Drysuit manufacturers

[cummings66]

OK, I've been curious for a long time on who makes the most drysuits or put another way which brand is the most popular.


To figure that out we need a poll which is easily done, but to be fair we need to start out with a list of "all" the names known to be making drysuits.


So, lets get a comprehensive list together and figure this out. I'll start with some names off the top of my head. Not models, just makers so that we could see for example 56% dive a DUI of some sort, etc. There's probably a LOT that I don't have listed.


Viking


DUI


Dive Rite


Bare


Pinnacle


Whites


USIA


Oceanic


Abyss
<DIV>Andy's (out of business)</DIV>
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<DIV>Apollo</DIV>
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<DIV>Harvey's</DIV>
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<DIV>Seasoft</DIV>
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<DIV>Gates/Hunter</DIV>

[texdiveguy]

Who really cares....BUT I dive a BARE dry suit.

[cummings66]

I don't know who cares beyond myself, but I've always wondered who sells the most drysuits. I'm happy with my Vikings.
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<DIV>The polls I've seen on Scubaboard aren't really fair, I've seen one where 4 drysuits were compared, 2 or the 4 were DUI and the other two were offbrands so guess what was more popular. I'd like to seea pollthat represents nearly every drysuit brand out there. No reason beyond being curious because I'm happy with what I got.</DIV>

[Wolfie2012]

I'm curious too, but I cant think of any manufacturers other than what you listed already....

[CompuDude]

Somewhere among the manufacturers you already named lies the top 5 drysuit manufacturers. Do you need more?




If I had to guess I'd say the top 5 sellers are DUI, Viking, Bare, Whites and either Pinnacle or USIA. (not necessarily in that order)

Don't forget there are a number of drysuit makers overseas as well, but they're not very well known over here and I suspect their volume is not high enough to crack the top 5 anyway.

[LIL JoJo]

From my experience here at the shop DUI is the most popular selection of dry suits and probablyhave the most saleshowever, the one that we sale the most and my personal favorite is the Pinnacle Evolution II. The quality and style is unmatchable at that price.

[cummings66]

Joey, what you said just doesn't make sense to me. In the first sentence you say DUI sells the most, in the second you say Pinnacle. I'm confused.

[MEL-DC Diver]

Historically, the DUI brand sells the most but recently the new Pinnacle is the hot item?

[cummings66]

Originally Posted by MEL-DC Diver

Historically, the DUI brand sells the most but recently the new Pinnacle is the hot item?

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<DIV>That's the perception, what I want to know is how do we know that? I don't see sales figures posted to show that, it's certainly not reflected in the areas I dive, Bare would win there and Pinnacle would lose. I know of only one person who dives a Pinnacle and he posts here. Viking would lose as well, I'm often the only guy in one.</DIV>
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<DIV>From what I've seen, I'd rate it as Bare, DUI, and everybody else. However I don't see sales figures to back up the claim of DUI being number one aside from their own.</DIV>
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<DIV>That's what I'm trying to figure out, what is in reality the most common dive suit in the US. So a poll is a good way to find out, sample the actual divers using them and see what they have.</DIV>
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<DIV>Of course we need more members here to make it a good poll, but it seems more and more join in.</DIV>

[CompuDude]

DUI had the contract with the military for a looong time. Army, Navy, Marine, Coast Guard... they all used DUI. That's a HUGE number right there. No way any other company can touch those numbers.

Of course, now USIA recently won the contract away from them, although I don't know the details. So expect those to become a lot more popular.

I agree that DUI and Bare are probably the biggest two by a long shot. Problem is all of these companies are privately held, to my knowledge, so we don't get to see the sales figures that publicly-held companies release. As such, we'll probably never know for sure.