8 replies to this topic

[chinacat46]

Hey now,

I'm looking to purchase a new dry suit and since some of you already have them and have gone thru the process I'm looking for suggestions. I want a light weight one since I like to travel and plan on taking it with me on needed trips. I'm leaning towards DUI since that is all I have experience with. So what is out there? Should I get it custom fit? I'd like to keep it under $1500 but am somewhat flexible(I can bend over and touch my toes ).

- Chuck

[Coo's Toe]

It would be pretty hard to go wrong buying a DUI, they make a really nice suit. I own a custom cut Diving Concepts Ultraflex tri-lam suit, which is another excellent choice. My other choices ( if I was shopping again ) would be either Andy's or DUI. Another suit I've seen up close that impressed me was the tri-lam suit from Dive-Rite. I see a lot of good feedback on the Bare suits too.

Personally I would vote for custom fitting, but I am one of many that had no other choice. If a stock suit fits you well, then stick with that choice. You really need to make sure the suit fits well, and allows a full range of motion without a lot of excess fabric where you don't need it. If a stock suit has a lot of extra fabric where you don't need it, it will tend to trap air in funny places and it will be hard to vent efficiently when you need to.

Important note: Don't skimp on the undies! Unless you buy a puffy neoprene suit, it will not be the suit that keeps you warm. It would be a shame to see you spend top dollar buying a quality suit and then skimping on the undergarments to save a few bucks. Invest in a good set of thinsulate undies. Thinsulate wicks water away from you and will keep you warm even if the undies get wet, which WILL happen on occaision. Sweatshirts and long johns just won't cut it.

Also make sure you are wearing your chosen undergarments when trying on suits or getting measured for a custom suit.

Good luck with your shopping. A good suit will last you many years with proper care, so don't rush your decision. Try out various makes and buy one that you'll want to keep for a long time.

[Diverlady]

BARE makes a good trilam drysuit as does Whites. I haven't heard of anyone complaining about a DUI suit so I think you'd be safe there. Personally I have a 4mil compressed neoprene drysuit but you want something light and it's definitely not that!!
I agree with Coo's Toe on the undies. I use BARE undies. I've heard of a brand called Weasles which many people rave about. I don't have any personal experience with them though. You don't want to have cotton next to your skin. If you're dressing in the nice warm sun on the surface, cotton will hold the dampness right next to your skin and you'll be cold. I wear fleece under my drysuit undies.

If you can wear an off-the-rack suit then by all means, do it. I have to get custom-fitted stuff like Coo's Toe.

Diverlady

Edited by Diverlady, 01 April 2004 - 03:00 PM.

[jeadiver]

DUI is good, and I have heard alot of good stuff about the Bare (I love the fit of their wetsuits). I have a Whites Nexus which is really a very nice light weight suit. The thing I liked is that it was one of the only "package" deals (came with underwear, boots and a carry bag) that was available in a Large-Tall (XL suits are never long enough and always too big around the middle for me). Total cost was under $900.00

I'll second all the words of wisdom on the underwear by Diverlady and Coo's Toe. It is vital, and I really don't like the ones Whites provided, they are a simple poly/cotton jumpsuit without thinsulate. I first tried the suit on a warm day (water temps were still in the 40's F) and got rather sweaty gearing up and into the water. By the time I got in, it was like diving in a wet wash rag. Made for a VERY cold dive, all that wet fabric wicked away all of my warmth. After investing in the suit, I couldn't afford a Weezle suit but I did find some stuff called Storm-Kloth. This is some kind of open cell neoprene type material that kept me very warm when coupled with the Whites jumpsuit. It absolutely kept my skin dry by wicking water away and keeping it off. Its available in long sleeve t-shirts, pants and socks with a total cost of about $100.00 US.

I know of one woman who has the same problem and actually dives in a wetsuit under her drysuit. I just couldn't bring my self to do that.

Couple of links you might be interested in:

Whites Cold Water

Weezle Undersuits

My StormKloth link seems to no longer be functional, but you can find it in many listings for online retailers (I actually ended up buying mine on K-Mart.com).

[HDrider]

I finally broke down 2 years ago and purchased a DUI TLS350. I ended up getting a custom fit suit as the regular sizes did not fit properly. This would be the only reason to go with a custom fit suit. There was a small savings by going with a custom fit over the Signature Series but it was not a huge savings. The Signature Series has a few options (mainly the large pockets on the legs) that I did not feel necessary this was the reason I did not go with it. I do not remember but it may have come with a hood also and I did not need a hood as I used the one I already had.

