Whites Tech Skin - FDog Review

[fdog]

This is a review of the TechSkin for the Whites Fusion dry suit, with pockets.

Those who have dove the Whites Fusion love it, and I count myself as one of these people. However, the two biggest questions for the Fusion have been:

• What about durability?
• Where’s the pockets?

I can address the first question – durability of the lycra – by pointing to my own suit; I’ve accumulated about 100 dives since receiving it, and you really have to look pretty hard to see the wear on it. The reason this question comes up is because the standard lycra outer shell leaves the casual handler with an impression of being very lightweight. I can attest that Whites has done their homework, and the two-layer concept has far exceeded my expectations regarding resistance to tears, snags, and abrasion.

Still, there’s that first impression. Whites has sought to address this, and, answer requests from the technical diving community by offering a replacement outer shell that’s much more durable feeling in the hand. Thus we have the Tech Skin, which as far as I can tell is built from 1mm wetsuit material strategically placed in high wear locations, and still retains lycra in high stretch areas such as the groin and small of the back, for flexibility.

Then, there’s pockets, the drysuit staple of the technical diver. At least from my perspective this has been the number one requested option. Whites resisted this for quite a while. I had a nagging suspicion why this was so – the shell would be hard pressed to hold a heavily loaded pocket stable – but eventually, they acquiesced, and released a pocket option on the Tech Skin. Woo hoo!

Anyway, enough background. This review was interrupted by an untimely trip to scooter Fiji. The diving characteristics of the Fusion have been well discussed, as well as its “custom fit” right out of the box. So, I’m not going to cover those topics, and instead, will focus solely on the Tech Skin.

Overview of the Tech Skin​

With great interest I received the new Tech Skin and pulled it out of the package. My first impression was one of quality; the workmanship is excellent, all the edges were finished, seams were straight and lockstitched, and the overwhelming aura of quality strikes you immediately. This fits in with the rest of the Whites family of products, and is something you have to lay your hands on to fully appreciate.

It took me about 40 minutes, working carefully, to remove the valves from my Fusion, strip off the lycra, pull the Tech Skin into place and replace the valves. Possibly the hardest part of this is getting the Velcro around the wrists, ankles and zipper on straight without having it lopsided. After a couple of tries, replete with swearing, I finally got the Velcro so it didn’t look like it had been assembled by a chimpanzee.

As a point of reference, here’s me, 195 lbs and 6’ 2” in the Mk1 undergarments. Note the Mk1 is size Large.

And, here’s the lycra skin (left) next to the Tech Skin (right). The Fusion suit size is 2XL/3XL.

When I first pulled on the Tech Skin, I noticed that it seemed tighter in the circumferential direction (the same way a belt gets tighter on your waist). It seemed a bit tighter around the waist and chest, around the thighs and calves, and around the arms. I believe this is because the Tech Skin is cut to the same pattern as the lycra, and of course the 1mm neoprene is a bit less stretchy.

This leads to a trimmer fit overall (as if that’s possible!) from the stock Fusion. There’s a lot of excess bladder material under the lycra skin, and the Tech Skin crushes this bulk quite well.

You can see this in these photos:

The Tech Skin also has graphics screened on the suit, particularly on the backs of the arms and between the shoulder blades. Personally I found the Indian based graphics to be tasteful and I liked them, and I’m on the conservative side. Also, when on the surface, the graphics tend to blend into the suit.

 

[fdog]

Flexibility

With the addition of the 1mm material, it would be a reasonable supposition that the legendary flexibility and freedom of motion of the Fusion would be compromised.

I was pleasantly to find that the majority of the flexibility was still there! The Tech Skin isn’t all 1mm neoprene; the really high flex areas, like the armpits, back of the arm, under the chest zip, groin, etc, all are still made from lycra. So, although you feel the “presence” of the 1mm in the snugness, the motion is barely restricted. Kudos to Whites for blending the two skins as a nice hybrid.

If I was pressed, I would still rate the flexibility of the Tech Skin as equivalent to a 3mm wetsuit, with the feeling similar to a 3mm made from “conventional” neoprene, and the lycra skin as a 3mm made from hyperstretch.

