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Elios Freedown vs Heiwa

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Walrus

Oz freediver
Oct 3, 2001
693
77
0
Hi,
I'm just wondering what people's opinions are on the newish Freedown suits vs Heiwa from Elios. Anyone tried both ?
Also anyone ordered a suit with the "Arms up" position for using a monofin ?
Would like to know how Freedown compares in flexibility, and compression resistance. Is it closer to the Hewia High, Medium or low density ?
I don't know if the "reduced drag" is worth it if the flexibility is compromised.

I'm looking to get a new suit next year, mine are getting a little worn. I currently have a couple of Elios suits, 3mm Heiwa, a High density and a low density. The high density is much warmer at depth, but less flexible. The Low density is better for warm water, and comps since you sink faster.

Cheers,
Wal
 
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i have 3/5/7 Freedown and i'm happy with them all. they're much more resilient than Yamamoto - i've not put a single nick in mine since i got them over a year ago. i've not worn Heiwa but my buddy has it. Heiwa is generally tougher and less flexible - not sure which grade he has though. the difference in drag will be negligible between Heiwa and Freedown. i would get freedown.
 
Reactions: Walrus
Thanks Alun.
I thought that the freedown suits were a bit less flexible then the Heiwa no lining. A friend of mine has a 3mm Freedown, with the "Black Slide" inside and it seemed a bit stiff, probably more then my 3mm Heiwa with superstretch. It thought perhaps the coating on the outside of the suit that makes it a bit stiffer, not the neoprene itself.

I looked up the Elios site and it said the Black Slide coating is less flexible then the Gold or Copper inside. So it could be the inside coating that made it a bit stiffer. Whichever suit I get I would probably go for the gold lining.

Cheers,
Wal
 
I have just about all the Elios samples.

freedown is much more harder than heiwa. the inside open cell off freedown is much more slipperly than open cell heiwa. the outside skin is much more slippery than smoothskin heiwa. but it is not as flexible and more expensive.
Freedown is more resistant to nicks and tears too. self explanatory when you have both samples of neoprene side by side.

unless you are doing very deep dives all the time my prefernece would be Heiwa smoothskin. if your in the 60m+ club it may be worth looking into.

Elios don't recomend Yamamotto first due to its longevity in compression.

I chose 3mm opencel heiwa Pelagos smoothskin for my smoothie.
I have a 5mm heiwa Pesca aswell.
 
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Reactions: Walrus and DeepThought
I have both and I prefer the heiwa by a mile - it is a lot more flexible and more comfortable. Several of us bought the freedown when it was new and all have had problems with it - mainly with the hood which does not flex properly around the ears but also with nicks and cuts the result in big chunks of the suit breaking off as it is not as flexy as the heiwa.

I recommend the heiwa to everyone now. I have a heiwa 3 with lining and a 5 smoothskin/open cell and both are fantastic
 
Reactions: Walrus
Hi.
I bought a freedown taylor more than a year ago.I was no happy with the shape of the suit(no too flexible and difficult to put the arms up),so i sended to elios to enlarge it for free.But they made a new suit with more flexible "new freedown neoprene".So maybe they change the material ...i have also a 5m "new" and is perfect.And a 7mm old and is like truck tire tube.
I think freedown is more durable that heiwa.
Rafa
 
Reactions: Walrus
Thanks a lot for that,
it's good hearing from people that have actually used both suits. I think I will stick with the Heiwa. Eric F recommended the Heiwa low density over the Yamamoto ages ago, and with a lot of people now using the suits most tend to agree. Funny enough some people (even Martin S.) still prefer the Yamamoto.

Cheers,
Wal
 
Hi guys:

Just bought a Heiwa 5 mil { low Density} smooth out/black cell painted coating inside & by the way a custom from Elios & really love it for the flexibility & easy entry & not to leave out warmist wet suit i ever used in medium to cold water. I spent 1 to 2 hrs in about 50 de. F. and like everyone else only experience cold feet.

Really the suit fits like a glove and doesn't alow very little water in. Be really careful when you put this suit on for the less duribility. It will rip very easily.

As far for as the freedown goes, it's nice BUT for the money in which one would save, "go with the Heiwa" .

I wanted a suit for shallow diving & swimming and elios advise me to go for the Heiwa for it is more pressure resistance than the Yam.& very warm.

I leave the freedown for the pro's.


later:
 
Just a quick comment on the cold hands and feet.

In the past I used OMER socks, with the seals around the ankles, and Picasso mitts to keep warm when diving around here this time of year. After seeing how much the Picasso mitts go for now ($110! rofl ) I decided to get a set from elios and added in a new pair of socks as well. Both have been great so far.

The socks are low density Heiwa, 5mm double lined. They have been my warmest socks to date. The mitts are 3-finger nylon out with a silver painted opencell on the insde- to make them easier to slide on. So far they have been every bit as warm as my Picasso mitts at a small fraction of the price.

I also just picked up a new suit this year (Low density Heiwa/5mm/nylon in/opencell out/ completely reversable) and love it. Thus far I have been wearing it nylon side in but once we get some ice going I'll probably flip it to wear the smoothskin side in for a bit extra warmth. It was also nice to be able to drop some weight off my belt after using my 6mm all last winter.

I'm thinking about a new 3mm next summer, my last suit blew apart after 2 years :rcard - since it was bare opencell/smoothskin with no lining at all. Next suit will be super-streach on the inside and smoothskin out side. I haven't tried a medium density yet and was wondering how much of a difference it would be compared to my low density- mainly to be used for wreck diving in 25-35 meters of water?


Jon
 
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