wetsuit or drysuit?

[FreediveWI]

I started out in a wetsuit at 14 and by 15 I had saved up enough cash to buy a used, and somewhat leaky, neoprene drysuit. It worked for the next 4 years while I grew. The suit only had to fit my neck and wrist and I could add as much body weight as i wanted to. It was a great way to dive the wrecks around here at the time.

Eventually other kinds of suits hit the market, and I ended up buying a few different kinds over the years. I've owned a couple of vikings, TLS, Crushed, cordura, bi-laminates, and at least one other neoprene suit.

The neorpene was the cheapest, and crappiest, of all the suits. Because they are made out of the same material as a wetsuit the bubbles break down and they all end up leaking after time- some estimates from the makers themselves put this around 200 dives. The tricky part is that they can LOOK almost new on the outside, due to the nylon lining, but the inside can be trashed and you'd never know unless you dive it. Still, if  it's the only way you can afford a drysuit it's not a horrible way to go- it worked for me. 

Having said that, TLS suits are my favorite type if I am diving dry. You can layer them up, or down, and have a lot more room to move around in them- if they are cut right.  8)

I did really like my CF-200, crushed, suit, but it took forever to dry. There were entire months, when I still lived in Milwaukee, where the suit never fully dried out once! IT was also a pain to patch, but super comfy to wear.


Having said all of this I now find myself diving wet all the time. I mainly freedive, but do so all winter long under the ice and in the Lakes. I never would have thought this possible until I found out what a REAL wetsuit should feel like. I'll give you a hint, none of the good ones are made in the USA.

I, now, buy all my suits from ELIOS. You can pick the rubber you want depending upon the depths your going to dive to- low, medium, or high density bubble count. you can also pick the inner lining to make it warmer or easier to slide on- opencell, silver, copper, black shadow, gold, super-elasitc, kanko, or nylon lining. The outer lining is decided when you know what you want to dive in. you can choose from a number of linings to camoflauge you in any enviroment, or pick a basic black in something really tough for diving on wrecks.

Best of all, they mainly do custom cut and I get all my suits without zippers and with attached hoods. For anyone thinking that a wetsuit is a restrictive straight jacket that doens't allow you to move, you simply have no idea just how wrong you are. I've also used my suit for the odd scuba dive and they kept me very warm.

There are other good suits out there as well like Picasso, Esclapez, Marea, Sub prof, and even some cerssi Sub suits that only seem to be available in Europe. Still, the Elios suits seem tobe the best bang for the buck and my custom cut suits are still cheaper than any off the rack Henderson suit I could buy here in the states.

If your only scuba diving down to 60' I think you could be well served with a GOOD wetsuit. However, if you have deeper dives, and more technical training, in your future then it's best to jump into a drysuit as soon as you can as that's one more skill you'll have down before you try anything else.


Jon