Elios hydro-repellant lining vs smoothskin outer

[Apneaddict]

Has anyone tried their hydro-repellant outer lining??

I was about to pull the trigger of a 5mm smoothskin top (want to stay warm out of the water, in-between dives / on a boat, etc) but am a bit concerned about the durability (open cell inside)

The hydro-repellant outer coating sounds like the best of both worlds. Does it work as advertised??

How hydrodynamic is it?
Any thoughts?

 

[marco15499]

I would suggest to get the "Sandwich" type neoprene. It is smooth skin outside but has a lycra lining betwen two layers of neoprene. I mean, You have open cell in contact to your skin and smoothskin to the outside.
It is a little bit less flexible but it is a lot stronger than smoothskin.

Ask them, They will help you to decide.

 

[Bill]

I've been using Oceaner 3 and 6 mm suits made of Yamamoto neoprene with lycra outside for a while now. They seem to be bullet-proof and I would bet money that there is no measureable difference in performance when compared to a smooth skin outer.

 

[rovanpera]

I remember reading that Elios doesn't do sandwich type suits anymore...

 

[marco15499]

I remember reading that Elios doesn't do sandwich type suits anymore...

Really? So get a Polosub forza tre. Those are sandwich too. Buy I would ask Elios. They're less expensive and same quality.

The nice thing with smoot skin (rubber outside) is that in cold weather it dries very fast and you don't feel cold when in the boat / out of the water.

Into the water, I don't feel any difference in 3 mm thickness. Probably in thicker neoprene lined suits are less flexible.

 

[GreekDiver]

Polosub forza tre is awesome. I love mine and it is super warm especially out of the water.

 

[sross]

We got a 5mm sandwich suit with smoothskin on both the inside & the outside for my SO. She feels that the sandwich material is noticeably less stretchy, and is planning on going back to regular smoothskin with no bonded materials. We're probably going to order from Elios, I'm getting an email composed right now to get a quote (plus ordering up a fresh can of neoprene glue )

 

[Fondueset]

I now use smooth-out suits exclusively:

Noticeable hydrodynamic diff - particularly with a monofin
(after smoothskin - nylon or lycra feel like brakes)
Warmer in cold air.

Definitely much more fragile.

Sandwich suits have been NOT recommended to me by elios - they said they have had problems with them. Possibly improved now (that was a year or so ago).
My warmest suit is a Yamamoto 5 mil - very nice.

 

[basilisladias]

I once had the sandwich type suit, about 8 years ago. The problem was that it allows sea water inside the nylon interlayer and after some time it accumulates salt thus loosing stretcheability... I did not buy any other suit of that type since....