wetsuit or drysuit?

[Dewit2it]

I started out dry.  It was the first purchase my instructor recommended.  Looking back, it was the wrong thing due to my age and that I was still growing.  It became an expensive pair of waders in 5 years.  So if you are younger than 25, I'd hold off and stay wet until then.

I prefer the neoprene drysuits, as they are more streamlined in the water more like a wetsuit, and contain their own insulation.  Most of the time with mine I'll wear running tights and a t-shirt under mine, and come up steaming.  For ice diving, I'll add long underwear.  One thing to remember, is that the neoprene will get thinner the deeper you go.  Most of the neoprene drysuits have the zipper across the sholders, making them almost impossible to self don. 

With drysuits, you will want to get the rest of your system assembled and ready before you put on your drysuit.  They are very warm on the surface, and you have to watch out for heat exhaustion.  Once you get your suit on, you want to get in the water as soon as possible.  Pool test dives with the neoprene drysuit, can be unbearably hot.  I have had my neck seal fail, due to the amount of sweat that built up between the seal and the skin.  You will come up soaked!  I have never had a major failure in cold water of neoprene neck or wrist seals.  The most I have had was a quick shot of water that would seal off right away.  The only dive I had to cut short was on the Bermuda up in Munising.  I caught my knee on a nail while going thru one of the hatches. (I broke it off, and it's somewhere in the wreck)  The most I got was an 18" wet spot on my leg, as the neoprene self sealed to some extent.

The neoprene suit will need a lot of weight to get down.  I run around 27 lbs of lead to get down.

I havn't tried the trilam or sheet rubber types, so I'll let the rest of you guys fill in on those.