What's the issue with drysuits!

[Scuttler]

Currently I have a very old Hydrotech Drysuit.....with my weezle extreme plus....I be a happy warm toastie chappy....BUT.....I have my eye on a nice little O3.....Nooooooooooooooo I hear you cry....tis not DIR....so.....other than change in bouyancy properties (which you quite frankly should be able to compensate for if you are an experienced diver) and the lack of thermal protection at depth......can anyone enlighten me as to why compressed neoprene is such a no-no. I'd really like to make an informed and educated decision based on a wealth of experience rather than *baa baa* follow the crowd.

[Little Pete]

Nooooooooooooooo I hear you cry

You do?.......fair enough.

Dude, get whatever suit you want. Make your choice for the reasons that seem right to you.


AFAIK the main reasons membrane are usually selected are that they are less restrictive in motion when cut properly (valve reach particularly), there is no change of buoyancy or thermal protection with depth and finding/patching a leak (if you have one) tends to be easier. Some say comfort is better but that's more subjective.

Al star used a CF200 crushed neoprene suit for Tech 1, he's now got a TLS-350, maybe drop him a PM for the reasons behind it.

[And]

Originally Posted by Scuttler

can anyone enlighten me as to why compressed neoprene is such a no-no. I'd really like to make an informed and educated decision based on a wealth of experience rather than *baa baa* follow the crowd.

Flexibility is the main one. Having travelled with my drysuit I would also say that the speed of drying is another point and weight, and in both of these points a membrane suit has advantages over neoprene

Whichever type of suit you choose you will be following one crowd or another... baaaa

Andy

[Mark Chase]

I had an MSF 500 5mm Neo suit. The other week i dived it in 4c water with a 1/2" cut in it and two totally flooded legs. It wasn't nice but thats the advantage with neoprene. Even with a flooded suit you can keep tolerably warm.

I mainly dive an O3 5mm compressed (but not the resin injected) its stretchy so movement is far less restricted than a membrane suit. I could never do shut downs in my old membrane even though i felt it fit OK (obviously it didn't) as soon as I switched to a stretchy suit problem solved. (till I got 7's )

The neo suits are accused of loosing thermal quality at depth??? Well I have never felt cold at depth only on deco, which is shallow so go figure.

Neo suits are accused of causing buoyancy problems?? well older 7mm ones mabey but I used 4kg with my membrane suit and 4kg with my neo suit so again go figure.

What i can say is a Neo suit with Neo seals will tolerate damage better than a membrane. Neo seals do not have catastrophic failures where a nick turns into a 4" split. A nick stays a nick. I have had a 1" split in my neo wrist seal for about three months. It leeks a little but its tolerable and I am waiting till after my DIRF course before i get it repaired. As apposed to my old latex wrist seal which split canning an entire w/ends diving on Lundy Island.

Personally I prefer neo mainly because of the seals. I might go to a membrane suit with neo seals but thats about it.

That said Neo suits are very heavy so not good for travel. I would like a light weight membrane suit for travel.

ATB

Mark Chase

[Reikimaster]

Originally Posted by Mark Chase

The neo suits are accused of loosing thermal quality at depth??? Well I have never felt cold at depth only on deco, which is shallow so go figure.

This one always amuses me, if 4mm gets compressed to 3mm then put a squirt of gas in the suit and whats the problem?

Also read something recently, that cool on a dive and warm on deco is better for increased off gassing therefore a suit that has the preferential ability to increase thermal insulation when shallow (ie on deco) you would think was actually an advantage.

Originally Posted by Mark Chase

Neo suits are accused of causing buoyancy problems?? well older 7mm ones mabey but I used 4kg with my membrane suit and 4kg with my neo suit so again go figure.

again, (general not saying it to you mark) do a weight check with 50bar in your tins at 3-6m and if you are neutral then youre set for the next dive.

[Janos]

Originally Posted by Reikimaster

This one always amuses me, if 4mm gets compressed to 3mm then put a squirt of gas in the suit and whats the problem?

The Neoprene is thinner, and so not as good as keeping you warm. Putting a squirt of gas in the suit won't make any difference to the thickness of the neoprene. But I think this is more of a problem with old 7mm neoprene drysuits.

Originally Posted by Reikimaster

Also read something recently, that cool on a dive and warm on deco is better for increased off gassing therefore a suit that has the preferential ability to increase thermal insulation when shallow (ie on deco) you would think was actually an advantage.
again, (general not saying it to you mark) do a weight check with 50bar in your tins at 3-6m and if you are neutral then youre set for the next dive.

I'm not too concerned about the thermal effects of the suit, more with the weighting. I haven't dived a thick drysuit, but I have dived thick wetsuits, and because they compress at depth, they lose a lot of bouyancy, and so you need to put a lot of air into the suit / wing to remain neutral.

Again, more of a problem with 7mm suits. If you're diving a thinner, compressed suit, you're going to have less of a problem.

But the real reason I like a membrane is that it's not so important to have a well fitting suit. Any excess material just folds down at depth, but obviously a too-small suit won't fit.

Janos