Drysuit justification Don't know what to do!!!

[mikeg85jr]

I don't know what decision to make!! I am newer to diving but I have been taking it very seriously. The only thing I don't own is a exposure suit. I live in north East Indiana so the water is cold. I don't know if I should just get a semi dry suit for $600 or go with a entry level drysuit like the dui Yukon for $1500 or do a top of the line dui or fourth element drysuit for around $2,800 area.
Now here is why I can make up my mind. I have the money but to me I need to make sure I am going to get my money worth out of my purchases. My problem is I don't have any dive buddies! My wife dives with me but don't like really cold water. So she says above 50 feet or so. Or likes the tropical stuff. I would like to dive year round and do some spear fishing around here for trash fish. Maybe hit up the Great Lakes. It's hard to do some of that stuff without dive buddies.
What is your opinions on what I should do by a semi dry till I meet more people then maybe get a drysuit?
Is something like a dui Yukon a waste of money?
Or say hell with it and go all out and you guys come up here and dive with me ?

O one other thing after I buy the drysuit I will have about another $600 in under garments

 

[tbone1004]

Deep 6 Techniflex Drysuit with Two Pockets Front Entry - Drysuits - Drysuits - Thermal
look at that drysuit and get it in the size that you need. It's brilliant for $1400 as long as you don't mind orange accents. Only thing I would change is ask for neoprene socks instead of the boots and use wetsuit boats or overboots. I am a fan of wetsuit boots personally. This suit is incredibly durable and there is no reason to spend much more than $2k on a drysuit. None of them are worth it in my opinion. I would not look at a semi dry for great lakes diving.

Regarding thermals. Thermals are thermals, some are better than others. I personally use a combo of merino wool base layers and sox with polartec mid layers and if need be Primaloft thick layers. If you have any of these already, they are sufficient for drysuit diving. I use my skiing baselayers. I am a performance textiles engineer and have done this for a living, so there is no need to buy overpriced drysuit undergarments

 

[BoltSnap]

I would not look at a semi dry for great lakes diving.

++1

If you need a semi-dry, this means that you definitely need a drysuit.

 

[JohnnyC]

Get a drysuit. Seaskin Nova is cheap, made-to-measure. For undergarments, wear a merino base layer, and buy some 200 or 400 gram undies from rondel101bjrr on ebay.

You'll get an awesome custom suit and some perfectly capable undergarments for less than a grand.

Only issue is that you're ordering the drysuit from the UK so you'll have to wait a few weeks for it to be manufactured.

 

[Scuba J7]

I dive a Scubapro Neoprene DS and love it. It cost right at $1000 and I only need underarmor 4.0 for my undergarments. The biggest con compared to a suit like DUI is the seals are not easily repaired, but being neoprene they are far more durable.

I regularly dive Mermet with bottom temps of 40-42 and I get cold easily but stay comfy in my DS

 

[KentB]

I'm newish to diving as well and I'd vote drysuit.
Under mine I just wear a long sleeve T shirt a thin fleece sweater and some sweatpants with snowboard socks.
Typical temps around here are 43-47 degrees and I have yet to get cold.
The amount of undergarments you need depend a lot on you personally.
I rarely get cold in general so I don't need a lot of stuff to keep me warm. My dive buddy wears 2 pears of sweat pants baselayers and 2-3 sweaters and he says when we're done he's usually chilly.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

A semi-dry suit is like being semi-pregnant. Get a drysuit. You might consider Ebay first. I've had a couple of Ebay suits that lasted years.

 

[BRT]

Deeper you go the less insulation the wetsuit has. Between dives the wetsuit is just cold. Drysuits rule!

 

[eelnoraa]

A semi-dry suit is like being semi-pregnant. Get a drysuit. You might consider Ebay first. I've had a couple of Ebay suits that lasted years.

No, worse. Semi-dry suit is a WETSUIT. You are wet after the dive. Analogy to pregnancy, it is pseudocyesis, you think you are pregnant, but not.

Another vote for drysuit here if you are serious about diving cold water. You maybe survice with a wetsuit, but you are comfortable in a drysuit, especially on a longer dive. The initial cost of drysuit can be higher, but you are also more likely to sell your drysuit on the 2nd hand market than a wetsuit. You may want to search for used drysuit as well. My first 2 drysuits were used, both around $600.

For undergarments, I initially just use ski fleeces, and they do the job. The difference between good one and not so good one is how they wick moisture. The good material will also you reasonable warm when wet. Ski fleece maybe not. If you are doing rec dive, it should be OK. When you eventually into tech, deep long dive, you will rack up thousand or 10s of thousands in gears and training. A $400 undie become an easy decision.

 

[Todd Dicker]

I don't know what decision to make!! I am newer to diving but I have been taking it very seriously. The only thing I don't own is a exposure suit. I live in north East Indiana so the water is cold. I don't know if I should just get a semi dry suit for $600 or go with a entry level drysuit like the dui Yukon for $1500 or do a top of the line dui or fourth element drysuit for around $2,800 area.
Now here is why I can make up my mind. I have the money but to me I need to make sure I am going to get my money worth out of my purchases. My problem is I don't have any dive buddies! My wife dives with me but don't like really cold water. So she says above 50 feet or so. Or likes the tropical stuff. I would like to dive year round and do some spear fishing around here for trash fish. Maybe hit up the Great Lakes. It's hard to do some of that stuff without dive buddies.
What is your opinions on what I should do by a semi dry till I meet more people then maybe get a drysuit?
Is something like a dui Yukon a waste of money?
Or say hell with it and go all out and you guys come up here and dive with me ?

O one other thing after I buy the drysuit I will have about another $600 in under garments

Hollis is offering a special through March 31st on the BTR 500 (which I just bought for myself). The drysuit is excellent quality, and the special includes FOR FREE a complete set of undergarments, socks, beanie, and rock boots. Retail price for the suit is about $1,400. They are provided at the time of sale by the retailer. I shopped carefully and extensively and decided on the Hollis BTR 500 BEFORE I learned about the special offer. Once the offer came out a month ago, it just added icing to the cake.

The Hollis BTR 500 is a trilaminate suit. Hollis is a quality manufacturer. The link to the web site is:

BTR-500

Good luck.