I know that I want a 2-piece (so that I can easily pull it down to pee). Other than that, I don't know where to begin.
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what type of wetsuit should I get?
- Thread starterLil Dragonfly
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
, There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
four questions
1. what temp will you be using the suit in? for how many hours a day?
2. is your shape near the average or far from it, especially if you are very slim?
3. how cold tolerant are you?
4. what kind of diving will you be doing, sightseeing, spearo, line, other?
Gotta answer those before you have any idea what to buy.
After you answer the above, use the search function and read through all the various wetsuit selection threads for more ideas.
Have fun
Connor
1. what temp will you be using the suit in? for how many hours a day?
2. is your shape near the average or far from it, especially if you are very slim?
3. how cold tolerant are you?
4. what kind of diving will you be doing, sightseeing, spearo, line, other?
Gotta answer those before you have any idea what to buy.
After you answer the above, use the search function and read through all the various wetsuit selection threads for more ideas.
Have fun
Connor
What?
you DO need a two piece for freediving, but not for peeing. Zippers let in too much water.
Once you learn to pee in your suite you'll never take the bottoms off again!
I ain't peeing in any of my wetsuits. I've heard stories of people who pee in a wetsuit, then wonder why it starts to stink...:naughty
Tell them about this great invention called "wetsuit shampoo". If they don't wash their suits, well no wonder they wonder.
- peeing in wetsuit is awesome
- who has time to play with beaver tail during line training with 4 or more people rotating? I usually pee at least 3 times before I finish my warm up
- the reason freediving wetsuits are two piece is warmth and comfort (no zippers) NOT "treasure easy access"
There was a long thread on this subject a while back. At first, I thought it was one of the funniest things I'd ever read. For sure, I was of dive4life's opinion. But, you know, after a while I was convinced that there actually are some people who don't. Crazy as that seems, some people really, truely don't. Hats off to them, must have incredible holding capacity. There are also some hilarious mechanisms that purport to allow peeing without getting it inside the suit, not that I believe they work.
Dragonfly, believe me, you will very soon come to understand.
Connor
Dragonfly, believe me, you will very soon come to understand.
Connor
Sorry to de-rail your thread with all the pee talk.
What temperature water will you be in?
Will you be line diving (breathing up, mostly motionless on the surface)?
Will you be recreational diving or spearing (lots of vigorous up and down swimming)?
We can help because we don't have to get up for bathroom breaks.
What temperature water will you be in?
Will you be line diving (breathing up, mostly motionless on the surface)?
Will you be recreational diving or spearing (lots of vigorous up and down swimming)?
We can help because we don't have to get up for bathroom breaks.
I've had my wetsuits for 10 years, and have only washed them with plain water. They still have that yummy brand new smell.
I am one of those people. I hold it in until I can feel it pressing against my bones and it feels like I am going to die.
Lol, I get very attached to my wetsuits.
What temperature water - it varies a lot, depending on whether I am in the heated pool, the unheated pool, the summer ocean, the winter ocean, or the freezing cold springs. So I will have to put some thought into this.
Line diving - yes
recreational diving - yes
1. temp- as I said above, not sure what to do, hours- anywhere from 20 minutes to 8 hours depending on the situation.
2. average I guess
3. varies widely!!!
4. a little bit of everything- static, dynamic, line, freediving for fun in coral reef, you name it. Also, must have easy access for uw sex.
The problem with any technology, wetsuits included, is that its advocates only tend to see the benefits and downplay the drawbacks. I don't freedive, I just snorkel, but I keep warm in the cold waters of the North Sea by using a 1950s-style thin valveless drysuit whose sole function is to provide a waterproof covering. I can then vary the warmth-giving garments underneath to suit the water temperature. Wetsuits, of course, attempt to solve both problems at once: (a) the issue of limiting water penetration and (b) the issue of reducing body heat loss. The downside is that wetsuits work best when they're worn next to the skin, meaning that you're dependent on the neoprene density providing the correct amount of insulation. So very thick wetsuits may be just what you need in icy waters, but in more temperate conditions you'll overheat in the same suit.
