zamburinha
Contributor
I just received my Whites Fusion Bullet. Deciding on this suit and the options I chose were quite a long process and I agonized for quite a while between this and a TLS350 from DUI. At the same time my husband went through the same process and decided to get the TLS. Now I have them side by side and perhaps it is useful for other people to get a side by side comparison. For context, I intend to use this suit for technical dives and eventually for cave diving.
First: The thing looks awesome. The red is bright and the whole suit gives an impression of quality and good workmanship. Getting into it was a little more effort than getting into an equivalent TLS350, especially getting my feet nicely into the socks ... but it got much better the second and third time I tried. By the third time I could get into the suit in under 1 minute.
Pockets: I really struggled deciding whether to get pockets on the skin or just wear a pair of x-shorts as I do with my wetsuit. I finally decided to take a risk and go for the integrated pockets. They look pretty nice and seem big enough for tech 1 dives. Compared to the Halcyon pockets on my husband's suit they are a bit smaller and made of a softer more "stretchy" material. My impression is that capacity wise they will be pretty similar due to the stretch in the Whites compared to the tough cordura in the Halcyons. Both of the pockets have a velcro flap for easy opening. Overall I like the Halcyon pockets better, they look sturdier and the flap is larger as well as having a small zippered compartment ... but the Whites pockets are also nice and if they hold up to wear and tear I don't foresee any problems.
Boots: Again, I was torn between a turbosole-like solution vs a sock+boot solution. I thought the Whites Fusion boot looked like a good compromise on the best of both worlds. The idea is that you get the drysuit sock, but there is a light neoprene bootie that goes on top and can be attached semipermanently to the suit via a set of velcro straps and a hard insole for the sock. This gives good protection to the drysuit sock and still keeps a very mobile ankle as well as providing a pretty secure attachement of the boot to the suit. Having tried it on, I like it, but the attachment of the boot to the suit is a bit less clean that I would like. I seem to have difficulty getting all the velcro nicely closed together without some wrinkles ... it probably gets better with practice.
Seals: I wanted user removable seals (no glue) for the wrists for two reasons. I want to be able to easily change the seals, and I wanted to use silicon seals instead of the stock latex ones. I opted to get SiTech permanent ring system installed onto the suit by the dealer. The installation looks great and the silicon seals are super comfy ... but I have not been able to remove the seals yet ... it looks like I don't have enough strength or I am doing something wrong
If anybody has tips they would be greatly appreciated! In contrast the DUI zipseals were much easier to remove and get back on ... but you do pay a hefty price for the privilege.
Drygloves: I wanted a system that could easily switch between wrist seals and drygloves, and preferably that would allow the wristseals to be used simulaneously with the glove, so that if a leak developed, only my hand would get wet. It also would be good if replacement gloves did not cost too much. I went for another SiTech system that is supposed to work well with the permanent rings mounted on the suit. Unfortunately I could not try it because I have not been able to unmount the wrist seal :depressed: The initial cost of the system is comparable to zipgloves from DUI, but with the zipgloves you cannot use the wrist seal at the same time, you have to wear the gloves while suiting up and if you damage the glove, a replacement is significantly more expensive. I like the SiTech solution better ... assuming I can make the thing work!
Overall the suit fits great. I have the same range of motion as in a 7mm wetsuit and it is very easy to zip and unzip by yourself. I can't wait to try this in the water!!!
First: The thing looks awesome. The red is bright and the whole suit gives an impression of quality and good workmanship. Getting into it was a little more effort than getting into an equivalent TLS350, especially getting my feet nicely into the socks ... but it got much better the second and third time I tried. By the third time I could get into the suit in under 1 minute.
Pockets: I really struggled deciding whether to get pockets on the skin or just wear a pair of x-shorts as I do with my wetsuit. I finally decided to take a risk and go for the integrated pockets. They look pretty nice and seem big enough for tech 1 dives. Compared to the Halcyon pockets on my husband's suit they are a bit smaller and made of a softer more "stretchy" material. My impression is that capacity wise they will be pretty similar due to the stretch in the Whites compared to the tough cordura in the Halcyons. Both of the pockets have a velcro flap for easy opening. Overall I like the Halcyon pockets better, they look sturdier and the flap is larger as well as having a small zippered compartment ... but the Whites pockets are also nice and if they hold up to wear and tear I don't foresee any problems.
Boots: Again, I was torn between a turbosole-like solution vs a sock+boot solution. I thought the Whites Fusion boot looked like a good compromise on the best of both worlds. The idea is that you get the drysuit sock, but there is a light neoprene bootie that goes on top and can be attached semipermanently to the suit via a set of velcro straps and a hard insole for the sock. This gives good protection to the drysuit sock and still keeps a very mobile ankle as well as providing a pretty secure attachement of the boot to the suit. Having tried it on, I like it, but the attachment of the boot to the suit is a bit less clean that I would like. I seem to have difficulty getting all the velcro nicely closed together without some wrinkles ... it probably gets better with practice.
Seals: I wanted user removable seals (no glue) for the wrists for two reasons. I want to be able to easily change the seals, and I wanted to use silicon seals instead of the stock latex ones. I opted to get SiTech permanent ring system installed onto the suit by the dealer. The installation looks great and the silicon seals are super comfy ... but I have not been able to remove the seals yet ... it looks like I don't have enough strength or I am doing something wrong
If anybody has tips they would be greatly appreciated! In contrast the DUI zipseals were much easier to remove and get back on ... but you do pay a hefty price for the privilege.Drygloves: I wanted a system that could easily switch between wrist seals and drygloves, and preferably that would allow the wristseals to be used simulaneously with the glove, so that if a leak developed, only my hand would get wet. It also would be good if replacement gloves did not cost too much. I went for another SiTech system that is supposed to work well with the permanent rings mounted on the suit. Unfortunately I could not try it because I have not been able to unmount the wrist seal :depressed: The initial cost of the system is comparable to zipgloves from DUI, but with the zipgloves you cannot use the wrist seal at the same time, you have to wear the gloves while suiting up and if you damage the glove, a replacement is significantly more expensive. I like the SiTech solution better ... assuming I can make the thing work!
Overall the suit fits great. I have the same range of motion as in a 7mm wetsuit and it is very easy to zip and unzip by yourself. I can't wait to try this in the water!!!
