Scott, wetsuits are open cell or lined. Not open cell or closed cell.
Soft does not mean cheap but does mean it will compress at depth.

Raybox try taking your F-bomb down 10m+ in winter and see how warm/watertight it is.

Ossk all foam neoprene has nitrogen bubbles. You don"t have to worry about the neck seal because a spearing suit for victoria will have a hood built into the jacket.

you can fuck around with other suits that aren't made for spearfishing or are made by people who place marketing above practicality all you want, it's your money. However I guarantee that if you take up the sport seriously then you will buy a proper spearing suit within a short space of time and your super duper suit will be hanging in your cupboard and do nothing other than take up space..

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I dove for ages in in surfy type and scuba type suits, they did the job & I didn't know any better..then I upgraded to a Spearo suit. 5mm Beuchat mundial and I would never ever go back...don't let some gimmicky marketing of any particular brand decide for you!

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Buy spearfishing suit which made from Yamamoto 45, can't go wrong with that.

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Rhino hit the nail on the head. A spearfishing suit for spearfishing

A WETsuit is just that. It's wet. The water the suit absorbes when you get in is warmed by your body. You only feel dry when you take it off because the suit has partially drained and probably fits well leaving not much room for water between your skin and the suit. Conventional wetsuits have a lining of Nylon/polyester which is less dense than the neoprene. This is room for a thin layer of water in the nylon to move around between your skin and the rubber. This is what makes it colder because your body must constantly reheat this water layer. Open cell suits mean the neoprene is in direct contact with your skin and if it's nice and flexible and fits snuggly means not much if any room for cold water to contact the skin. You only heat the suit once. Or twice if you take a piss. An open cell 5mm long john with jacket and hood is the minimum for a winter in vic.

Water takes heat from your body 20 times faster than air because of it's density. Surf suits are not as good. They don't have to be because surfers have their head out of the water most of the time and the head and neck is where upto 50% of heat is lost. Bubble blowers are usually not in for more than on hr so exposure is far less although compression is a factor.

You don't take a Toyota Carolla on a 4x4 adventure. Cheers

Ok, all great info thanks, but simply saying a spearfishing suit for spearfishing doesn't really do much for me. I know that it says they have a proven track record. All I'm asking is how and why.

I'm not taking any sides here. Besides, this post was more for information purposes, rather than butting-heads purposes.

Greg, I would never take the FBomb down to depth. It's not mine, and I don't want to use it for a purpose which it wasn't designed for, freeze my balls off, and ruin it as a result. It's a surfing wetsuit.

So I've heard about why surfing wetsuits aren't used for spearfishing. Why aren't spearfishing suits used for surfing? Again, just another simple question. Please don't take it the wrong way. I much prefer spearfishing to surfing, so don't be offended. I'm on your side.

Just got a reply back from Probe.

....................
Hi Ray,

Thank you for your enquiry.

The materials linings are the same as Ripcurl as you stated, but the big difference is the actual neoprene foam we use.

The iDRY is made from "Compression rated" foam which means it will not crush at depth which makes it better for diving. Its not quite as stretchy, but still flexible enough to surf in.

The Ripcurl suits are made for surfing only They use a lighter weight foam that has more bubbles in it. This makes the suit a bit lighter in weight and stretch a little bit more which is good for surfing, but NO GOOD AT ALL for diving. Basically at 30 meters under the water a 43mm surf suit will be 1mm thick. No good for insulation. If you keep doing this over a few months the suit will stay 1mm thick as the foam collapses and does not return to its original thickness.

I guess it depends on what purpose you want the suit for.

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

Dave Griffiths
Director
Probe Wetsuits
.......................................

I guess this information is nothing new to you guys. It's pretty much what you have been saying.

Also, why are do wetsuits come in two pieces?

IMO

1) Spearo suits are made for swimming head first through the water, so the two piece configuration offers the best seal in that direction. I wear my spearo 5mm top and some old lined/closed cell op-shop waist height pants for the warmer months. If I jump legs first into the water or get hit by a wave on the right angle while swimming in then I do get some water coming up underneath the top from my waist. This is mitigated when I wear the matching 5mm long johns and a weight belt but it does happen and is the direction that this seal is weaker in. So suppose you were being towed behind a boat if you were going head first you would be fine but feet first you would have some water coming into the suit. If your surfing your less likely to be wearing a weight belt and more likely to cop a wave or current in the feet first direction.

2) Spearo suits are niche and more expensive. I would suggest that numbers of surfers > numbers of spearos, more demand , more supply, lower cost etc. This would be why you see less surfers wearing spearo suits despite spearo suits being warmer for longer and still retaining excellent flexibility.

3) Surfing is an image driven sport (with reference to the mass marketing money making machine), will wearing a camo wetsuit increase your likelihood of picking up chicks?

4) If you buy a proper waterproof bag, they get rid of the zip. Zips make it easy to get into a suit but are a weak point and hard to seal. If get rid of a wet suits zip then you will need a way to get into the suit that's not through the cuffs or collar thus the two pieces, so you can put it on.

Hope that helps!

Challenge Accepted!

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I transported my first sambar deer out of the bush in the boot of my old Vectra.

Haha, why stop for? I used to take a ford meteor up the bush, hit every puddle hard and it went thru, with water over the roof haha! I transported a few deer out in the boot of a vb commodore!

Yes, but were the tyres made of Yammamoto rubber?

The tyres from HEIWA.

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I agree with this ive used 1 piece its no were near as good water gets in easy, zips were out and break an had a 5-7mm semi dry they didnt compare to comfort or warmth of my 3.5mm Beuchat Suit. Yes its 2 peice. Dad doesnt like single Peice Suits because if you get hot you can take half off.