Paco II
Contributor
I recently purchased my first drysuit, a Pinnacle Black Ice. It is, to quote Pinnacle, "[c]onstructed completely of 7mm neoprene thermocompressed to 4.5mm." Surprisingly little seems to be written about this suit, in terms of reviews, so I figured I'd write my own. I am calling it a 'mini review' because I have only dived it twice, both as part of my drysuit certification course. So I don't have a lot of time with it yet, but figured I would start with this, and update this thread over time. First a short disclaimer: This is the only drysuit I've ever owned, so the only comparisons I can make are to other suits I tried on prior to purchasing this one.
The suit appears to be very well made. All the seams and such look solid. There is nothing about the suit that appears to be fragile or easily torn/damaged. The latex wrist seals appear to be of high quality, as does the neoprene neck seal. This suit comes with attached booties. (Afaik, there is no attached boot option)
Donning the suit is surprisingly easy, even alone. After just a few practice runs, I was able to completely zip the front diagonal dry zipper and cover zipper. I'm still mastering the neoprene neck seal rollover, but I imagine that will come over time. Regarding the neck seal, it is INCREDIBLY comfortable. And during my two dives, both to only about 25 feet, and with a lot of wiggling and having to do some drills, it did not leak at all.
Doffing the suit is also pretty easy. Since the neoprene has some 'give', I had no problems getting the upper portion up and over my head. I am able to get my arms out of both sleeves without any assistance.
Now, to talk about the warmth of the suit. Due to it's neoprene composition, and the merino wool lining, this suit does in fact have quite a bit of warmth to it. I was diving it with a lightweight jumper (125g/m2 technical fleece) in water temps of roughly 55F-59F. Keeping in mind that this was my first couple of dives, and that the weather in Monterey, CA was incredibly warm that day, I was actually too warm. I could have dived it with just shorts and a t-shirt. I imagine over time the jumper or some other lightweight undergarment will be needed, but my point is that I was warm and dry. What a delight!
Well, that's about all I got right now. I know this was not that useful, but wanted to share anyway. It's way too soon to know if I made the 'right' purchase, but all I know for sure right now, is that the suit is comfortable, kept me warm and dry, and I am looking forward to diving locally more than I had in quite a while.
The suit appears to be very well made. All the seams and such look solid. There is nothing about the suit that appears to be fragile or easily torn/damaged. The latex wrist seals appear to be of high quality, as does the neoprene neck seal. This suit comes with attached booties. (Afaik, there is no attached boot option)
Donning the suit is surprisingly easy, even alone. After just a few practice runs, I was able to completely zip the front diagonal dry zipper and cover zipper. I'm still mastering the neoprene neck seal rollover, but I imagine that will come over time. Regarding the neck seal, it is INCREDIBLY comfortable. And during my two dives, both to only about 25 feet, and with a lot of wiggling and having to do some drills, it did not leak at all.
Doffing the suit is also pretty easy. Since the neoprene has some 'give', I had no problems getting the upper portion up and over my head. I am able to get my arms out of both sleeves without any assistance.
Now, to talk about the warmth of the suit. Due to it's neoprene composition, and the merino wool lining, this suit does in fact have quite a bit of warmth to it. I was diving it with a lightweight jumper (125g/m2 technical fleece) in water temps of roughly 55F-59F. Keeping in mind that this was my first couple of dives, and that the weather in Monterey, CA was incredibly warm that day, I was actually too warm. I could have dived it with just shorts and a t-shirt. I imagine over time the jumper or some other lightweight undergarment will be needed, but my point is that I was warm and dry. What a delight!
Well, that's about all I got right now. I know this was not that useful, but wanted to share anyway. It's way too soon to know if I made the 'right' purchase, but all I know for sure right now, is that the suit is comfortable, kept me warm and dry, and I am looking forward to diving locally more than I had in quite a while.