If you plan on using it in somewhat warm water I would highly recommend that you not get the hood attached to it. I have used mine a few times in South Florida in the winter not so much for the water temp, rather the air temp it was cool cloudy and windy, felt pretty good to be dry on the surface.

For warm water (above 70) I still prefer to dive wet, but up here the water rarely gets that warm and when it does it is only down to 25' - 30' then it is much cooler so I wimped out.

I would highly recommend the DUI they stand behind there gear very well it is very comfortable if not you should consider a custom fit or signature series how ever you will not likely be under $1500 if you do this remember you will need undergarments with a drysuit and they can be pretty expensive also depending on what you get (I purchased DUI undies).

It is a bit different diving dry verses wet. It will take a little practice getting used to the amount of air to put in the suit during the dive. Not enough and you will be squeezed too much and you will be on the surface. I would highly recommend a few shallow dives at first, and when you do go deeper use extra caution during your ascent so the air in the suit can vent out properly and not cause a runaway ascent.

Hope this information is useful to you.

Tom

Edited by HDrider, 02 April 2004 - 02:07 PM.

[Lubold8431]

Well, I just sold my Andy's DS2 drysuit. I have a DUI signature series CLX-450 suit that I got on keyman a couple years ago, and I love it. I also have an Atlan neoprene drysuit. I dont like neoprene suits all that much. One thing that I have found is that on an Andys DS2, because of the zipper, you dont have room to put a pocket on the right side. My DUI, I put the wrong pocket on it. I got the zippered pocket, and I found out that I cant operate it uw very well. I would love to get two velcro bellows pockets for the suit. I do think that my next suit might be a TLS-350 from DUI. Very lightweight, quick drying, and I love the front entry style with telescoping torso.

[chinacat46]

Yeah the TLS350 is the one I'm leaning towards but I'm gonna at least check some of the others out. I guess from what all I've read you can't really go wrong with a DUI and the TLS350 is lightweight which is important for traveling. Scapa Flow here I come!

[Narwhal]

The four brands I have owned or dived with enough to talk about are DUI, Mobeys, Whites and Dacor. The DUI was superior to any of the others in my opinion. (One of my BCs is also a DUI and I like it both in the jacket and the back flotation configurations--a good choice if you like both styles of BC but only want to buy one harness and extra bladders.) I would stay away from the Mobeys. We had trouble with their customer service and they have been bought out by Parkway Scuba (about a year or two ago) and are sort of unproven in my experience as far as support goes. Mobeys does make some of the best undergarmets for shells that you can find anywhere, I just don't expect their customer service to respond. Whites makes both good dry suits and so-so dry suits. Their best is unsurpassed while their lower priced suits have been somewhat of a disappointment. Seal failure on the wrists has been the major fault that I experienced with both Whites and Mobeys. Dacor has a very good drysuit that is made from heavy denier(1000 I believe) that sells for under a grand. I have dived it and it fits me very well. It's easy to handle and rugged. I go along with the idea that if you are going to do mostly dry suit diving, to go ahead and spring for a custom fit. I dive a wet suit whenever I can get away with it and if I had my choice would dive without thermal protection at all. If the conditions demand it and dry is dictated, the custom suit is worth every penny. There are very few more miserable feelings than a dry suit that doesn't fit well.

[Diverbrian]

Adding to the wisdom already stated:

I actually have two sets of undies as perspiration (or not getting a seal completely over the undies) will get some moisure on the inside of a drysuit and I like to do three or four dives a day. That way I have back-ups if my drysuit takes on water. I have the standard thinsulate Andy's underwear that came with my Andy's DS-1 (see my avatar as I am wearing that drysuit in that photo) and a set of fleece Bare undergarments that I like as well. Both sets of undies work very well.

I would leave off the built in hood. I have a wetsuit hood cut for the drysuit that is extremely effective and if I wanted to use the drysuit in say 60 degree water, I could do that.

You may get lucky and fit well into an "off the rack" drysuit. If so, be happy for your good fortune and take advantage of it. If not, I would not advise you to settle for a slightly ill-fitting drysuit vs. custom fit. You would regret not paying a little extra and having the custom fit done. Ill-fitting drysuits are uncomfortable and more leak-prone. So shop carefully in this regard.

Oh and good luck and enjoy being able to be warm in cold water.

Edited by Diverbrian, 06 April 2004 - 01:21 AM.