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Michael Parker writes: > On Tue, 21 Sep 1993, David (Duis) Story wrote: > > graff@at*.at*.co* writes: > > > > > > Since alot of you are on the subject of dry suits, for those > > > Viking Pro users out there, what are your likes and dislikes > > > about them. Problems, durability etc... Thanks > > > > Too thick and not flexible enough. This is not from personal > > experience, but an experienced instructor friend gave up his Pro in > > favor of a Sport because he found the Sport so much more flexible that > > it made his diving far more comfortable. > > > > I suggest only buying the Pro if you have a very clear reason not to > > buy the Sport. Also, the cost is very much higher. > > [...] > Northwest. I almost guarantee as a technical diver, one would destroy > their Sport suit in less than 100 dives. The sport suit will not hold up > to the abuse of a twin tank setup, is not thick enough for extended cold > water diving(especially the decompression stops/demands), not thick enough > for wreck penetrations, and in general, won't take the abuse of > Divemastering, let alone the weekly abuse of instructing. I disagree with all but two of these statements. I regularly use a Sport suit for long cold dives (60-80 minutes in 50F water) -- the thickness of the SHELL (pro vs. sport) has *nothing* to do with the insulative value of the suit. It's all in the underwear. As for the abuse, the only argument I agree with here is about wreck diving. If you arrange even twins cleanly, I see no additional problems here. And as for the "abuse of DM'ing" or instructing, I have a lot of experience with the former while teaching with instructors who dive only a Sport, with no problems. I see nothing about DM'ing or instructing per se that will wreck a suit: it is solely in your personal diving style. If you are not careful, you will hole any suit. > I own a Sport and I wish that I had purchased a Pro. Just through normal > wear and tear, I have torn a seam in the crotch area (truly is not > comfortable), and have had holes in other parts of the suit. Even though > Viking has lifetime warranties on the seams, it only takes about 6 months > to get a suit back from Viking. Sorry, I can't wait that long. I think the feedback from others is that holes are inevitable. By the way, Sea Me Repair in San Diego, CA, is an authorized factory repair center and will do rush jobs. I have had a crotch leak (TRULY annoying, as you point out :) fixed, with the *round-trip* elapsed time of 3 days! > I am not saying that the Pro is a bad suit. It is actually a well > designed and performanced suit. But I would not recommend it to anyone > who wanted to get into Technical diving, Divemastering, or Instructing. I think the comments so far suggest only that diving wrecks would be a problem. I see no reason why "technical" (what do you mean?) or instructing would have any serious difference from, say, photography. Of course, all of this is subject to personal diving style. But I'm not accusing Michael of careless diving! I'm sure he's an excellent diver. If you regularly dive around sharp wrecks, on beds of mussels, or some such nasty environment, I don't see any way around a thicker suit. But if you simply teach -- and I'd be shocked if instructors took their students to risky areas like the above -- I don't think you are at any higher risk than anyone else who does an equal # of dives. I also want to point out that until you've dove a thick suit, you don't know what you're giving up by not diving a thin flexible suit. Cheers, David Story story@sg*.co*, x5337
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