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Hi Simon, If I had the money at the time, I'd have got a DUI. They have a good reputation, and it seems that most divers aspire to own a DUI. The reason why the seams on the side of the legs are bad, is that when they sew on the pocket, they have to make holes in the material, and especially across the seam. Then then glue and tape the seams to prevent water entering. Apparently the glue that DUI uses is pretty good, and allegedly not pleasant stuff to handle, which means that their glued pockets stay fixed. But this isn't the glue that Otter use, hence the stitching. And making holes in a suit is probably introducing a "possible" failure point. DUI suits in the UK are apparently cheaper than the US, so one distributor in London sells more suits to the US than locally. At least this was the case 2 years ago. As to why DUI suits are better. They have a reputation of reliability, and their construction seems pretty solid. The only complaints that I've heard regard the rock boots, but I can't really comment as I've never dived in a DUI drysuit. The telescoping torso is this: There is an extra couple of inches in the midrift. This makes it easier getting your arms and head into the suit, because of the slack. Then there is a crotch strap which allows you to fold in that slack material, after you're fully inside. If you have a correctly sized suit - not too big or too small - it can be a little like a contortionist act getting into non-DUI front entry suit. Whereas, friends of mine who have front-entry DUIs make it seem so easy.. As regards the ruggedness of Otters - I've had no trouble at all. No leaks or bouyancy problems. Although, it isn't quite as flexible as the Otter website would have you believe. Oh, as a friend pointed out earlier - I did have one bad incident with my suit, but that was my own fault. After one dive, upon returning to the harbour, I was feeling pretty full in the bladder (the dive club has a RIB, so no chance to go on the boat). However not having a pee-valve, I couldn't easily vent the building pressure. When I tried to unzip myself, one of the teeth in the zip broke, such that I only had a 2 inch opening. So, seeing as the zip was already damaged, I decided to cut myself out with a knife, before I ruined my Thinsulate! But I think that this is a case of bad equipment maintenance on my part ;-) So summing up: My otter is ok - except for the pockets, and non-telescoping torso. But I'd rather have a DUI tri-lam. back to lurk mode... rgds mark -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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