UK wetsuits... help and info.

[Huw]

Hi guys,

it seems like there are loads of us in the market for a new suit at the moment. I am also looking at different models etc. I was just about to bring it up on the Cornwall thread, then saw it being discussed on the Gurnsey thread but it seems there are so many of us, that it was worth making a new thread altogether .

I have mainly been looking at elios suits with a camo pattern, but it seems that they aren't as popular as i had imagined I was along the line of thought that most spearos went for custom made to measure suits, but it seems that there are many omer mimetic designs amougst others that are attracting lots of attention.

I will be using the suit around the UK in spring and mainly summer, and would like to continue into the later months for as long as possible, without taking a summer suit to a winter suit jump ( i hope i explained this right). At present i have been using a black and bright red surf suit, but have still had success!!!!! However my trips were limited to around an hour before the cold became unbearable, as unlike surfing as you all know stealth and smoothness are essential for a decent spearo, and this meant that body heat was lost rapidly.

I have been looking at going for...

• Elios made to measure (MTM)
• 5MM
• Open cell interior
• Nylon camo outer
• with a loading pad

Totaling: £210.00

Does anyone think that this is a good choice? Anyfeedback on thickness? Perhaps 5mm is too thin and cold? Would it be better to go for 6mm?

What do the gold linings and things mean???


By no means is this thread just for my own dilemma, but i just thought that a large thread on UK suits would be useful for everyone.



Huw.

 

[foxfish]

Good on you Huw, for the slightly older spearo, suits can be a familiar discussion among us. I would be lucky for my suit to last 2 years, so I have owed a few! 5mm open cell interior works very well in our waters but a 6mm would be better for the shoulder months. My brother OMD uses his 5mm all year around without gloves as well! I get cold after one hour at the beginning of the year in the same suit as Dave. I guess it depends on the individual person as to how you coupe with the colder months?
For the majority of English spearos 5mm is the best compromise, if you only want one suit.
Camo is quite controversial amongst many of us but I love it, makes me feel more confident. I am quite particular about camo designs & like my immersion suit colours, properly the wrong way around but camo design sells it to me!

 

[Huw]

Good on you Huw, for the slightly older spearo, suits can be a familiar discussion among us. I would be lucky for my suit to last 2 years, so I have owed a few! 5mm open cell interior works very well in our waters but a 6mm would be better for the shoulder months. My brother OMD uses his 5mm all year around without gloves as well! I get cold after one hour at the beginning of the year in the same suit as Dave. I guess it depends on the individual person as to how you coupe with the colder months?
For the majority of English spearos 5mm is the best compromise, if you only want one suit.
Camo is quite controversial amongst many of us but I love it, makes me feel more confident. I am quite particular about camo designs & like my immersion suit colours, properly the wrong way around but camo design sells it to me!

Cheers Foxfish!

Its all helpfull to hear experienced knowledge. I think i am pretty decided on going for a camo outer, and like you i really am keen on it matching my area. One thing that does make me wonder is when people say that they find some suits 'too warm' as i have never had this sensation before... its always same old numbness and shivering :vangry . Would you say this is true, or is it an exaggeration?? I have a feelign that whatever suit i decide to go for, it will be a decidedly lot warmer than my surfsuit!! When you say that you find yourself cold after an hour in the early months... is that the early months of the year (jan and feb) or the early summer months (April and may)??

I would say that in the height of summer myl longest tme in the water would not exceed an hour and 20mins... how long do you guys stay in the water for with 5mms??

Perhaps a 6mm is better for me??

Huw

 

[podge]

Huw I’ve got just the one suit and it’s a 5mm Cressi competition and I must say its just the job. Nice and warm in the summer and I’m still diving now with no problems from the cold. My feet suffer first and I’m wearing 5mm socks and 5mm gloves on my hands which also get cold before the rest of me.

 

[Huw]

Cheers podge, i seem to have no feeling in my feet, so i dont think it should be too much of a problem . What made you go for the cressi over all others?

 

[podge]

Almostafish has one and if its good enough for him then who am I to argue.
Not to bad on the price front I thing I paid around £150ish and it fits me fine even though I’m not quite a normal size.

 

[foxfish]

Huw, I think any of the well known manufacturer's suits will work far better than a surf suit ever will for spearfishing. Having said that I once owed a custom one piece "second skin" surf suit. That was a great suit, silver all over & in 5mm. I used it in the summer & in lasted for 5 years, I liked the detachable hood & perfect fit but in no way did that suit compare to an open cell stretchy, modern spearo job.
I would like to own a new custom 6mm for the beginning of the season (March) but another alternative would be to buy a 2mm neoprene vest.
I dont carry much fat & most defenetely find the water cold in March, I wear 5mm gloves & boots & this year I will try heatpacks under my weight belt. Come the summer my 5mm is fine for 2.5 -3 hours if I am working hard & 2 hours if I am hunting the shallows (not diving).

