Ordering an Elios suit-questions!

[Lyoshka]

Hi peeps! I'm Lena, totally new to freediving-about as green as they come. Took my mom to Egypt to beach vacation last November and the Red Sea stole my heart. Taking a Level I freediving course here in US in July...so it's safe to say I know very little about most things freediving
slowly, but surely getting my gear together, have the Aqua Sphere mask, got the Beuchat bag from Spain, ordered carbon Captain Nemo fins from the Ukraine, and about to order my Elios suit. Going with stock and not custom this time and have a couple of questions before i place the order...

1) going with a 5mm, open cell suit (based on Mark Lozano's recommendation, he'll be the instructor). This is the suit I'm looking at-dark blue color (I was going to go with black, not in love with camo patterns), but blue seems a bit more fun and less boring. I LOVED the idea of red interior, until they told me the interior has to be black-gah! ok fine. They suggested red seams, and my first reaction is no to red seams. Would you say it's a personal preference, or would you say it would attract more attention and maybe a no for that reason? See the pics below for details

2) A more delicate question.....how stretchy and forgiving are Elios suits? I'm ordering a 3 Long in women's - I'm 5'9" (175 cm) and the top weight for that size is 170 lbs (77kg). I weigh more than that now, but hope to be close to 175 or so by July. The question is, if I'm a few lbs over the 170 lb limit on the size chart, will it stretch or will i look like a dumbo? they do have a size 3 longx2, which goes to a higher weight, BUT the heigh on that one is 183-189, so it will be WAY too long everywhere. I don't have the option of going custom now, because of the time and i wouldn't know what measurements to put down since I'm actively losing weight now. thoughts?

thanks much! I'm beyond excited adventure!

 

[Pinniped72]

From all accounts Ellios suits have good stretch, better than many makes apparently and being a few pounds over with other suits is fine so you should be ok. With regards the seam colouration, its mostly down to personal taste I would say, although red quickly disappears with depth. If by attracting too much attention you mean sharks, anecdotal evidence from shark attack survivors in a situation where there were camo suits and black suits available seem to indicate that the black suits were the sharks personal favourite however this is anecdotal as mentioned. I would imagine the outline on the surface is of far more importance. If you mean attracting more attention from people then that's entirely about how self conscious you feel, I certainly feel more self conscious on busy seaside days in my camo suit and get lots of strange looks................... its either the suit or the beard................ probably the beard then!

 

[Lyoshka]

Pinniped, thank you for the feedback Good to hear the suit *should* accommodate a few extra lbs. Hopefully, this is the last time i have to worry about that

...when i asked about attracting attention, I meant sea life, not humans. I know humans already consider us weird and I'm fine with it

Now to decide-red seams or blue. Oh, the agony!

 

[Broseidon]

Years ago I brought 2 Elios suits - one for me, one for my girlfriend.

Both were black, mine with orange seams, hers with pink seams- they were cool, get pink!

I actually made a thread about it:

https://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/ordering-suits-from-elios.82691/

The suits were a bit more stretchy than the others I've had. I'd give them measurements that are slightly smaller than they actually are - the suits will stretch over time. Re-reading my old thread, I gave them smaller measurements and wouldn't have wanted the suit any bigger. I was 215lbs when I ordered mine but still wore it when I was 180lbs - not quite as warm but not terrible - so yes, there is a TON of stretch room.

Were they worth it - yes. Well, they were cheap, very well made, very warm, great fit - it was a very good suit really.

As a lady, a made to measure are best to fit around curvy bits. You won't go wrong with a simple Elios suit - personally, if I was buying a Made to Measure suit right now, I'd buy a Polosub.

Realistically, if you are a man of vaguely normal size, there are a wealth of "off the peg" suits that will be fine - I now use a Picasso suit - the fit is not as good as the Elios, obviously but is it really THAT much different from my Elios suit? Not really.

Would I buy another Elios suit... well... probably not. I think Elios are are very a slow-moving company. They just do what they do and do it well but don't seem to change, update or innovate. Not necessarily a terrible thing but their website is appalling, they have no set range, ordering is a pain, they are still using the same ugly neoprenes they were 10 years ago, with the same ugly old photos. I'm just looking at their website now, on one page, it still says "New for 2005!!!". Christ, that was 11 years ago.

 

[Lyoshka]

Broseidon, hi! i read your thread before I posted mine and almost posted in it, in hopes of bumping it up, but then decided to just make my own and not infringe on yours

I can't do custom now even if I were so close to the target weight that I could have just guessed a smaller measurements-my time won't allow it. My class is July 9-10 in Michigan and they said that they would be able able to have the suit delivered by the end of June. I am crossing my fingers there are no delays (ordering tonight). With a custom suit, the time line would be longer and I'd be without a suit for class Custom suit for sure would hug my bits better, and I'm...blessed, so a custom suit made to my measurements would be ideal. Next time, for sure!

