Buying a Wetsuit in Koh Tao

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Griffo

Contributor
Messages
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Location
Sydney, Australia
# of dives
200 - 499
This might sound like a dumb question, but is it easy and cost effective to buy a wetsuit in Koh Tao? Getting anything suitable for those temps here in Melbourne will be a challenge. I just don't want to assume that I can get a shortie there and find out that it's 5 times the cost due to the captive market.
When I was in Koh Lipe I think we found three stores selling rashies and there were all the same brand, so don't want to rock up and find not much is available.

Cheers
 
Generally speaking dive equipment in Thailand is significantly more expensive than in UK and Europe. I do not have any comparisons with the Austrailan market.
If you are not bothered about your wetsuit being a branded name, there are some good deals to be found in Thailand if you can find some that are made locally. However you may not wish to spend your holiday searching, as most of the dive shops seem to stock the branded products.
 
You can also make do without a wetsuit, water temperature is quite nice there; between 26 and 28 degrees.
 
Generally speaking dive equipment in Thailand is significantly more expensive than in UK and Europe. I do not have any comparisons with the Austrailan market.
If you are not bothered about your wetsuit being a branded name, there are some good deals to be found in Thailand if you can find some that are made locally. However you may not wish to spend your holiday searching, as most of the dive shops seem to stock the branded products.

Thanks. Scuba gear here tends to be 2-3 times what it costs in the US, so I am used to high prices. I don't really care what the suit is, just something that lasts the 3 weeks :)

You can also make do without a wetsuit, water temperature is quite nice there; between 26 and 28 degrees.

Diving with a BP/W I need something to stop me getting dents in my back at the 4 corners of the plate. When i've tried diving sans suit previously, i ended up brusied after only a days diving. Yes i bruise easily.
I'm also going to the Solomons shortly afterwards for a couple of weeks, I was hoping I could get something that should suit me for both.

Although now I wonder if maybe those Sharkskin things might be a better choice for travelling.
 
If you have a dive op in mind already, it should be fairly easy for them to order a decent wetsuit for you and have it delivered to them for you to pick up, even if they don't have a retail sales outlet. Both DiveSupply and Aquamaster serve dive shops on Tao with deliveries, so you could check the websites of those distributors for their selection. If you need help, let me know--they are both just down the road from me, so I can pop in to ask about delivering an item directly to your hotel, even.
 
There are a few wetsuit brands available here Scuba Pro, Aqualung, Mares, PSI, Deep Blue and there is also a made to measure shop on the island too - they are quick too. You are looking between 2000-4000B depending on brand etc... for a shortie....however all centres do have shorties for rent too.
 
If you have a dive op in mind already, it should be fairly easy for them to order a decent wetsuit for you and have it delivered to them for you to pick up, even if they don't have a retail sales outlet. Both DiveSupply and Aquamaster serve dive shops on Tao with deliveries, so you could check the websites of those distributors for their selection. If you need help, let me know--they are both just down the road from me, so I can pop in to ask about delivering an item directly to your hotel, even.

Quero - I just had to thank you first for your offer of assistance - to some stranger on the web, who is going to a different part of the country. You are providing a service to the entire Thai diving industry.

There are a few wetsuit brands available here Scuba Pro, Aqualung, Mares, PSI, Deep Blue and there is also a made to measure shop on the island too - they are quick too. You are looking between 2000-4000B depending on brand etc... for a shortie....however all centres do have shorties for rent too.

Thanks. I'm not big on renting suits. Those buy prices seem perfectly normal (at least what i'd pay here, if not cheaper) one less thing to have to worry about getting before leaving!

Thanks to everyone for their input, it's appreciated.

Cheers
 
Quero - I just had to thank you first for your offer of assistance - to some stranger on the web, who is going to a different part of the country. You are providing a service to the entire Thai diving industry.

Cheers
My pleasure. As others have said, there are some retail outlets on Tao. Your dive op may actually have wetsuits for sale. You can contact your op and ask ahead of time what's available in your size, and if they don't have what you want, they should be able to order. If that all fails, just let me know. I really am happy to help, no matter where our visitors to Thailand choose to dive.
 

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