What dry suit is best

[kenmendes]

I live in Washington State and Dive in the Puget Sound where it can get pretty cold. I would like to know what brand of dry suit they sugest

[terrillja]

Originally Posted by kenmendes

I live in Washington State and Dive in the Puget Sound where it can get pretty cold. I would like to know what brand of dry suit they sugest

This is like asking someone what kind of car they suggest. It is completely depending on the person. I personally dive a BARE XCD2 Tech dry suit because it was a much better price than a comparable DUI suit, however the DUI Zip-seals are pretty sweet, but EXPENSIVE! If you want a fully custom suit, check out the BARE, it was built to my exact specs, with pockets and such just as I wanted.

[tc_rain]

I agree about the zip seals being nice, they can save a dive trip if you have an extra on hand and tear a seal. From what I hear, they run a little over $300.00 a set (someone correct me if I am wrong). I also believe they are a little thinner then some other manufacturers makes their seals. I know when I tried out a DUI suit with the zip seals; there was a noticeable difference in the thickness of them when compared to my suit.

[RECDiver]

I dive the DUI TLS350 with zipseals and love it. You would want some heavy duty undergarments for whichever drysuit you buy.

[MSilvia]

I dive a BARE ATR-HD trilam suit, which is really great except for the pocket, which wore out after about a year. That would have been a problem for me, except that I had already installed a 5th Dimension bellows pocket on the opposite leg. Since I found that one to be so much better (roomier, better constructed, and made to fold flat and velcro in place when not in use) I just removed Bare's pocket and replaced it with another one of those.

Pockets aside, the suit is rock-solid. After fighting to put a hole in the leg for a p-valve (30 swings with a heavy mallet against a brand-new punch placed over a block of hardwood), I'm convinced I'm never going to tear this suit accidentally.

[diver_daver]

The best dry suit is the one that fits you well with your undergarments on! Being in the PNW {I'm just outside of Victoria and have a Whites Aqua Pro}, I would stay away from a neoprene dry suit as you will need a ton of weight to in the water between the neoprene and your undergarments.

[CompuDude]

DUI is the Cadillac of drysuits, but like the Cadillac, you're paying for the name to a certain extent. No one else has zip seals, however, so if that's a priority for you, you just narrowed your search down to one company.

Bare's suits are just as good (altho no zip seals), and usually for less money.

USIA, Diving Concepts, Whites and Pinnacle also make good suits. There are quite a few others, too, even Viking if you want to get into rubber drysuits.

Deciding between Trilam (usually best, definitely most common), Crushed Neo (sometimes best), and Neoprene suits (rarely best) is a bigger question.

Personally, I like DUI and Bare best, in that order. But I wouldn't rule out the others.

[RonFrank]

There is no Best, only Zule.

I think the Pinnacle drysuits are some of the best on the market for the buck. They come standard with pockets, and most LDS's will custom order the suit and make minor modifications at no additional expense.

I dive a Bare NexGen (the bargain basement of drysuits) and honestly, I'm dry, and the rest is all hype. I have a lot of friends diving the Tech line of Bare, and they are happy with them.

DUI's are nice suits. OTOH, seems like the seals on those things rip easier than most, and they are EXPENSIVE. Zip seals are a great idea. However folks often leave them in a hotel, or worst, at home when on a vacation diving.

Honestly, I've never really seen a drysuit that is poorly made. I've seen guys dive DUI, Bare, Pinnacle, Whites, Viking, and others, and have been impressed for the most part by the quality and construction of most every suit I've seen.

Features I'll look for in my next Drysuit are pockets (very nice to have especially wearing a BP/W), and I like the neoprene socks with a rubber coating instead of the huge heavy rock type boots that often come attached. I may also try a Neo neck seal as I have a couple friends diving them, and they seem to have less problems with breaking the neck seal which is something I do about 1 out of 10 dives unless I VERY careful to get it just right before the dive.

A word of warning however, every Drysuit becomes a wetsuit at some point or another!

[Marcin2005]

Here is an advice I gave soemone recently:

"I recently went through a process of purchasing a new dry suit. So here are some suggestions:

1. Before you decide on a drysuit, decide on the type of the undergarments you wish to purchase.

For cold water diving (I dive in the Great Lakes) you have really have two options Thinsulate (either 200g or 400g) or the stuff from 4th element. Try the undergarments on! You should have full mobility in it. If you cannot find something that will fit you of the rack you might have to go custom. Others might disagree, but I suggest that you spend the money on excellent undergarments and a decent suit rather than a top of the line suit and lousy undergarments. Remember it is the fibers in the undergarment that trap the air and keep you warm not the suit. That’s also why you should avoid cotton or fleece. When wet cotton fibers loose their ability to trap gas (cotton far worse than fleece).

2. Don’t be in a rush to buy a suit!

Take your undergarments and try on different suits and see how it all fits together. Again you should be able to retain full mobility. Don’t rely on the sizing charts alone, as those are at best approximations. One of the problems that I run into was the fact that most of the stores did not have suits in stock to try on. Everybody was “willing to order it” but I wasn’t going to drop a pile of money and be stuck with a poor fitting suit. In the end this prompted me to buy a custom suit.

Here comes my bias: After owning a 7mm neoprene dry suit I had no desire to go in that direction ever again. There is only one company on the market that makes a true crushed neo suit (DUI) and since it is their most expensive model it was out of my price range. That left trilam suits.

DUI, DC and Bare all make good products. They all are cut slightly different and use different materials so take your time. Initially I thought I wanted a Courdura suit but after trying one on decided that is was not for me and purchased a much lighter suit.

Good Luck

[Ohmdiver]

I also dive the great lakes and more specifically the Finger lakes. I have an older Bare next gen, and I us polyprop undergarments. I seldom have on two layers of heavy undergarments. I also don't mind a slight chill as I tend to over heat quickly. So it isn't really about a suit it is what will make you comfortable and your type of diving.

Some shops will let you try before you buy. Additional some manufactures hold diving days. DUI does them all over the country. I believe so does White.

Best of luck.