I'm planning on buying my own gear for diving once things start to warm up. Right now I have a 3 mm custom wetsuit (full), mask/fins/DC so next I'm looking at BCD/regs and cold water protection. I plan to get a BP/W from DSS but Tobin requires buoyancy of your wetsuit for sizing wings, and hands down I need something warmer than my 3 mm for local quarry/lake diving. On vacation, in 81 °F water, I was perfectly comfortable in my 3 mm custom wetsuit (Aquaflite), not too hot or too cold, dives where 35 min max up to 50'.
So for quarries I'll definitely need something warmer. The question is, should I get a 7 mm wetsuit or go dry? Certainly I don't want to spend the money on a drysuit, I have school loans that will enter repayment in June (I will hopefully have a job that should more than offset the payment by that point, but it's still a lot of money I have to pay back), and BCD/regs for me and my wife will already be a good chunk of money.
Since I've already got a custom fit suit from Aquaflite, the $100 sizing fee would not apply to a 7 mm suit from them so I could get a 7 mm fullsuit for as little as $207 + S&H. I can add options such as a 7 mm sleeveless jacket to go on top over my core for $51 extra, arm and leg zippers for $30/pair, sidestripe, etc. If I need the suit I'd probably need a hood and gloves, so that adds more (but of course I'd need those for dry too).
I'm 6'5" and just 155 pounds, so I don't fit any off the shelf wetsuits. My thinking is for dry I probably wouldn't want off the shelf either because anything off the shelf for my height seems to be for a 280-300 pound person. I've heard people talk about loose suits having a big bubble that makes trim really hard and something you fight all the time.
For temp I currently live in central IL so diving at Hauge Quarry or Mermet Springs, though I may move to the WI/IL border soon and possibly Madison WI area in the next few years.
My thinking is for now, go with the 7 mm wetsuit and sleeveless jacket (so 14 mm over my core), for quarry/lake dives, and save up for a drysuit for when that wears out or if my diving depths and times lead me to requiring a drysuit. Other thoughts?
So for quarries I'll definitely need something warmer. The question is, should I get a 7 mm wetsuit or go dry? Certainly I don't want to spend the money on a drysuit, I have school loans that will enter repayment in June (I will hopefully have a job that should more than offset the payment by that point, but it's still a lot of money I have to pay back), and BCD/regs for me and my wife will already be a good chunk of money.
Since I've already got a custom fit suit from Aquaflite, the $100 sizing fee would not apply to a 7 mm suit from them so I could get a 7 mm fullsuit for as little as $207 + S&H. I can add options such as a 7 mm sleeveless jacket to go on top over my core for $51 extra, arm and leg zippers for $30/pair, sidestripe, etc. If I need the suit I'd probably need a hood and gloves, so that adds more (but of course I'd need those for dry too).
I'm 6'5" and just 155 pounds, so I don't fit any off the shelf wetsuits. My thinking is for dry I probably wouldn't want off the shelf either because anything off the shelf for my height seems to be for a 280-300 pound person. I've heard people talk about loose suits having a big bubble that makes trim really hard and something you fight all the time.
For temp I currently live in central IL so diving at Hauge Quarry or Mermet Springs, though I may move to the WI/IL border soon and possibly Madison WI area in the next few years.
My thinking is for now, go with the 7 mm wetsuit and sleeveless jacket (so 14 mm over my core), for quarry/lake dives, and save up for a drysuit for when that wears out or if my diving depths and times lead me to requiring a drysuit. Other thoughts?
). I went with a custom drysuit. USIA Techniflex, for example - see my avatar - is about $1300 base price and custom is only $150 on top of that. I was fortunate that my dive shop in Plainfield is their largest dealer and helped me get it in a shorter time frame so I could have it for my OW dives. I love diving dry. I'm only going to be diving Midwest quarries and the Great Lakes, so it made sense to go dry from the beginning. I did my dry suit specialty at same time as OW. 
