As promised, here's the 20 dive update. It's worth pointing out that I am (literally) world-renowned for the anal way I take care of my equipment, so take that into account when you evaluate wear and tear.
The suit has no leaks, and when looked at from the inside, still appears new. From the exterior, surprisingly, the only wear marks are:
A small patch of pilling in the lycra at the small of the back, from the bottom of the backplate:
And, a small amount of pilling in between the butt cheeks, presumably from the scooter crotch strap.
Despite crawling around on concrete, the knees, elbows, etc. have no marks on them. The shoulders are in great shape, I especially looked for wear where the BP shoulder straps cross over the zipper, and found none.
I end up with wet wrist cuffs on my undies after virtually every dive; however this happens to me with
any drysuit without dry gloves. Angular, skinny wrists.
The suit has had it's share of snags and rubs, consistent with easy (not climbing over barnacles) walk-in shore diving and scootering in close proximity to rocks and stuff underwater. It has not been inside or around a snaggy old wreck.
The suit zipper slides easily and hasn't leaked. The Si-Tech valves have been, well, Si-Tech valves, just another reliable day at the office. I've found that I have to fly with the exhaust closed down quite a bit more than I am used to with prior suits. I have to say I've fallen in love with the zipper placement, it is amazingly easy to get into and out of.
Something I really liked at first was the push-on inflator fitting. Now that the newness has worn off I'm kind of meh. I still like it, although I could care less, and would be just as happy with a regular fitting with one of Tobin's hose hats.
The lowest temp has been 49 degrees F. In this I used the Whites Mk1 underlayer and the Whites Mk3 garment, and was very warm after 55 minutes of scootering, which means practically no body movement, which ordinarily leads to darn cold. My right (scooter) hand has been a bit cold, I am wearing 5mm wet gloves.
Janet has placed Si Tech Squeezes-On dry glove rings on her suit and seems inordinately pleased with them. I was all poised to do the same, but, was forced to step in to help teach a huge class of OW students (150!) for a friend that is now in the hospital. This has neccesitated 8 hours a day in a 74 degree pool. After enduring one frozen day in a 3mm, I have switched to the Fusion, with DuoFold undies and occasionally the Mk1. Perfect, I am not too hot, and still warm at the end of the day. However, the warm/cold mixed use has me holding off on the rings for now.
I find that I am surprised by the way the suit has held up. I was expecting the double-fabric layer to hold up well, but so far it's been better than expected. Every time I've snagged it or really rubbed against something, I end up looking the suit over fairly carefully after the dive, and start questioning my recollection, because you can't see the point of snag. And, last night I was turning it inside out to evaporate the condensation, and it struck me how laughabally easy it was compared to the CF200.
As for the pocket issue, the factory loaned me one of the hybrid outer skins, the ones with sections of lycra and 1mm neoprene. The loaner they gave me is some truly butt-ugly material let me tell you! This supported surrogate pockets surprisingly well, and I sense a copy of this as an additional outer skin in my future. (in a different color than the "pizza puke" I have now)
So, I guess the summary so far for me is:
- No glaring issues
- Warmer than expected
- More durable than expected
- More versatile than expected
Of course, this is only a short look at the suit. I will keep you posted.
All the best, James
"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." Albert Einstein
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