Pending Drysuit purchase

[ancl]

Dilema time!

Not sure what to do.

1. Purchase second hand Otter drysuit from local dive shop for £230 sold as seen, no hood, no hose, no bag.

2. Purchase new Hydrotech Evolution for £499 thats going to be brand new with hood, hose, bag, at least some warranty.

The thing thats bugging me is the money I save on the second hand drysuit I can put towards doing a Nitrox course, buying a torch and other must have goodies, but then if the second hand suit leaks I've got to pay for it to be repaired, where I'm guessing the new suit would be covered by warranty ( excluding fair wear and tear ? )

Anyone had any experience with the Hydrotech suits ?

I don't know what to do.......

ancl.

[MATTBIN]

Well from experience I would say you will be replacing the seals as they will either not fit or will leak soon. Boots? size? condition? Zip?
Factor all that in and you might find its rubbish and costs a lot to get right.

The nitrox course whilst important can wait a while but as we are approaching Autumn/Winter you WILL need a dry suit, what about an undersuit too.

Personally I'd buy the new suit, get a weezle and ask them to throw in a Padi Speciality (incl. C card) in the price.
Matt
Matt

[Dominic]

Ehh... my brand new, MTM Otter drysuit only cost me £465 - and that was with extra for the cargo pockets and braces.

Why not go for a new Otter instead?

[Mary]

<font color='#000F22'>have to second dominic on that one and somewhere around is a thread extolling the virtues of otter customer service, don't know your LDS but I my experience you'd be hard pushed to do better than otter.

[ancl]

Me thinks hang on till dive show, and do some more surfing around on the net. &nbsp;Cheers for the replies...

ancl

[Mark Chase]

If you go for the Otter ask for the light weight seels on the suit. My origional light weight seels on my Otter skin were a joy and the brand new Heavy Dutu seels were a pain in the bum. Too tight so had to be trimmed then they stretced and leeked to easily with movement. I liked my Otter suit a lot but had i had the HD seels first I probably wouldent have such fond memorys.

Their survice is good too and they are nice to talk too. Also fo such a popular and well respected suit the Otterskin is very well priced. IMHO

Bassed on that if you are going Membrain I would go Otter

ATB

Mark Chase

[John Gulliver]

I second the idea of waiting until the dive show. Dive 2003 (Birmingham) is 15th and 16th November. If you don't plan to dive during the winter, you might get an even better deal at LIDS (March). I got a really nice Aquion Pro Titanium, without valves, hose or hood (all of which I had), for £310 last March.

[Gavin Yates]

<font color='#000F22'>My new Britannic arrived from those lovely chaps at Otter today.

Exactly what I wanted - big Cargo pockets - neoprene neck - pee valve - comfy neo boots - si tech valves - front loader.

And even MTM it was considerably cheaper than many other suits I've seen with less build quality.

I'll report on it's christening tomorra.

[Davey Willo]

I bought a MTM Brittanic from Otter and it's been fantastic whereas my mate bought a second hand Otter drysuit from.. well I won't mention names as it wouldn't be fair, but I can say that months later he's still trying to stop leaks through neck seals, wrist seals and auto dumps, he's had new boots fitted, new seals wrist and neck he's had it pressure tested he's done the lot.... result.. it now stands him at more cash then a brand new one.. is he gutted??? that's an understatement...

Go directly to Divers Warehouse and speak to JJ, he'll set you up with a prefect suit including undersuit, hood hose and bag... and if anything is wrong, he'll probably make you a new one in less than a week.. he did for me... the best service and after sales service I've ever experienced, infact I've written all of the details of my experience in another thread on here a few months back, you'd need to do a search to find it though...

Having a warm and dry suit is paramount.... nitrox courses can wait.. best of luck

Regards
Dave

Gav!!!! for Gods sake man what are you doing using an actual picture of yourself as an avatar.... this is a family board you know... you'll scare the kids FFS!!  

[Driftwood]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Gavin Yates @ Oct. 04 2003,19:16)]I'll report on it's christening tomorra.

<font color='#0000FF'>Thought you were going to call me for that you swine!