are not satisfied will always shout louder than the ones who are.
Many complaints seem to be about a drop in quality since they moved manufacturing to China, but several people say the problems occur when you try to get a problem resolved. I have not experienced this, but one of the things that attracted me to Seaskin was they are manufactured in the UK and I can have any issues resolved by the factory and speak to the person doing the repair. When I went to be measured, I liked their attitude. Brian, who showed me around told me about their warranty, but also emphasised that they will do their damnedest to sort out any problems that occur outside of the warranty period.