Drysuit Selection - Pinnacle vs. DUI?

[finster]

Hello all. I'm a newbie to the list. There has been a lot of useful information gleaned from various related threads so far. However, I am still confused as to the selection of a drysuit. I am searching for a good suit for southern California diving. I am willing to spend soem money if it can be justified. From allI have ever heard, DUI suits are great. I have also recently read a lot about suits made by Diving Concepts Pinnacle.

From what I can tell, a crushed neoprene suit is probably the way to go. I also know that I will need a custom tailored suit. The confusion seems to be that I find it hard to justify the $2800+ cost for a DUI suit. The Pinnacle suit will be around $1800. Is there really that much of a difference between good quality drysuits? Will a Pinnacle suit be more than sufficient or might I regret not spending the extra money? Has anyone ever used the Pinnacle suit or know anyone that had any opinion on the suit? Any other suits to look at? I'd appreciate any responses. Thanks.

 

[Lost Yooper]

I'm not updated on the prices of suits, but you should look into the Abyss Pro Kevlar suit. I bought mine from Tam Dive in Toronto for $1400 (custom fit). I like it a lot.

Mike

 

[gjenks]

I think you should recheck the prices of the suits. I have been quoted much less in Michigan for the DUI suits. $2800 seems a bit much even if everyone tells me the DUI is the best.

 

[jobowker]

You may want to rent both a crushed neoprene and a trilaminate to see the differences. I still dive wet, but a lot of divers around here have gone with trilaminate suits. My borhter's suit is a DUI trilam and he loves it. The water gets down to the mid thirties around here in the colder months, and he hasn't had any issues. I know his suit was pricey, but nowhere near $2800. I believe it was just over $1000, but then he tacked on a little more by upgrading to better undergarments, so the whole thing ran around $1500. The suit is easy to repair, and other than rentals, he's never had a flood.

 

[large_diver]

Finster,

Crushed neoprene, like any other dive suit material, has its advantages and disadvantages.

Try this thread for a useful summary of issues to consider when buying a drysuit.

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?threadid=240

Regarding price -- I agree that $2,800 seems VERY high for DUI suits. I would estimate that with a little shopping, you can find a great DUI suit for $1,200-1,800 depending on model, options, whether it is a custom or off-the-rack size, etc.

 

[Heads Up]

Check out Oceanic's drysuits at http://www.oceanicworldwide.com/Product.cfm?PL=therm&SL=aerdura .I dived in one of their top of the range suits last weekend (an aerdura suit - now standard issue for British armed forces as I understand it). They are quire reasonably priced and a joy to dive in.

Good luck

 

[finster]

Thanks folks. The high price was partially due to the fact that I was looking at a custom suit, not a stock version. While at the Scuba Convention in Long Beach, CA in June, I stopped at the DUI booth and tried a stock suit on. I was able to wear the suit, but was told that I probably would not be able to wear anything over a 200 suit undergarment.

Bottom line is that I eventually purchased a stock DUI TLS 350 and it was indeed about $1000. So far it's been a bit of a struggle trying to get my weighting down and getting rid of the suit squeeze. Hopefully that will be solved fairly quickly. Thanks for the replies!

 

[TexasMike]

Good to hear you're in the dry now. Keep giving us updates of your progress. It makes for interesting reading to see how folks are coming along with their diving experience.

 

[j27rock]

I have a tls350 se and I love it.

 

[finster]

Well I have 3 dives with the suit so far. Each dive gets better than the previous. The problems so far involve getting properly weighted and selection of undergarments.

I dove with a silk weight capilene top and longjohn combo and felt chilly in 62 degrees. I now have a midweight and expedition weight set of tops and bottoms so hopefully that will solve the warmth issue.

As for the weighting, my last dive included a total of 28 lbs with 6 lbs in my front BC pouches, 4 lbs in each back pocket, a 6 lb tank weight, and 2 lb ankle weights. I felt as if my fins were constantly dragging down along the sand. I don't think that I ever achieved neutral bouyancy. I suppose that the next step would be to try 1 lb ankle weights.

On a better note, my new Atomic Splits felt great!