 

[Huw]

ideal guys, cheers for the info. I am pretty tall and gangly... andmost of the sizes would fit oddly on me i think... i think for the extra money i will end uop going for the MTM.

 

[dave]

looks like you have made a pretty good selection there.
I own 7mm suits, but use a 5mm pretty much all the time, even early season I now use a 5mm with 2mm undervest and over shorts. When the water is really cold (March and April), thicker socks and a pair of 5mm 3finger mitts make a big difference.
The only times I have been too hot in the UK in a 5mm have been in August/ September when working very, very hard in a strong current, but even then it is simple to just flush a bit of water through the suit to cool down.
Given your body shape you would definately be best off with an MTM
cheers
dave
Spearguns by Spearo uk ltd finest supplier of speargun, monofins, speargun and freediving equipment

 

[Pinggene]

Just got my custom 5mm open cell inner, camo outer Elios. I have not had the chance to try it yet...All research pointed me this way. Also got 5mm socks & 5mm 3-fingered mits for the cold. Guys up here ice dive in the 5mm. I also plan on using a 3mm vest under if absolutly needed.

Cheers. Elios was great, gave good service & it fits great.

Gene

 

[spearheads]

Go for the Elios MTM. I will definitely go for Elios MTM next time i buy another suit ,i think the camo looks cool but you can still catch fish without it.

 

[Huw]

Ideal guys this is all good. The vest sounds like an idea should I for some reason get cold. I just looked on the site (spearo.co.uk) to buy the suit, but there are a few options that i dont quite understand... the first is the gold lined interior... whats this for? Does it make the suit more delicate? The second is the superstretch... the same questions again.

also long john bottoms... is this personal preference? Do they just come higher up the body?

Huw.

 

[spaghetti]

Huw, Superstretch is fantastic as an outside fabric. The word says it all: makes your suit super-stretchy, which is good for dressing, undressing and movements while you're wearing it. Me I'm using a open cell insid/superstretch outside jacket, and loving it.
Long John? In my opionion, the high waist trousers are better (leaves your rib cage and shoulders free) but I also have used Long Johns and after all they don't give any sensible problem if the size is the correct one to fit your body. Otherwise you can easily cut the upper Longh John's portion and turn it to a high waist trouser.
Made to measure? It's darn expensive piece of gear! If you dive 200 days a year crawling on rocky bottoms, your suit won't last more than 2 years. So why spending so much money for a thing that won't last for long? If you dive 35 meters deep all the time, the newprene's "compression memory" wil ruin the suit in one year or two. So why spending...? If you dive once a month or once a week, why spending so much?
But finally, if you are rich and money is no issue for you, why don't you send a cheque with many 000.000.000's to your friend Spaghetti? Otherwise, go for a standard made Seatec Jungle or Omer Mimetic: you can't go wrong with them.

 

[Huw]

My reason for the Elisos, is that it seems to have great reviews from people, and they seem to be really well made, and have a good system working. Plus its only about £20 more to go MTM than it would be for a standard size, so it seems worth the jump .

Superstrach sounds pretty cool. This will be my first spearo suit, and so i am hoping it wont be too delicate... does superstretch weaken the suit, or make it more prone to tearing? Plus i would be absolutley amazed if i could reach 10meters at the moment whilst diving, so i doubt that the compression would be a problem! I am a little wary as people are saying, of suits tearing on the rocks, and so this makes me side with the nylon outer, for a little bit more resistance.


I am also thinking that like you spaghetti... i wont be going with the long johns, they sound like unnecissary hassle!

Huw

 

[foxfish]

You have some good points Huw but dont forget you can get two 5mm suits for the price of an elios, obviously not the same quality!?

Diveskin - Neoprene Creations

 

[spaghetti]

Superstretch and any other outside coating is a protection for neoprene. Neoprene is basically a sort of soft rubber, vulnerable to tearing, scratching and cutting. If you cover it with fabric it will last longer, and if you do the "creepy-crawly" spearfishing on shallow rocky bottoms (as I sppose you do, and either I do myself) for sure an outside coating becomes absolutely necessary to make the suit last for more than 6 or 7 dives. So stay away from naked "smooth-outside" suits: they look cool and are best for dive deeps, but are way too delicate for our type of hunting.
Moreover, if you buy a "superstretch-outside" custom suit, it will help if you ask them to add also an extra protection of elbow and knees.