I don't have any advice for you and I'm certainly not going to recommend that you follow my lead as I snorkel happily in my ancient drysuit. However, the other contributors to this thread have provided you with a basis for problem-solving the options by telling you that your choice of wetsuit should ideally match the conditions in which you intend to freedive, avoiding in the process the discomfort which comes with the extremes of temperature. If you intend to freedive in both chilly and tropical conditions, you may have to face the fact that more than one suit will be necessary.
I don't have any advice for you and I'm certainly not going to recommend that you follow my lead as I snorkel happily in my ancient drysuit. However, the other contributors to this thread have provided you with a basis for problem-solving the options by telling you that your choice of wetsuit should ideally match the conditions in which you intend to freedive, avoiding in the process the discomfort which comes with the extremes of temperature. If you intend to freedive in both chilly and tropical conditions, you may have to face the fact that more than one suit will be necessary.
Lil D - the answer is simple - I believe you are in Florida. Unless you get cold extremely easily I recommend you order a 3 mil elios freediving suit. The suit should be nylon on the outside and open cell neoprene on the inside. I like the superstretch out and 'new black' in - but anything nylon out and open in will do the job.
Nylon on the outside will give you durability - open cell in (there are several coatings you can get on the open cell to help make the suit a little easier to get in and out of - I mentioned new black (aka 'black shadow') but titanium is fine too - stay away from fabric linings - they stink and are not warm)
I use suits that are smoothskin out and open cell in now - but they are fragile and not a good option for a first suit - plus you notice the diff mostly if you are monofinning.
In my experience open cell suits don't stink. Its the fabric linings that provide lovely bacteria environments.
I dive down to about 58f in my 3 mil - using monofin sprints to warm up as needed. For pool work I would get one of the thin aquasphere swimskins or, possibly the new Orca Breathe or Free (you could get a LOT of toilet paper for what the Free costs though)
Nylon on the outside will give you durability - open cell in (there are several coatings you can get on the open cell to help make the suit a little easier to get in and out of - I mentioned new black (aka 'black shadow') but titanium is fine too - stay away from fabric linings - they stink and are not warm)
I use suits that are smoothskin out and open cell in now - but they are fragile and not a good option for a first suit - plus you notice the diff mostly if you are monofinning.
In my experience open cell suits don't stink. Its the fabric linings that provide lovely bacteria environments.
I dive down to about 58f in my 3 mil - using monofin sprints to warm up as needed. For pool work I would get one of the thin aquasphere swimskins or, possibly the new Orca Breathe or Free (you could get a LOT of toilet paper for what the Free costs though)
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How come you don't freedive?
Just curious
I don't scuba-dive either. I'm a spontaneous snorkeller - you have to be when you snorkel in the North Sea off the North East coat of England where a calm, temperate sea can't be taken for granted. Snorkelling as I do from the sandy beach, you would have to swim a long way out to reach what I would call "freediveable waters" with a depth exceeding ten feet. So much of my time is spent swimming on the surface with occasional forays below. I also prefer to dub myself a snorkeller because some online forums where freediving is discussed are too prescriptive - and proscriptive - for my liking. I've been snorkelling for fifty years and I prefer the equipment and the methods in vogue back then. Now I'm in my sixties, what I enjoy most in the way of exercise is a gentle morning dip in the sea, a bit of a swim around in my ancient drysuit, all-rubber full-foot fins and classic oval mask, one or two jack-knife dives to the bottom and a glorious view of the sun on the horizon and the chapel on the hill overlooking the bay. After an hour, I'm ready to get on with my day, writing French teaching materials or attending school (I'm officially "retired") to deliver one-to-one English and Maths tuition to secondary school students. I value the serenity of what I do and I don't have to plunge down thirty feet to prove myself. I'll leave such exuberance to younger folk.