(of course this assessment depends heavily on the undies worn; and it’s a personal SWAG based on wearing a MK2 under the Fusion)


The Pockets

I found the pockets to be nicely placed, as with my older suits the flap fell right at the palm of my hand, and it was easy to delve into the bottom of the pocket.

If really packed, the pocket expands by a surprising amount, considering how flat it lies when empty:

I was very curious about pocket sag, so I decided to conduct my own series of tests. So, here’s a series of before/after photos with a variety of weights added to the right pocket. All these are with the Mk1 undergarments.

Two (2) pounds of weight:

Three (3) pounds of weight:

And, four (4) pounds of weight:

After playing with the weights, I saw way less sag than I had anticipated.

There’s a pair of grommets in each pocket to thread bungee into, as well as a nice drain.

So far, I am very pleased with the pockets and their design. I especially like that Whites declined to use their standard Matrix plate system, and instead used a conventional bellows design, which in my experience is less “snaggy”.

 

[fdog]

Diving the Tech Skin​

Despite the small additional snugness of the Tech Skin, I have found donning this version to be about the same ease as the lycra Fusion. Those that have dove the Fusion will tell you there’s a trick to putting it on, mostly focused around pulling the legs up from the inside of the suit, and this really isn’t any different.

All my dives with the Tech Skin have been in 41 degree water, wearing XL Mk3 underwear and midweight DuoFold Varitherm bottom and top against the skin.

As soon as you submerge, the first thing that jumps out is how the graphics really stand out underwater. For those that like the graphics, it’s a good thing, and with the upcoming color options may help in team member differentiation.

Warmth

For these dives in 41 degree water, I was curious if the 1mm material would help as far as warmth. When first getting in the water, I would say, yes, it adds a couple of degrees of apparent water warmth. This I felt was from a bit of contact isolation from the cold water.

However, at the conclusion of a mile’s worth of scootering, I feel just as if I had the lycra skinned Fusion on. This is probably from water circulation between the Tech Skin and the bladder from the high scootering speeds. This is different from the feeling I’d get when we stopped, for example to unclip a scooter I’d been pressure testing, where I could feel a bit more warmth. So as a pedestrian, you’d probably get an extra couple degrees of temperature tolerance, as a scooter driver, not so much.


Buoyancy and Trim

I initially put an extra 2 lbs of weight on, expecting the neoprene to make me a bit positive. After spending a dive feeling as if I was 2 lbs heavy, I concluded that there really wasn’t much buoyancy difference and have since ditched the extra weight. It’s possible the weighting difference may be there, at perhaps a half a pound, but I’m not good enough to feel it.

I was expecting to feel a bit more float in the legs from the neoprene. Surprisingly, this didn’t materialize for me, and as far as trim went, I felt as if I had my standard lycra Fusion on.

Air bubble management was just the same as the lycra Fusion, very easy, and no apparent “forcing” of air out the exhaust. I did feel that air migration was a bit slower than usual, and have found that it’s laughably trivial to get exactly the right amount of air in my feet.

Speed

The Tech Skin is faster than the lycra Fusion by 3 fpm, a number that places it in the category of possible statistical error. However it certainly isn’t slower, being consistently on the faster side in my testing, so scooter drivers can use the Tech Skin without worry of excess drag.

Pockets

While underwater, the pockets were…pockets. Just like any other pocket, if you get my drift; very unremarkable. I’d open them, get stuff out, close it, no issues. Easy to find and just where you’d expect them. I was worried that the 1mm neoprene would allow them to flap all over, and make it tough to stuff things back into the pocket as the pocket moved around, but no, not an issue. When stuffing my SMB back into a pocket it did move down my thigh an inch or two, but was not a problem as I was able to really cram it down to the bottom of the pocket.

I will say that I was worried about excess contents weight and pocket movement, and in some regards I was correct in this, and in others I didn’t notice it.

When fully geared up, with a BP/W on and a weight belt, even when out of the water and with the suit wet, the pockets really don’t move much. They feel pretty much like regular pockets on a drysuit. You can walk around and bend over, and even when well loaded they stay put.

And underwater, all geared up, it’s really not an issue. I’m pleased with the pockets underwater.

