Fusion Review Part I

[Skyjunky]

I got my Fusion in yesterday. I purchased my suit from Dive Right in Scuba in Illinois. Mike is a great guy to deal with. Customer service is top notch. He answered my multitude of questions through emails and phone calls. Called me with updates on delivery and followed up on delivery.

The Fusion comes in 4 sizes. I purchased a S/M sized suit. The range is supposed to be 5'5"-5'9" 170lbs. I'm 5'7" and have a fairly stocky build, especially in the legs.

It came with a Glacier Mk2 undergarment. It's their medium thickness. I'd say it's the equivalent of a 200. It's got elastic material around the waist. You can also remove the sleeves. The thing comes with a relief zipper for the rear! Never seen that before. The suit is snug and light. Pretty good range of motion.

Now to the drysuit. First of all it looks like something out of Galaxy Quest, and it's light. Weighs next to nothing. It's sleek and streamlined.

Getting into it is different. You have to grab the insides and roll it up. The legs are very snug as is the thigh crouch and butt area. I'm used to my very baggy USIA suit. This is almost as snug as a 3mil. The suspenders are attached to a backpad.

The torso section is easy to get into as are the wrist seals. No need for me to trim.

The neck seal is super tight so I'll need to trim it tonight.

There are two zippers. One for the drycore and one for the shell. Took me a few tries to get used to it, now it's pretty easy to zip up.

The suit doesn't seem to trap much air compared to a normal suit. Burping the suit doesn't expell as much air than what I"m used to. Not much to start with.

Upper body range of motion is incredible. I can scratch my ass while chewing gum walking backwards.

Lower body I was kind of disappointed. As I mentioned it's tight for me around the thighs and butt/crotch area. This limits my range of motion. I can do a lunge and squat but it's snug. I'm at the upper limit of the SM/MD size. I'm a little leery of installing a pee-valve and have the extra hardware inside.

I spoke with Mike on the fit. My old drysuit has a range up to 5'11" and it's too big for me. I contemplated sending it back for a Large but the range on that is 5'9"-6'1". Even with the lycra shell I think it'll have too much material. Guess I'll switch from doing squats to just running. Or maybe I need to switch my mode of thinking. I guess it should fit more like a wetsuit than the traditional baggy drysuit.

I bought the Alteras boots instead of the EVO3 boot. I liked the ease of a slip on boot. The hooky is a little odd. Hopefully it will stay cinched. Not sure what I'm supposed to do with the excess bungee and hook. It doesn't latch on that well.

I'll dive in the suit tomorrow at the aquarium. I'll have to adjust my weighting. I've been told you can wear less weight than with a normal drysuit.

[NetDoc]

There was a lot of excitement about the Fusion in Moscow at the Golden Dolphin Dive Show!

[sprange]

I'm probably pretty close to Skyjunky in measurements, but have the large Fusion with MK3 undergarments. The legs are a bit snug, but definitely no problem with the crotch being tight. The excess length of the body (which causes the crotch area to sag) is easily managed by the crotch strap of my harness. If I had lighter undergarments I'd probably be happier with the medium drysuit.

[Skyjunky]

I went to the aquarium today to test out the Fusion. I suited up, squatted and tried to burp some air out. Not much came out. Maybe because of the snug fit or by design. I don't know.

I got into the wading pool and entered the aquarium. Swam straight to the bottom with no problem. Amazing. I noticed most of the suit squeeze happens in the legs and feet. Again, maybe it's due to the snug fit in the legs or by design.

There is not much of an air bubble. In fact it barely moves anywhere. I tried shifting the air to my legs and feet to alleviate the squeeze. Not much gets down there.

All my previous griping about limited range of motion was nullified once in the water. I did a few sommersaults and barrel rolls. Returned to neutral with no problem.

The suit is extremely light and streamlined. I swam over to one of the jets to see how it performed in a current. No problem at all. You don't get the typical drysuit drag.

Like many have said before, this suit performs like a 3mil. It's extremely comfortable, and nimble in the water. The boots weren't that comfortable in my Slipstreams. Maybe I need thicker socks.

I swam around for 45 minutes, trying to get a feel for the suit. Upside down, on my back, on my side. No problems at all.

After the dive was over I took the suit off to check the lycra. To my huge disappointment, it did not hold up well under my backplate. There was a lot of piling around the lower back, pretty much where the bottom of the backplate lies.







At first I thought maybe my backplate edges were rough, so I checked my backplate. Not the case. I pulled out my dive skin for comparison. I've had it for 2 years. Very little piling at all. (dive skin below)




Conclusions:

This suit is very comfortable and nimble underwater. Not much different than a 3 mil. I couldn't be happier. It's performed as advertised.

On the surface, the legs could definitely be wider. I took the lycra shell off to see how much material the inner core has. There's a lot of material length wise. Not so much in circumference in the thighs and calves. If you work out at all, you might consider going to a larger size.

I still haven't decided if I should trade it in for a larger size since it performs so well in the water.

I am very disappointed in how the lycra holds up after one dive. Maybe the tech skin will hold up better.

All the other reviews I've read involved people wearing jackets or backinflates. I don't think I've seen a review with a backplate. Maybe it's just me.

[fdog]

<snip>
All the other reviews I've read involved people wearing jackets or backinflates. I don't think I've seen a review with a backplate. Maybe it's just me.

Here is such a review. Also, here is some video.

And more specifically addressing backplate wear. I'd like to point out that at 60+ dives the wear is about the same as it was at 20 dives.

I'm not sure what's happening to yours - it sounds like exposed hook velcro.


All the best, James

[TSandM]

After I read this last night, I went and got my Fusion and looked at it, and I don't have any pilling where the harness goes or where the backplate sits. I have about 15 or so dives on it now. I was also pleased that, even with the grovelling in the gravel I did in the Devil's system yesterday, the Lycra on the knees and thighs looks fine.

[stu_in_fl]

hey will - did you wear the mk2's in the aquarium - how did you find the weighting compared to a 3mm wetsuit ?

[Skyjunky]

hey will - did you wear the mk2's in the aquarium - how did you find the weighting compared to a 3mm wetsuit ?

I added about 10 lbs, but I think I could have gone with a less.

I did notice a little bit of wear around my shoulder straps near the backplate and crotch strap.

The flat edges of my backplate are smooth. The rims aren't as smooth. Maybe that's the culprit.

[DiveJedi]

Hmm...this is all very interesting, and the first I have heard of excessive pilling. Who is the manufacturer of your backplate, harness system?

Maybe we can narrow this down.

Tyler

[Dive Right In Scuba]

Ordered your bigger size today Anyone need a 1 time use SM/MD suit.......

As for the extra material on the boots, you can take the hook off, and pull the lace thru it more so its tighter, then snip off the extra lace material THat way its a tighter fit after you wrap it around your ankle and holds better