Lavacore stuff.
- Thread starter Easdem
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koozemani
Contributor
My wife swear by them. She uses a vest and is in the market for some pants. She equates to wearing a 2mm
krawlings
Contributor
I have the hood and the jump suit It works great with my wet suit . I tried the jump suit with my dry suit and I found that It didn't help much . so I only use know w/wet suite . I love the hood I add that with my 5mm dry hood and my heat stays toasty in 45*-55* water temps . And it works great foe a stand alone in temps in the 60*
The equivalent of about 2mm of neoprene in warmth jibes with my and my wife's experience with Lavacore hooded vests. If 2 mm of neoprene wouldn't be enough to keep you warm, then you should go with something else. The Lavacores help, but I decided there are some circumstances in which I have not been warm enough wearing it under my 5 mm suit, and I'm going to buy a 3 neoprene hooded vest to use instead of the Lavacore.
When the water is around 80 I am comfortable in a diveskin with sleeves, the the vest and the pants. That is in place of the 3mm full wetsuit. I also found I can drop 3 or 4 pounds of lead when I do that. I like the stuff.
I agree that it's about like another 2mm, but without the 2mm of added buoyancy 
My gf just bought the full suit for future trips, since after a few dives she's cold in her 3mm & hooded vest.
My gf just bought the full suit for future trips, since after a few dives she's cold in her 3mm & hooded vest.
Dr. Lecter
Contributor
It's good for what it is, but it's not especially warm.
1. About as warm as 2mm or so neoprene;
2. Doesn't crush over time, so no reduction in insulation ability as it ages;
3. Potentially much easier to doff/don, especially when wet (I only use a long sleeve top w/o hood, though, and a full suit may be just as much of a PITA as a thin wet suit);
4. Almost no inherent buoyancy...there's some, but it's only enough to make soaking all of it at once a bit tricky, not enough to matter re: weighting/trim.
5. Less bulky/restrictive underwater -- I usually dive in just the Lavacore top and some Irikonji trunks, and moving around is very easy. A bit easier than my old, well-crushed 3mm Pinnacle ME suit and a lot easier than my 7mm ME suit or Fusion Bullet.
6. One garment, multiple uses: I've found the longsleeve top w/o hood to be just what I needed for a tropical undergarment in my drysuit for dives where the deco hang is just too many hours for diving wet. I need to buy some Lavacore socks to make sliding through the Fusion legs easier and keep my toes warmer.
Durability seems decent. I have some fuzzing around the shoulders from my harness, but everything else is holding up pretty well, even the logos. It's basically a glorified rashguard with a heavy fleece lining and works great as long as you don't need to stay too warm.
1. About as warm as 2mm or so neoprene;
2. Doesn't crush over time, so no reduction in insulation ability as it ages;
3. Potentially much easier to doff/don, especially when wet (I only use a long sleeve top w/o hood, though, and a full suit may be just as much of a PITA as a thin wet suit);
4. Almost no inherent buoyancy...there's some, but it's only enough to make soaking all of it at once a bit tricky, not enough to matter re: weighting/trim.
5. Less bulky/restrictive underwater -- I usually dive in just the Lavacore top and some Irikonji trunks, and moving around is very easy. A bit easier than my old, well-crushed 3mm Pinnacle ME suit and a lot easier than my 7mm ME suit or Fusion Bullet.
6. One garment, multiple uses: I've found the longsleeve top w/o hood to be just what I needed for a tropical undergarment in my drysuit for dives where the deco hang is just too many hours for diving wet. I need to buy some Lavacore socks to make sliding through the Fusion legs easier and keep my toes warmer.
Durability seems decent. I have some fuzzing around the shoulders from my harness, but everything else is holding up pretty well, even the logos. It's basically a glorified rashguard with a heavy fleece lining and works great as long as you don't need to stay too warm.
Lavacore is, of course, a brand name. Similar products are manufactured and sold by several others. At the moment in my kit I have similar wetsuits with three brands: Aeroskin, Henderson, and Lavacore. In my experience, the comments made so far in this thread apply to fleece wetsuits in general, not just Lavacore.
For tropical diving, theyre all I use. Since Im sensitive to cold, I always include a hood.
ymmv
For tropical diving, theyre all I use. Since Im sensitive to cold, I always include a hood.
ymmv
I've used the shirt and trunks under a 7mm ( similar to a shorty )....The others are right, it adds about 2mm of additional warmth.....I like it because it doesn't effect buoyancy and you don't feel like the Pillsberry dough boy !!!!!........Sizes run tight, your better getting the next size up......
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