Worth buying 3mm suit that may be used 15 days/year?

[D_B]

I just did buy one for a trip I'm making to the Dry Tortuga's , The people that I'm going with stressed the need for one .. after 5 to 8 dives in a day, even with 80+ water, your core temp can drop to the point that you don't feel like making the last dives

this is a good deal on a well made suit .. 3/2mm Parkway Men's Scuba Titanium Full Pyrostretch Wetsuit Snorkeling, Scuba, and Water Sports: unrealfind I particularly like the stitching on it .... "suit is triple glued and double blind-stitched for strength"

I went there to get it, nice folks

 

[Damselfish]

the thing about thin wetsuits is, fit isn't as much of an issue. Perfect fit isn't required so much for warmth and they tend to be more flexible and comfortable just because they're thinner.

 

[divad]

Had to follow up a little bit. Still decided to not buy one for this trip. I'll either be glad I didn't, or wish I did, and buy one for next trip.

However, I did have to comment on the idea of getting an inexpensive wetsuit. I wish I could But having owned and used my Pinnacle Merino Elastiprene 7mm for a while now, and having tried other brands in the past, I couldn't imagine buying any other kind. It's expensive, which is probably a part of the reason I am so on the fence. But the fit and comfort of it is just that excellent.

Why would you not get something like an excellent fitting super stretchy Akona for $69.00 @ LP, for the same price as a worn out-non-insulating-public-urinal-fungal-rich-POS-rental? If you do one more warm water trip, the POS-latrine-rental with rotting out crotch will be twice the cost of the new suit. It seems like you could use the suit for one trip, throw it away, and still be ahead.

 

[Bratface]

We were in Fiji last May and needed more than a 3mm.

 

[Tjack]

I bougt a 3/2 mm for a Fiji trip in November a few years back. Great investement, it has over a 100 dives on it now. Air temps might not be what you expect, it can be quite cloudy and water temps can drop on you. Diving off of Taviuni in the Somo Somo straights some people were wearing vests with hoods as well as a 3mm. Also I don't recall many shops in Fiji where you can pick one up if you change your mind.