I agree their website seems to be in dire need of a good developer. However, I will say that they have been very good about emailing me back and answering my incessant questions . The payment process is annoying, I read through yours and i hope my card goes through on the first try-i did get the screen to get to the point of CC payment, just figuring out my details still before submitting the order.

Thank you for your opinion on the seams. I think the red will look cool with the dark blue suit.. i like pink, but not sure i like it THAT much. My husband and my boys are all saying red seams instead of matching blue, so I'm leaning towards that now. Decisions, decisions! Overall, now that you've had your Elios for quite a few years (since 2009?), can you tell me what you are happy and unhappy with? My dives locally will be in Michigan and Wisconsin, so colder water and no salt, but i'm dreaming of being back in the Red Sea, if Russia opens up borders by September, I'd like to fly back home (Russia) and take my mom on another vacation (if her health doest' deteriorate further).... a lot of IFs and it's not likely the borders will open up, now that a French plane with 50+ people just went down into the Mediterranean... but i'm holding on to hope and saving my pennies, and if the opportunity presents, it would be amazing to dive in Egypt

 

[cdavis]

Elios is good, all I can say. Their ordering and measuring process will scare you to death, but it always seems to produce a perfect suit. Spend the $ to avoid government post, without fail. Mine is custom, about 8 years old, still quite stretchy, although not as much as original. Seems to be nearly as warm. Still in near perfect shape; I only use it a few times a year. I have black with red seams. Often in a group of divers, all with black suits, its hard to tell who is who. The red seams stand out, also look real nice.

 

[Lyoshka]

Elios is good, all I can say. Their ordering and measuring process will scare you to death, but it always seems to produce a perfect suit. Spend the $ to avoid government post, without fail. Mine is custom, about 8 years old, still quite stretchy, although not as much as original. Seems to be nearly as warm. Still in near perfect shape; I only use it a few times a year. I have black with red seams. Often in a group of divers, all with black suits, its hard to tell who is who. The red seams stand out, also look real nice.

THANK YOU for your post! i have been agonizing over my choice of blue suit with red seams all afternoon (in a true girl fashion over such non-essential things). I placed the order last night and keep thinking, "did i make a mistake with those red seams?? should have i gone with matching blue?" reading your post reassured me that it will be a nice-looking suit!

...as far as ordering process, it's been slow so far, though not nightmarish. I hope it's smooth from now on. Right now, just getting them the info seems to take time- i think they only have one english-speaking person at the store? I tried calling twice today and kept getting the gentleman who didn't speak english, but the other guy did email me, so they have my address and sizes. Now to straighten out the charge-my bank is showing $337.17 charged twice, so hopefully that will be straightened out soon.

So here is what i'm getting: dark blue suit with red seams, 5mm open cell, matching blue socks. Getting excited!

 

[Lyoshka]

..oh, and they are charging me 55 euros for shipping, so I hope it's a good, fast service. My class is July 8 (well, 9-10, but an 8 hr drive away), and they told me i'd have the suit by the end of June. Zero room for mistakes. Here's hoping I won't be sitting here biting my elbows while stalking the tracking number!

 

[cdavis]

55 euros sounds like Fedx or equivalent; a good choice, little chance of shipping screw ups. I went too cheap, used the government post, and they lost my suit for a month or two, truly horrid. Sounds like you have been getting the typical Elios treatment. I was really skeptical during the process, but the suit turned out far better than I thought possible.

 

[Lyoshka]

They said 4-5 days, which I'm doubting, but even if it's 7-10 days, it should be ok. They actually didn't give me a choice of shipping, he just quoted that in an email, and it being shipped from Italy, I expected similar numbers. My gear bag will be nothing if not fully international-the bag itself (Beuchat 120L) was ordered from Spain; fins (carbon Captain Nemos) are getting shipped from the Ukraine and now the suit from Italy... So I'm desensitized when it comes to shipping charges [emoji16][emoji15][emoji23].


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[Gab]

I love my Elios wetsuits, I have two. The order process is scary though. I wrote up a post on my blog, you can have a look if you want.

They sent mine with UPS.

Украинская?

 

[Lyoshka]

I love my Elios wetsuits, I have two. The order process is scary though. I wrote up a post on my blog, you can have a look if you want.

They sent mine with UPS.

Украинская?

Gab, I'm Russian, born and raised. Live in Chicagoland now

I hope mine gets here in time for the class, because I won't have a plan B if it doesn't... Next time, I'll order a custom suit and will be sure to allow tons of time to account for all things possible