Silicone neck seals....Yay or nay

[buddhasummer]

I recently switched and am happy. As others have said I too find it more comfortable. The biggest bonus though for me is that it does not leak like my latex neck seal did. I have a pencil neck. It might have been though that I prematurely trimmed the latex seal, guess I'll never know as will not go back. As for longevity I can't say as I've only dived it a handful of times so far. Time will tell.

 

[raftingtigger]

I have the SiTech system and never plan on going back. Neo is comfortable but doesn't work well with a small neck and large head. I'll use latex in a pinch, but having the ring system for all the seals is a no-brainer in my book.

 

[decidedlyodd]

I've been using them for about a year and a half. I've only gone back to latex when I had to find a replacement in a hurry. Availability and price have been the only downsides I've found. I did tear a couple wrist seals at first, but once I stopped pulling on them too much when doffing the suit, I haven't had any issues.

 

[Grover48]

I am allergic to latex so I was very happy when silicone seals came out. I then purchased a White's fusion dry suit with replaceable seals on wrists and neck seal. There is a learning curve in the don and doff department. I tore one wrist seal in the learning process.

Bottom line is the silicone is very comfortable and I have not had any leakage problems. The seals a quick and easy to change at the dive site. I would recommend practicing changing the seals a few times before diving with them. Also, trim your nails to avoid any inadvertent snags.

 

[JohnN]

+1 on silicone neck seals. Very comfortable and even when twisting my head at odd angles, they just don't leak. Plus the benefit that the system allows you to change seals 'on-the-fly' (yes you could use the same system with latex). My limited experience with silicone wrist seals is that they are just too fragile to make it worth the effort and expense

 

[mmerriman]

just used my silicone neck seal for the first time yesterday - yay!

 

[divezonescuba]

Every year or so, I retry the silicone neck and wrist seals. I am more concerned about staying dry than a minor difference in comfort. My results in over 400 drysuit dives.

Never had a latex wrist seal tear. Never had a silicone wrist seal, of the 5 or 6 that I have tried to use, that actually made it to the water. You can actually carefully stretch them to see the weak points in different places that will tear or pop. And no I don't puncture them with my fingernails.

Only had one latex neck tear after about 90 dives, possibly because it was trimmed. Never had a non-trimmed latex neck seal tear directly laminated or in a sitech. Had 4 silicone neck seals tear, some before getting in the water. The ones that did tear, tore within a few dives. Same goes for stretching the neck seals to see the weak points.

Having said that, the sitech system is great as long as you don't get the version that inverts on you and pops the yellow spacer out.

The sitech system allows you to try several different sizes and brands of neck latex seals so you can get one that is comfortable. This means that you don't have to deal with the one size fits all silicone seals and their potential for tearing.

 

[buddhasummer]

Every year or so, I retry the silicone neck and wrist seals. I am more concerned about staying dry than a minor difference in comfort. My results.

Never had a latex wrist seal tear. Never had a silicone wrist seal of the 5 or 6 that I have tried to use that make it to the water. You can actually carefully stretch them to see the weak points that will tear or pop.

Only had one latex neck tear, it was trimmed. Never had a non-trimmed latex neck seal tear. Had several silicone neck seals tear, some before getting in the water. The ones that did tear, tore within a few dives.

Having said that, the sitech system is great as long as you don't get the version that inverts on you and pops the yellow spacer out.

The sitech system allows you to try several different sizes of neck seals so you can get one that is comfortable. This means that you don't have to deal with the one size fits all silicone seals and their potential for tearing.

Sorry, I don't quite understand?

 

[divezonescuba]

They all tore either while putting my hand through or by the time I had put my hand through, got my gear on and got into the water.

 

[Hatul]

DUI Neck Zipseal -Silicone, lasted barely four months before it expanded beyond its "stretch memory". And it was cut two index rings smaller than the recommended on the size chart for my neck. The silicone also was too sticky making it difficult to d'on & d"off.

Total POS -going back to latex.

I'm using the DUI silicone seals while my buddy has the latex. Of the two he has less problems with his than me, but he's the better diver as well and he took to his drysuit more naturally. I heard others having problems with tearing of the silicone but I've not found this.

The silicone tends to attract beach sand and it's more difficult to have it lay flat on the skin. The latex has more stiffness so it's easier to keep it from rolling over. I also think it's right that silicone is easier to overstreatch.