Dry suit newbie. Love it. Need recomendations.

[Malibugary]

Just did my dry suit cert in fresh water. There was 5 of us (2 were revisiting training). I had a crushed neoprene Oniel. I absolutely loved it even though I got a little damp lol. Our lake was 55* surface and dropped to 43* at 60'. I dove with a 7mm hood and 5mm gloves. Plenty warm until my inflator valve (typical rental crap) leaked on my last dive and filled my feet.
Our dive shop is an Aqua Lung dealer so they do Whites dry suits. Looking for some recomendations as I would use a dry at least 4 times per year. I'm good with a wet hood/gloves. I bought my own gear to leave the rental stuff behind. Give me some pointers.

 

[KevinNM]

I love the bare SB undergarment system. The bare suits themselves not so much (I have a trilam tech dry - never leaked other then my forgetting to close the zipper, but meh). But their undergarments are great.

The Whites/Aqualung fusion seems to be generally liked and is economical. Santi suits are not economical, but seem to also be liked by their owners.

 

[ajduplessis]

The Fusion is a great suit and value for money.

See my review of the Fusion below, hopefully you will find some information helpful in your decision making......

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/exposure-suits/497658-fusion-bullet.html?highlight=fusion+bullet

 

[tbone1004]

check out Dive Right in Scuba's selection, call if you have questions. If you're diving that cold on a regular basis I'd recommend neoprene over a shell suit. Not sure why you'd limit yourself to diving dry 4x/year, might as well jst make it your standard exposure protection....

 

[eelnoraa]

To each of his/her own, I own a white fusion sport/tech suit. So one internal core, 2 skins. I dive in 50F water, so my usual undergarment is 400g thinsulate. I really can't say I am impressed with the suit. My other suits are DUI CF200 and TLS350. Both, IMO, are better than white fusion

 

[ajduplessis]

Maybe you can elaborate on why you dont like the Fusion?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I just picked up my 2nd dry suit: the ScubaPro Evertec. I absolutely love it. Great fit. The buoyancy is similar to my Northern Diver dry suit (crushed neoprene). I find the Evertec is really well thought out, as I find I'm very mobile in it. Also, it is so easy to get in and out by myself as the zipper goes from the center of my shoulder to a little bit around my waist on the right. It is much easier to get on and off than my Northern Diver dry suit (which isn't a bad dry suit, just the Scuba Pro is a whole lot better).

 

[eelnoraa]

Maybe you can elaborate on why you dont like the Fusion?

Here is a few things that I was disappointed:
1. it was NOT flexible as advertised. Sure you can do split in them, but divers don't do I splits. Diver needs to reach valves behind. The compression of the skin actually make it harder. I can easily reach valves in both TLS and CF, and I struggle with Fusion Tech. Same undergarment.
2. Fusion tech with integrated boots is heavier than TLS with turbo sole, which is a total surprised to me. Fusion tech also take a lot longer to dry than TLS. I thought fusion will be a good travel suit, but it is NOT for these two reasons
3. Fusion tech pockets just sucks
4. putting on and taking off fusion is definite a lot more difficult than putting on a shell suit. It is probably easier than a 7mm, but by far harder than TLS or CF

Now a few advertisement advantages are true:
1. it dives like a wetsuit. very easy to control bubble. This makes an average or bad dry diver looks good.
2. it doesn't have to fit, or it always fits. I can use it with 400g undie or tshirts.

IMO, it is a good suit for the money especially if you don't want to pay for a custom cut suit and stock size shell suits don't fit. Otherwise, there are better suits out there. the concept of Fusion IMO doesn't live up in practical usage

 

[flyin01]

I would highly recommend a suit with user replaceable seals like the si-tech system.

 

[Malibugary]

Based on what I've tried I will want to do a custom fit suit. Tri-lam for sure as the crushed neophrene suit seemed over bulky(plenty of undergarment options). Don't need extra pockets really. Defiantly want an attached ridged boot(easy to get on) as I had soft boots and a fin slipped off. Don't care about dry gloves but wouldn't hurt if an option. Easy to repair wrist and neck seals in field if needed. Can you get a suit and pick the inflator location(mine was too high imo). Biggest issue is able to zip up on my own. I hated the back zip I had. Other than that is a dry suit ok for say 70* water and colder? Liked dry suit vs. my 3 mm.