wetsuit or drysuit?

[ikkie78]

Hi everyone...i'm just getting into scuba and am researching some gear to buy when the time comes and was wondering if most of you who dive around here use a thick wetsuit or a drysuit? And what are a couple of better brands to start looking at? Any help would be appreciated.

[LKunze]

In my opinion if you plan to dive fairly frequently then don't waste your money on a wetsuit, get a drysuit.  The waters are always cold at depth in our region and diving dry is the way to go.  If you do not plan to dive enough to justify the expense of a drysuit then a good 7mm wetsuit will be ok.  I dove a 7mm farmer john wetsuit my first year of diving.  Once I dove Lake Superior for the first time I new the wetsuit had to go and have dove dry ever since. 

[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.

[Chris H]

There was a recent thread about a custom wetsuit that had some comments about drysuits as well.  Like others have mentioned, if you intend to dive a lot locally, and like the Great Lakes, Lake Wazee, or any other oligotrophic lake, a drysuit is probably your best bet.  DUI, Diving Concepts an Bare are a few of the popular brands.

Dewit2it described two features of Neoprene drysuits that make them a poor choice.  The fact that they aren't self donning would be enough for me to not consider them, but the other issues are more critical.  As stated, Neoprene compresses with depth/pressure.  As it gets thinner, it loses some of it's insulation properties.  The deeper you go, the more this is an issue and considering the coldest water is usually deeper, this is a bad thing.  The other issue, that is caused by the same compression of the suit is, like Dewit2it stated, he needs a ton of weight to get down.  As you get deeper and the neoprene compresses, the suit looses much of its buoyancy and you will become very overweighted at depth.  This is sometimes referred to as not having a balanced rig.  A balanced rig essentially amounts to whether you can swim it up to the surface if you have a BC/wing problem.  And while we're on the subject, a BC is for buoyancy, the drysuit is not.  A neoprene suit is quite durable, but many of the tri-laminate shell suits are too.  The biggest issue when purchasing a suit is fit.  There are a few other things like what kind of seals you want (I like a neoprene neck seal) and maybe what you want for boots.  I have vulcanized rubber, but I would do turbo soles if I did it again and may actually get mine switched.  Do some reading, and I recommend a DIR-F class.

[moneysavr]

If you plan to dive the Great lakes,and make the most of the season do buy a dry suit,I do dive wet late in year,
types of suits how much do you like to spend?
Dive safe,
Brad

[Swimjim]

Wow, I can't remember what it was like to be under twenty five.

Jim

[ikkie78]

Thanks for the info everyone...do any of the companies mentioned offer larger drysuits...i'm 6'2" and about 280 lbs...I can never seem to find anyone that carries larger drysuits unless they are custom...but I guess if I have to i'll go that route.

[Dewit2it]

The neoprene suits run around $1000.  Shell types can go a lot higher.

As Chris mentioned, you do tend to be heavy.  I would reccomend using an integrated system plus a weight belt for the neoprene.  That way you can drop part, but still have some reserve to slow you on an emergency ascent.  Having been thru a drysuit blowup caused by a leaking inflator valve, you want all the weight in the world then!  Knowing my equipment was what prevented me from breaking the surface on that one.  

Not being self donning enforces the Buddy System!

[mp4]

I'm 6'0 and weighed about 270 when I bought my first suit two years ago - it is an Akona 3x and would fit you just fine.  I've since lost about 20 lbs and have plenty of room in it now.

[ikkie78]

Thanks for the info mp4...i'm going to be taking my certification next summer so i'm hoping to drop a couple lbs also...but even small i'm about 250 lbs so a larger suit would be nice to find...i'll check into the one you mentioned.