Wetsuits

mmuf200

Hi All,

Where is the cheapest place to purchase a 7mm two piece wet suit. What is the key things to look out for in this purchase?

Thanks

smcmullan

I can vouch for the Northern Diver Omega semidry. Given plenty of years of good service.

Check out Flagship Scuba for details

g'em

The flagship sale is on at the moment and you can get the Omega for €250 (normally €295).

If it's your first time buying a suit, make sure you find one that's snug but not tight- you should be able to breath fine with no constrictions but with no excess material anywhere, ideally you should't be able to 'grab' any material anywhere, but problem areas are often under the arms and around the back. Make sure you have a good range of movement- be able to reach behind your head to get at a tank, cross your arms over, bend your legs for finning etc.

Most suits now have zips on the limbs to make it easier to get in and out of with a neoprene flap to minimise water entry. Plain neoprene seals are quite tricky to manage, especially if the suit or your skin is damp, and will usually take half a box of talc to get you n.

Look for reinforced knee-pads (one of the first places to go from scrambling over rocks!!) and a nice large hood to keep your head from freezing over mid-dive. Remember that when you try it on it the shop it will give a little with time, and when htere's water in it it'll loosen up too.

Paddy Diver

Work in a LDS part time and can also vouch for the N-Diver suit but its a bit over priced in my opinion. If you can have a look at the Oceanic Shadow, we use em in our school and quite a few people in my club also use em, excellent suit.

The N-Diver suit is very warm and hard wareing but it s has a attached hood, if you like that its fine but if you find things annoy you easily that a attached hood is a no no, flapping around in the wind etc Also the inner piece has only short arms which is fine for diving but if you wanna go surfing or snorkeling and you dont want the full suit then its kinda cold.

The Oceanic one has much the same as the N-Diver but is a three part suit as appose to two part suit, inner full lenght suit, outer shortie and the hood unlike the N-Diver its inside is kinda fluffy, kinda its suspose to be warmer but I doubt there's much difference.

As for those zips on yours arms, avoid them (my opinion anyway) cause they let out the warm water from the suit and you'll become colder quicker and zips usually go eventually and people get em re-done but if the zips on your arm goes you probally wouldn't spend the money getting it repaired thus making the suit useless.

I've used all these suits, N-Diver & Oceanic are on the same par but I prefere the full length inner suit the Oceanic offers.

Benny-c

Have you considered a 1 piece with seperate hood. I have used a Scubapro Scotia (6.5mls) which is a mixture of a wet & dry suit (what a contradiction ).i.e. ankles & wrists are almost sealed with a (similar to) dry suit zipper across the shoulders, this minimises the flushing effect. I wear a 2mls 't-shirt' under and have often had 2 dives in freezin' water <8o and was ok after. I think the price is appr. E380.

Borzoi

Paddy Diver wrote:

The Oceanic one has much the same as the N-Diver but is a three part suit as appose to two part suit, inner full lenght suit, outer shortie and the hood unlike the N-Diver its inside is kinda fluffy, kinda its suspose to be warmer but I doubt there's much difference.
.

HAve to say I've the Ocaenic Shadow, very good suit, very versatile - I've used it in both tropical and Irish waters.