 

[Marwan]

HUW, i know the excitement of having a custom made suit, like spagetti i agree that a standard omer/cressi will be super (my cressi world comp is the best i ever owned), if you are set on custom made camo's, you could also consider polosub. the guys in medfish swear by them and their materials and camo patterns are very cool...

 

[sanso]

I'm just about to get this setup for all-season-diving in Lake Constance (5°C right now) and hopefully other waters as well:
- Suit complete of Jacket with torso and hood in 6mm + arms 5mm
- High waist pants in 5mm
- Neoprene: Heiwa, black coating open cell inside / Nylon elastic black outside
- Blue seams :girlie
- Knee pads
- Gloves: 3 fingers 5mm, black coating cell inside / Nylon elastic black outside (like suit)

My reasoning behind this:
1. custom-made:
Buying something really good (and most of the time expensive, in this case) hurts once when paying the thing, but will feel oh-so-good every single time You use it. - While buying something cheaper but not as high-quality will feel good when You hand over the bills, but You'll be reminded of the features missing / lack of quality every single time You use the thing. ( A friend of mine said this to me once - I found it true every time I acted against his rule :head)
This obviously only makes sense if the higher-priced item is actually better than the cheaper one..
Of course one still has to choose wisely, and only start thinking this way for things that matter. If You're going to dive 20 times a year, it obviously makes no sense getting a custom-made suit..
I also read that especially in cold water, a (near-)perfect fit can make up for neoprene-thickness. This would lower the price of a suit fit for my temperature-range as compared to a thicker suit with a not-as-good fit. - So the price difference is less than when I compare a 7mm of-the-shelf with a 7mm custom suit.

2. Materials used:
The thickness comes from my experience when cycling in the winter. I found that keeping my torso warm makes all the difference, so a light windbreaker with a padded vest over that will keep me warm in every kind of winter I have yet encountered. Thinner neoprene on the arms and legs makes for better movement.

Choice of neoprene: I want to stay below the top of the line, a compromise between getting good quality and over-doing it. I, too have to watch where my €s go.
I hope to have found a combination that makes sense for an ambitious (but not too ambitous) spare-time diver who intends to use this suit for a long time, so I go for the stuff that is said to be well durable, but stay below top-notch.

Outside lining: Durability. After doing a lot of reading, I am willing to pay the price (measured in difference in stretchyness between nylon stretch and kanoko-superstretch) again, I stay (just) below top-notch.

3. Accessories:
Knee-pads: Obvious. I don't lean on my elbows much, so no elbow-pads.
Gloves: I want warm hands.
Socks: Will have to try what will still fit into my Fins..

4. Supplier:
I chose elios over diveskins.net for
a) The raving about their suits to be read here and feedback from other divers.
b) Italy is closer to me than the US.
c) elios' helpful pre-sales-support

Geez - sorry for the long post..

Having not much experience with suits so far, this is somewhat of a risk I'm taking. Most of the information I used for this (hopefully educated) decision I found here on DB and some from the nice people at elios.

I'll start whining on this thread as soon as I know what I fogot to think of

 

[Spaniard]

Huw, will you be spending much time on boats as you zip from spot to spot? If you do then the smooth exterior will dry more quickly and you will lose less heat through the suit. I feel the cold very quickly and yet have used 5mm from March through to Novemeber but in early season can't manage more than 2 hours (10 -12 degree water temp.). In Summer (13 - 15 degree water temp.) I can stay in water for 6 hours or more. Only very few people are lucky enough that their body shape equates to the 'standard' manufacturer sizes; if you can afford it go for MTM. As for cammo I am undecided. I can't say I have caught more or less fish either way but it does make you 'feel' stealthy rofl rofl

 

[Huw]

Huw, will you be spending much time on boats as you zip from spot to spot? If you do then the smooth exterior will dry more quickly and you will lose less heat through the suit. I feel the cold very quickly and yet have used 5mm from March through to Novemeber but in early season can't manage more than 2 hours (10 -12 degree water temp.). In Summer (13 - 15 degree water temp.) I can stay in water for 6 hours or more. Only very few people are lucky enough that their body shape equates to the 'standard' manufacturer sizes; if you can afford it go for MTM. As for cammo I am undecided. I can't say I have caught more or less fish either way but it does make you 'feel' stealthy rofl rofl

Sorry spaniard mate, i didnt realise that there was a reply on here that i hadnt noticed . Petey H and i headed over to Daves earlier and got measured up and ordered our suits :inlove . we're pretty excited to be honest, and i cant wait for them to arrive. Apparently the waiting time is about a month, so we're in for a little wait now.

Huw.