Where to begin chosing a dry suit

[Teri-Lee]

I am a relatively new diver but I am completely hooked and hope to do lots of diving which means I will be diving around home...British Columbia. I need to invest in a dry suit and have polled all my friends about preferences/recommendations. Of course there are two camps...neoprene vs. shell and I am completely torn. The DIR divers I know seem to have convincing arguments about needing more weight with neoprene and losing the insulation at depth but many of the pro-neoprene divers used to dive with shells and would never go back.
Any thoughts about how to go about making this decision would be appreciated as I will be dropping a few bills to buy the suit.
Thanks!
-Teri in Vancouver

 

[Tigerman]

I have dived with both shell and neoprene suit.
I currently own a BARE CD4 ProDry suit, which is a fairly affordable suit that im very happy with. I also dived a few dives in a DUI shell suit, which was a bit more comfortable above water, but once I get under I dont notice much of a difference.

Allegedly a neoprene suit can take more of a beating and IF it leaks Ive heard that it should keep you warmer than a shell suit would.

The CD4 I currently use is crushed neoprene and shouldnt change characteristics all that much at depth and I cant say I notice more of a difference at depth with that suit than I did with the DUI shell suit..

Where to begin when choosing a drysuit? Id start by looking at my budget. Drysuits can be very expencive, so choosing a price range would probably be a good place to start..

 

[Gene_Hobbs]

Old but interesting...

Market Survey of Commercially Available Dry Suits.
Brewster and Sterba. NEDU-3-88
RRR ID: 4868

and from my post yesterday:
Stinton RT. Survey of Thermal Protection Strategies. In: Lang, MA and Smith, NE (eds.). Proceedings of Advanced Scientific Diving Workshop: February 23-24, 2006, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
RRR ID: 4658

If these were of interest, more on thermal protection can be found in our "Suggested Reading List".

--I would not trade my DUI for anything

 

[spectrum]

I have a 7mm neoprene Atrlan dry suit.

The biggest downside is the weight required to sink the thing. At and near the surface the neoprene assumes full buoyancy and there is nothing you can do about it. In a shell suit you can let is squash down as much as possible in the shallows. The second minor downside is the weight, especially when climbing out wet.

Other than that it's a warm dry, affordable suit that's holding up very nicely for me. My dives generally are not that deep and when needed I wear an undergarment so the loss of some of the 7mm insulation is not a biggie to me. I have all neoprene seals. The only downside I have with the wrist seals is that dry gloves are virtually nonexistent. Other than that they are warm and comfortable.

Pete

 

[Thalassamania]

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.

 

[TSandM]

I dive in the PNW and own two dry suits. One is a trilaminate, and the other is compressed neoprene. I own two, because each has its advantages and drawbacks.

The laminate suit is light. I'm very mobile in it, and it's easy to take on an airplane, weight-wise. It leaks, often, not very much but enough to be annoying. It's easy to patch. It has no intrinsic insulating properties, and it is NOT warm enough for winter water, no matter what I layer underneath it. But I love it in summer, because I'm not dying of the heat before I get in the water, and it's so easy to move about.

My compressed neo suit is WAY warmer. It's harder to get in and out of, and it's significantly heavier. It dries slowly. It seems to be far more durable, and it doesn't leak -- yet. It added 4 lbs to the weight I have to carry. But I can dive in 43 degree water wearing that suit, which I can't do with the other.

It isn't a yes or no situation. Each has its advantages, and you have to weigh them against the proposed use. Some people will advocate trilaminate only, saying that you can vary the undergarments -- And that's a great concept, unless you simply can't PUT enough undergarment under the suit to be comfortable in the water where you dive, which is pretty much where I'm at. If you're at that point, the compressed neo gives you something the trilam can't, but at a cost of weight, mobility, and slow drying.

 

[dbulmer]

Teri,
There's some good info already in this thread from various posters. A couple of extra things to consider.
1) Take your time - irrespective of the suit it needs to fit you well so ask your friends who they trust to get the right measurements. Someone who is good with measurements may be able to amend a stock suit to fit you rather than you having to buy MTM(Made to Measure). If MTM is marginally more expensive then by all means go for it but make sure you are confident in their ability to measure. Take your time finding out this information - this is where you diving friends can really help as they can probably tell you who got it right or who got the measurements wrong.

2) Pockets - avoid suits which have pockets on the front of your legs - it's a real pain getting stuff out of that position and avoid pockets with zips - Velcro is easier to open . If you have new neoprene gloves (you might even want to think about drygloves depending on how long and how cold your dives are) and Velcro pockets you might find that the gloves stick to the velcro. Using a lighter, gently pass heat over the velcro- I'm not talking about burning the velcro just pass a little heat over the flap and you'll find it easier to open the velcro without getting your gloves sticking. You might need to try it a few times until you're comfy.

3) Dump valve - go for a shoulder dump valve rather than cuff (this is debatable but IMHO shoulder gives you a little bit more flexibilty in
taking pictures and makes buoyancy control a little easier). Sitech is probably the best valve. If you go Apeks go for the old style high profile dump. The newer style low profile Apeks valve tends to leak a bit more and does not dump as well.

4) If you go for the trilam material, don't skimp on the undersuit/thermal layer as this is what will keep you warm if you hole your suit or it leaks. With thermal protection each person is different - I wear a standard Xerotherm under a 400g Thinsulate B undersuit and I use it all year round in the UK - I never get too hot in it

5) Make sure the boots fit very well -( I use boots because most of my dives are boat dives ) You don't want too much gas in your feet - your friends will tell you why.

 

[*Floater*]

Any thoughts about how to go about making this decision would be appreciated as I will be dropping a few bills to buy the suit.
Thanks!
-Teri in Vancouver

The only way you can really know is to try them both.

I have a Bare Nex-Gen Pro drysuit, which is a fairly well fitting stock size shell suit. It works fine and I have no real complaints about it. That said, I also got a ("used" but actually new) 3mm compressed neoprene O'Neill drysuit off ebay for $190 - it was so cheap that I bought it even though I already had the Bare. Anyway, I'm still making up my mind about it, but so far I like it better - it feels more like a wetsuit, except that it's dry inside.

 

[Thalassamania]

The only way you can really know is to try them both.

Or "try them all," That's really good advice, and I have no idea how a new diver follows it. I've tried them all, have a bunch, dive each for a different purpose and would be hard pressed to answer the question, "which would you keep if you could only have one?"

 

[*Floater*]

Or "try them all," That's really good advice, and I have no idea how a new diver follows it. I've tried them all, have a bunch, dive each for a different purpose and would be hard pressed to answer the question, "which would you keep if you could only have one?"

My point was that it's pretty much about personal preference and needs since people seem roughly evenly split between shell suits and compressed (or even regular) neoprene suits, so in this case a new diver really can't know unless s/he tries a few different types. Granted that may be impossible to do unless well fitting suits of each type are available for rent but that's just how it is...