jmark18
Contributor
What sort of time frame is there when ordering a Seaskin Nova suit? I have sold my old suit and need a new custom suit ASAP.
Review Seaskin Nova drysuit
- Thread starter stuartv
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
admikar
Contributor
waterone
Contributor
- Messages
- 767
- Reaction score
- 471
Since you spoke up, I'm still wondering if you can point the direction to a proper comparison.
I have been looking seriously at this drysuit for a bit and will probably order soon.
The only comparable ~ price wise us made suits that I’m aware of are USIA (haven’t seen one myself) and Pinnacle Tahoe (my buddy is waiting for one that may be available this week) I have seen a Tahoe that was beta tested, it looks like a nice option but it takes some time to get one, I like the concept in that it’s neoprene, front, across the chest zip, supposed to be made in the US. Both of the close to reasonable cost options will cost about 2x the Seaskin cost if you start adding options.
admikar
Contributor
I don't know if it's robbery or not, but I am quite sure that O3 is not almost double the quality, or for that matter Santi, Rofos, Avatar (speaking of Europian options).
And while on the matter of pricing, group from my club ordered 10 suits from Santi. Even with 45% discount, still slightly more expensive than Seaskin. Price is not the point, point here is how much big names are profiteering if they can give 45% discount (I am 100% sure that Santi will not do even a bulk order at a loss).
"Profiteering"??? So if they give a discount they are bad and if they don't they are bad still?
Manufacturers give "courtesy" discount to "notables" in the business for publicity and marketing purposes all of the time. They are essentially giving "distributor" discount to these "notables" (commonly referred to as "keyman discount") to help promote their name and products in different markets.
As for "profiting," you need to make a distingtion between "gross profit" and "net profit." If I buy an item for $1 and sell it for $2 this will mean that I am making a $1 profit from item direct cost but not my from my gross/overall costs for running the business. If you take into consideration that I have to pay rent, salaries, insurances, R&D, employee benefits, interest on loans, etc., I am not making a $1 profit on that item at the end of the year, I'll be making much, much less in net profit. This is the case with scuba equipment manufacturers.
The term "robbery" was brought up by somebody else here, it wasn't me that brought it up. The point here, practically all brand name companies have higher prices and despite of the higher prices, they are far more popular and known than SeaSkin. O3 is more money than the SeaSkin yet it is far more known and popular in the UK with both are UK based companies. When I was living in London for several months, I met with many tech. and recreational divers, dive boat operators, dive agency staff, etc. at dive shows and dive meetings in various areas in the UK and none of them recognized SeaSkin brand while ALL of them recognize the O3 brand and they all had nothing but raving positive feedback on the quality of the O3 suit.
What kind of an indicator is it in this context then? Take into consideration that diving in the UK is done in some of the roughest dive environments in the world that is primarily wrecks with lots of "abuse" of the suit and the owners still praise the quality of the suit, O3 in particular. They never mention or even know SeaSkin.
The picture you are painting of the UK and O'Three is different from my experience.
I think Seaskin are on the ascendancy, or maybe it is observer bias and I just notice them more since I bought one. Certainly there are more or equal number of Seaskin suits and O'Three suits in my club. By far the most popular suit is the Scubapro Everdry 4, one of the cheaper suits available off the peg in our LDSs. Otherwise a real mix of Otter, Northern Diver, Aqua Lung. Our club suits are Typhoon but strangely not many members own them.
I think Seaskin are on the ascendancy, or maybe it is observer bias and I just notice them more since I bought one. Certainly there are more or equal number of Seaskin suits and O'Three suits in my club. By far the most popular suit is the Scubapro Everdry 4, one of the cheaper suits available off the peg in our LDSs. Otherwise a real mix of Otter, Northern Diver, Aqua Lung. Our club suits are Typhoon but strangely not many members own them.
I am not saying that O3 is the only suit used there, I am merely pointing out that it is one of the most popular and recognized name there. There is also very strong presence for Otter. The people I talked to were the technical divers and Tech. instructors and others who are very active divers in the UK. At that time I was trying to understand the UK drysuit market and doing my own informal survey over several month period to determine what suit I should buy when I thought I would be living in the UK for a long while (but I had to return back to Libya when the war started). I was also serious considering the DUI CLX450. I narrowed down my research to O3, DUI and Otter (distant 3rd option).
Similar threads
- Question
