Best bang for buck?

[Scuba Scott]

Get the dry suit. It is all I ever dive up north
If the water is too cold for a 3mm then I dive dry. I have a 5mm and a 7mm that hasn't been wet in years.
If you tear a seal they are easy to replace and even if you cut your suit it can be repaired.
Call dive Right in scuba and ask about their protection plans if you are concerned about damage.

 

[grf88]

For Great Lakes diving I agree that a drysuit is the way to go. With a membrane suit you can just adjust the underwear for anything that a 3mm is not suitable for.

 

[Zef]

If you go semi-dry then I recommend looking at the Waterproof Combat SD - it is a great suit if it fits you well. With mine I am often still dry from the waist up after 45 minutes of diving, and that is only because if I leave the ankle seals un-tucked so I can get air out of the suit...if I tuck the ankle seals then I am almost completely dry but it is a pain to descend.

That being said, I would recommend skipping the semi-dry and going straight to a drysuit. If you are concerned about tearing your suit then go with either a neoprene drysuit or a Fusion Bullet drysuit since it has a sacrificial neoprene skin. Hopefully you will not be entering wrecks until you have perfected your buoyancy so snagging your suit will be less of an issue and only a remote reality.

The chance of a suit casualty causing a drysuit to flood is the reality that all drysuit divers have to live with. Pack warm clothes to change into after the dive in case your suit floods. My wife made the mistake of going to a pool with her drysuit/undergarments and no extra clothes, only to find her wrist seal was leaking and her arm/shoulder were soaked....it was a cold drive home for her.

-Z

 

[W W Meixner]

Hello all.

New to diving and I want to make sound investments. I will list my goals and then you can give me your advice.

Took my checkout dives in full 7mm in a quarry with 45 degree water. Did not mind it at all. Looking to dive cold and warm as my bride and I travel frequently. Here is the list of equipment I currently own.

Cressi 3mm full suit
Bare 7mm boots
Standard warm water gloves from Lowes

Atomic BC1 BC
Atomic B2 Reg and Octo with cressi triple
Atomic mask, fins

Dive Computer
Integrated Shearwater Teric

My questions are these, I eventually will probably end up in a dry suit but that is down the road. I am considering a Bare or Neotek Semi dry suit for cold water diving.

The predominance of my diving will be in midwest quarry’s and the Great Lakes region with warm water trips 3 to 4 times a year.

With all that said, I have the budget to get what I need but I dont want redundant gear that is not used. The above items were fairly simple as I prefer Atomic for Guarantees and feel. The Shearwater will be all I ever need.

Any suggestions to round out what I need for maximum flexibility?

Thanks

Brad...

I'm not going to discuss the merits of a dry-suit...because for me...diving Great Lakes water...and temperatures below thermoclines sometimes being in the high 30's/low 40's there is only one choice for exposure protection...

Having said that you did mention two semi dry suits...Bare/Hollis Neotek...

I own a BARE 8/7 Velocity...Dry-suit waterproof zipper/dry-suit ''Glide-Skin'' wrist/ankle seals...it's an excellent suit...which I use as a backup...a tiny bit of water will get in around the hood face seal but nowhere else...if it didn't have the hood and had the same Glide Skin neck seal and an inflator and exhaust valve it would be a neoprene dry-suit...full marks...

I owned a Hollis Neotek...dove it once and sold it...Hollis cheaped out on the zipper and fitted a standard ''non water-proof'' wet suit zipper which causes the suit to flood...the inner dam which is supposed to prevent this is totally ineffective...the dam fills full of water like an overflowing sink...water then tumbles over your shoulders...and down your back...forget it...

I dive a dry-suit full time...if overheating on the surface concerns you...you can unzip the suit and let the top drop down...suspenders will hold the suit up...

As far as ''hot beach'' trips...any 3 mm...shorty or full will do...which you already have covered...

All the best on your adventure...

W.W...

 

[Dubious]

For my wife and I we didn’t have the cash to buy drysuits, but we are now saving for one. I was able to get a used Henderson semidry for 75. The semi dry worked fine for most of our diving, even when water temps dropped to 39 degrees but we did have to limit or time in that cold water. Where we had issues was multiple dives in cooler weather. If you have the cash, I would spend the money and get a dry suit. Just remember that you will also need to buy undergarments. We plan to either order a custom seaskin or order the dry suit deep6 Offers when we have the cash on hand.

 

[formernuke]

Look around and see if anyone still has the DUI yukon I on close out in your size mine was 1000 dollars. Can't beat that for a drysuit.

 

[lexvil]

Look around and see if anyone still has the DUI yukon I on close out in your size mine was 1000 dollars. Can't beat that for a drysuit.

Except with Seaskin.

 

[Marie13]

Check with DRIS.

 

[Jonn]

A cheap bag suit folds up tight for travel and has no warmth of its own. That’s a problem on the sort of serious cold water deco dives you won’t be doing, but makes casual diving more convenient. You can dive in your jeans in the tropics, then bundle up and use the same suit under ice! They are somewhat delicate but then so is your computer. Just take care of it.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

I tried semi this and semi that. What they never tell you is that a semi-drysuit means a semi-wetsuit. You are either dry or you are not so there is no such thing a "semi-dry." After a few tries at Semi-dry or Semi-wet, most people start to dive "all-wet" as in give up cold water diving or they become "all dry" and get into dry suits.

No addressing your concern about drysuit malfunctions, I have owned four drysuits and none of them had the problem you described. You would have to put in hundreds of dives before one gets compromised due to a drysuit problem. The same rule applies to BCDs, regulators, dive computers etc.