Dry Suits

[CaverCraig]

Hi all, I've been diving a 905 for about seven years and after many trips to Gambles and several tubes of aqua seal the suit is ready for retirement. I am now looking at new suits and have eyed up two that sound pretty promising 1) pinnacle evolution 2 and 2) the Santi E space suit. From the sounds of it the e-space is a very nice suit, but rather pricey and the evolution seems to be hit or miss some people seem to love'em and some seem faintly impressed. So, if you have tried these suits give me your input and help me make a wise purchase. THK's

[chimie007]

If you liked your 905, you could always get a new one cheap. Diveritexpress is selling some at $1000. Crazy john had some at 900 last week if I remember well.

http://www.diveriteexpress.com/exposure/drysuits.shtml

[battles2a5]

I had a Pinnacle for about a day. Waited 4 months to get it and the zipper imploded on the first dive and it was wayyyy bigger than the size chart stated. I've been told that they had a bad batch of zippers, but I wasn't willing to wait again to get another one. My dive buddy has since gotten one but was able to try one a bunch of sizes before he bought it and has had a good experience so far. Not sure if this helps, but I would stay away unless you have a local dealer that you can work with.

[scblade27]

I guess I will throw in a good review to give balance to the bad. Both me and my fiance bought an evolution from Pinnacle. I looked up how to do measurements online, took a few key measurements, and sent them in. They chose what size to send us and they both fit perfectly (off the shelf sizes). So far the suits have performed perfectly and I have been very pleased.

[Mike Edmonston]

Beth and I both have Evo 2's. If you get the correct size, they are hard to beat. They are extremely heavy duty, and they weigh a ton too. Had mine on deep wrecks, and under the Ice in Wisconsin. No issues so far. The wrist seals are industrial strength! I actually find the suit too warm for florida cave diving, even with 200g undergarments. It has now become my Ice diving / Deep and cold water suit.

Safe Diving

[skip]

I've recently heard that the Typhoon is a good laminate suit under $1,000.00. I think diver's supply is a dealer with a good assortment in stock.

-skip

[marinediver]

Come up to Cave East and take a look at the Santi suits. We have stock sizes for you to check out and we can get you a suit made to order usually in a very short turn around time!

[NJCaver]

Having just gone through a very similar decision, I would suggest that you seek to identify what you're using your suit for. If it's for cave diving or just general deep/long bottom time dives a trilam suit should do fine. If you mean to do caving with major restrictions or any real wreck penetration dives, then you should really only consider a neoprene suit. Trilam just doesnt hold up to abrasion like neoprene does.

You have a serious benefit with weight and dry time with the trilam suits. Neoprene is both heavier and takes much longer to dry. For two months, I've been joining other divers for wreck dives off the coast of New Jersey. With the exception of only a few, every one of them dives a DUI CF200. The others were in a DUI CNSE for some cost savings (still a neoprene suit).

I personally am not a huge DUI fan or any other MFG for that matter. I'm not keen on being charged an extra $50 for suspenders when I just paid $2600 for the suit. I will say however that the local dry suit "fixer" does less work on these suits than any other. Maybe that's really where the search for a new one should start. Ask your local guy that fixes drysuits which one he sees the least amount of .. ;P

[crawford]

Come up to Cave East and take a look at the Santi suits. We have stock sizes for you to check out and we can get you a suit made to order usually in a very short turn around time!

What's the price on those, I'm starting to hear alot about them....

[Daedalus]

I have dove both a Pinnacle Evolution and a Santi Enduro drysuit. Both are very nice drysuits. The value for the dollar on the Pinnacle suit is right, but the Santi drysuit with the Made To Measure option is the best suit on the market right now. Lloyd Bailey's Scuba is a dealer for both Pinnacle and Santi in Cave Country.