BTW, for those interested in just how much stuff is in the pockets in these photos, I had tried to make it a pretty tough test, so I put my usual in each pocket plus a 1 pound weight:

The place the pockets fell short of expectations came when the BP/W and weight belt was off, and I was traipsing up and down the beach recovering scooters and such. The pockets would sag, and drag the crotch of the Tech Skin down by quite a bit. “Gangsta Pants” is how I’d read one person describe it, and that’s apt.

As you can see above, it’s something you can grab the side of the suit and pull up back into place, something I do now on a regular basis when wearing the suit, which becomes annoying.

In all fairness, I’m sure this is something Whites saw coming, and why they resisted the idea of sewing pockets on initially.

If I could wish for something, it would be that the torso of the Tech Skin was about 4 inches less tall, about the amount of fabric you can see me pulling up in the photo.

Still, in the suit’s intended use, in the water geared up, the pockets are great. And out of the water, geared up, it’s usually not an issue. It’s only when you have the pockets (admittedly well laden in my tests) full and are just wearing the suit when it becomes an issue.

After the dive
I’ve been used to getting a dry Fusion in about an hour and a half of drying. No more – in 68 degree/20 % humidity conditions, I found the Tech Skin to be dry to the outside touch in a couple of hours. However, despite being allowed to dry for the night, I still found the space between the Tech Skin and the bladder to be damp in the legs and down the back. So there’s a bit more care in drying required.

The inside is still the same, of course: flip inside out, dry off with a hand towel, and bone dry after being hung up for 15 minutes.

I haven’t had the Tech Skin long enough to assess long term durability.

A question I’m asked is if I anticipate using the lycra skin again. Absolutely. The lycra skin is a bit more flexible, a pound or two lighter for airline flights, and I will definitely be switching back to the lycra when I’m headed for the tropics.

Positives:

• Great pocket design
• A bit warmer
• Great air bubble control
• More durable feel
• Flexibility close to the lycra
• Pockets stay put when geared up

Negatives:

• Pockets sag when not geared up

With the positives and negatives said, there’s the acid test for me: you won’t find me taking the Tech Skin off of my Fusion anytime soon, I like it that much.

I hope this helps you if you’re considering a Tech Skin for your Fusion!


All the best, James


PS – A big thank you to my wife Janet for patiently shooting the images for this review!

 

[Teamcasa]

Thank you and your wife for the review. My wife is going to give her Fusion some more testing this weekend.

 

[TSandM]

Love your reviews, and I've been waiting for this one.

Given the cost of the tech skin, how well my Lycra is wearing, and the fact that my X-shorts don't droop, I think I may just continue as is. Losing the annoyance of having another piece of clothing to put on is not that big a deal, and walking around with drooping drawers would probably be equally irritating.

 

[NorthWoodsDiver]

The pocket sag doest turn me off to the idea at all. I still fully intend to buy this suit (about half way there now) but I still thank you for the excellent review.

 

[skdvr]

Thanks to you and Janet for taking the time for such an indepth review. I have my Tech Skin on order, and hopefully I will get it soon.

Thanks again...

Phil

 

[mike_s]

I hope Whites gave you the tech-skin for free for all the great reviews that you've written about their stuff..

great review.

 

[RJP]

I hope Whites gave you the tech-skin for free for all the great reviews that you've written about their stuff..

Agree on the great review, but was wondering about that.

If so, I would hope that would be disclosed. Wouldn't diminish the quality of the review in any way, but should be disclosed. I did note that James is also quoted in the White's banner ad.

So, what of it James? Did you buy the suit and/or skins?

 

[mike_s]

Agree on the great review, but was wondering about that.

If so, I would hope that would be disclosed. Wouldn't diminish the quality of the review in any way, but should be disclosed. I did note that James is also quoted in the White's banner ad.

So, what of it James? Did you buy the suit and/or skins?

I meant my comments on that as "that review was so good they should have given him a skin for it". NOt that he got it in advance for free as to only write a positive review for it. I'm betting he paid for it like the rest of us...


I don't speak for FDOG, but if you read his other reviews, they are that detailed and in depth also.

He just writes a good review that is in my opinion better than what the manufacturer gives out. I think the large majority here trust his reviews, regardless of where the product came from.

check out his review of when he got the Fusion suit.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ex...ites-fusion-drysuit-say-goodbye-cave-cut.html