The Best Diving Suits for Maximum Comfort and Protection

Buying Guide: Diving Suit

If you want to try out diving in cold water, you’ll need to suit up. This guide covers everything you need to know about diving suits.

What Is a Diving Suit?

A diving suit is a special type of suit that you wear when diving or snorkeling. It’s a piece of swimming gear that usually covers the entire body, though some designs do expose a bit of skin near the wrists and ankles. The main goal of a diving suit is to protect the diver from the harsh conditions of underwater diving without sacrificing mobility and flexibility.

Reasons Why You Need a Diving Suit

It keeps you warm

No matter how hot the weather may be outside, diving into any large body of water can instantly cool you down. And while this is a great way to beat the heat during the summer, this phenomenon can be quite lethal when diving in very cold open water, such as the ocean. The deeper you dive, the colder the surrounding temperature gets. At some point, you lose more heat than you produce inside your own body, leading to hypothermia and possibly even death.

While dying of hypothermia is fortunately not very common, divers who dive without taking the right precautions will still feel very uncomfortable and may suffer adverse effects. This is where diving suits come in. These suits protect the diver by keeping their body temperature regulated while they swim or dive. Your body naturally radiates a bit of heat at all times, and the suit ensures that this heat doesn’t escape into the water.

It protects your skin from scratches and debris

While your body will almost always be in contact with the water while diving, you will sometimes bump into rock formations and small pieces of debris. This can lead to scratches, scrapes, and potential injury. Most divers don’t want this to happen while they’re swimming. An exposed wound can be the perfect environment for harmful bacteria to enter, and some animals can smell blood in the water from great distances away.

By wearing a diving suit, you’re adding an extra layer of protection to your skin. Sure, you may damage your suit in the process, but it’s far better than getting a scratch or wound that exposes your skin.

It prevents unwanted sun exposure

Sun exposure is almost unavoidable when going to the beach if you’re wearing a swimsuit. Even if you feel nice and cool underwater, your body is still exposed to the sun especially if you’re near the surface. While wearing swim trunks or a swimsuit will leave you with tons of exposed skin, a diving suit will ensure only your face is at risk of a sunburn or tan. Essentially, with the right diving gear, you can protect your skin from the sun’s harsh rays.

Things To Consider When Buying a Diving Suit

Zipper placement

To put on a wetsuit, you need to use a zipper. Depending on the brand and the design of the suit, the zipper may be on the front or the back. There are advantages and disadvantages of both positions. Front zippers are great for putting on by yourself as you won’t need to ask someone else to zip the suit up properly. Keep in mind that zippers can look pretty odd when on the front of the suit, especially as some diving designs feature the zipper skewed to the side as it tapers to the bottom.

Back zippers are sleeker and look better in photos as you don’t actually see the zipper from the front. With a back zipper, you may need to ask for help from others to close the zipper. It’s a tradeoff that you’ll have to make, but chances are that you won’t be alone when you’re diving so either design works depending on your personal preference.

Material

Diving suits use different materials to keep the wearer warm. The most well-known material for diving suits is neoprene, which is tough and offers great insulation. This material is also flexible so you won’t have to worry about limiting your range of movement while underwater. Other diving suits use different materials, such as nylon fabric. When in doubt, we recommend picking a neoprene suit.

Note that if you’re looking to buy an affordable diving suit, chances are that it will be either made with limited amounts of neoprene or no neoprene at all. If you value the properties of neoprene, it may be worth saving a little extra money for more complete coverage.

Design and colors

Finally, let’s talk about aesthetics. Diving suits are sleek and great to look at. You can look great in a diving suit with the right shape. But some suits are hit or miss when it comes to design. You’ll want to pick one that suits your personal style preference. Many diving suits come in a variety of colors or with color accents.

Diving Suit Price Range

Diving suits don’t come cheap. They’re quite expensive with some of the more premium suits costing well over $200. If that seems like a sizable investment for a diving suit that you’ll only wear sparingly, then you’ll be happy to hear that there are more affordable alternatives. A decent budget-oriented suit will cost you no more than $50. But be aware that this suit will likely use cheaper materials and may not provide as much insulation.

To get a suit that’s somewhat affordable while sporting sufficient material quality, expect to spend around $100 or so. At around that price point you can buy some decent neoprene suits that offer great insulation, although you may miss out on some of the more premium features that come with a higher-priced suit.

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