The best and worst of your dry suit

[TSandM]

I thought this might make interesting reading for people considering purchases. Rules:

1. What dry suit do you own? How long have you had it, and how many dives have you put on it?

2. What's your favorite thing about the suit?

3. What's your least favorite thing about the suit?

Short, and sweet.

For me, the dry suit is a White's Fusion. I have two, one with the Sport skin and one with the Tech skin. I've owned a Fusion for five years. The first one had 4+ years and about 450 dives on it, when I traded up to a new one.

My favorite thing about the suit is that it's almost indestructible. In five years, I've had so few leaks that I can say the Fusion almost never fails. When I've had leaks, they've almost always been related to seals or zippers, things that are not suit-dependent. A suit without leaks is a very nice thing.

My least favorite thing about the suit is that it's harder to get on than other suits. I'm the last one ready on almost every dive.

 

[Hawkwood]

1. Fusion with a tech skin. Three years(?). 250ish.

2. Comfort, no bubble, supper easy, truly self-donning.

3. Hmm...took a bit to learn how to get don it, but that's not a problem. I got over the "droopy drawers" look. I really don't have a "least favourite" thing.

 

[Peter_C]

1: Currently diving my Whites Fusion Tech Skin, and have an old DUI CF200

2: The Whites fits well, with decent stretch for range of motion. So far it has held up great. My CF200 fits like a glove, one tough suit that I never feared damaging. Easy to repair, and add pockets onto. Turbo soles rock! I can slam through thick kelp while scootering and never get hung up. An orange suit is easy to spot in low viz conditions. It has a cuff dump that works awesome for scootering, and venting on ascent while on the trigger. I grew to really like the cuff dump.

3: I HATE the Tech Skin Pockets!! Kelp hangs up on the pockets all the time. I can't feel the flap to open or close them with dry gloves on either. The pockets when surface swimming, throw everything out of them, but fortunately everything is clipped off. Started wearing shorts with pockets over them. Plan to put some XS Scuba pockets on when I get around to it. It gets sticky inside, but the Sailkote trick works great. Having to put shoes/boots on sucks. Black is the worst color for low vis diving, I want orange or another bright color for the entire suit. The suit is a pain in the butt to get off mostly around the lower leg area as I have to pull my DUI 400g undies up, then pull the feet off. The CF200 takes forever to dry. It is very heavy when wet. With Turbo Soles it can't be flipped inside out for repairs and drying.

Both of my suits look completely worn out, are super faded, but both still function to keep me dry and get me out on the water.

I put a SI-Tech NekTite ring system on my Fusion. It works great for changing seals, but it flops around like a cutting board mounted to the back of my suit when I wear it on, but without the neck seal in place. Often do that to keep dry while motoring out to a dive site in rougher conditions.

I used to have a Trilam, and keep thinking my next suit is going to be one again.

 

[lowviz]

1: DUI compressed (not crushed) neoprene suit. CNse if anyone really cares... ~200 dives, reasonable guess.

2: Tough as nails, simple to repair, warm!

3: I wish the "YKK" people would make a better (longer lasting, more durable) zipper... Suit takes a while to dry, not really a prob. +1 on can't inside-out turbosoles.

 

[eelnoraa]

My first suit is DUI CF200. Have had it for 2 years, not my back up. Thinking about trading for a White or FLX extreme
The good:
- Very tough suit. No one should argue about it
- no leak of any kinds except user error on seals.
- Very form fitting, streamline

The bad:
- heavy when dry, extremely heavy when wet, not a good travel suit
- long dry time. Outside and inside. Inside, not because of leak, but sweat. Even that little of moiture take a while to dry.
- not very mobile, due both the thicker CF200 material and the form fitting nature. Valve drill isn't easy in it.
- not a suit you want to be in all day

My current main suit, DUI TLS350, a few monthes of ownership. It is basicaly the opposite of CF200
The good:
- light weight, very fast dry time, very good travel suit
- easier to put off and take off, due to its cut and lighter weight
- very comfortable, I can wear it all day
- very mobile, no problem getting in and out of harness by myself or valve drill
- warmer than CF200 with the same undergarment, this is a surprise to me too

The bad:
- not as form fitting as CF200, more material, less streamline in water
- apeks low profile valve leak once once on me due to sand trapping there. never happened to apeks high profile in CF200
- not very tough material, definitely can't take the same kind of abuse as CF200

 

[Doomnova]

I thought this might make interesting reading for people considering purchases. Rules:

1. What dry suit do you own? How long have you had it, and how many dives have you put on it?

2. What's your favorite thing about the suit?

3. What's your least favorite thing about the suit?

Short, and sweet.

For me, the dry suit is a White's Fusion. I have two, one with the Sport skin and one with the Tech skin. I've owned a Fusion for five years. The first one had 4+ years and about 450 dives on it, when I traded up to a new one.

My favorite thing about the suit is that it's almost indestructible. In five years, I've had so few leaks that I can say the Fusion almost never fails. When I've had leaks, they've almost always been related to seals or zippers, things that are not suit-dependent. A suit without leaks is a very nice thing.

My least favorite thing about the suit is that it's harder to get on than other suits. I'm the last one ready on almost every dive.

pretty much the same boat as you TSandM but only 30 dives in it. Did 5 drysuit dives in a custom seatux I don't touch neoprene seals ever again easy to get on the seatux was but eh the neck leaked like a sieve. Fusion love and joys.

One thing I do love is the replaceable seals had one break on me 9 weeks ago during a dive took 5 min to replace it and was good to go.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I have a DUI CFX, purchased used 2 years ago. Only about 30 dives (winter use only)
Pros
Used, the price was right and included p-valve and all accessories
Very durable and resistant to holes / tears
Zip seals insure I won't blow a dive day because of a seal tear
I have been dry every dive except #3 (did not zip completely, small leak)

Cons
Takes forever to dry
Bulky to pack for travel
It has rock boots, so I have a special set of XXL fins

 

[nimoh]

1. DUI FLX Extreme, purchased new a little over a year ago, and have about 40 dives in it.

2. I like the ease of putting it on and taking it off. I can put it on myself, and can be ready almost as fast as someone in a wetsuit.

3. I am not crazy about the dry socks, they have a pointy toe, that ends up being a lot of unnecessary material in my rock boot.

 

[NAM001]

DUI TLS 350 w/ zip seals 5 YR 50 OR SO DIVES

It is warm, Its forgiving as i change sizes never leakes (knock on wood)

since it is not a form fit like a wet suit it can be a little difficult doning gear

 

[PfcAJ]

I have two TLS350s. I'm pretty hard on 'em (climbing in and out of sinkholes), so I get leaks from time to time. Always easy to find and repair, though.

I had zipseals on one, and I had them removed. For me, they caught on stuff a lot and made it tough to get into my pockets. YYMV.

The weakest link overall is the CF200 turbosoles. They leak often, and patching them is a pain.

They fit well and are comfy, though. Easy to switch from 200g, 400g, 400g+vest depending on the dive. My next suit will be a FLX Extreme, though.