A Premium Drysuit for CHEAP - Seaskins Nova Drysuit Review

[@JakiBell]

Thanks so much for taking time to make this video. That's hugely helpful.

[@martinholloway7694]

This video was incredibly informative and I really appreciate your attention to detail. I’m getting ready to order my first drysuit and this video was beyond helpful. Thank you for taking the time to create, edit and post this content. I would like to ask if you’re still happy with your purchase two years later? Thanks again!!!

[@bryanboldt887]

I received my Nova order a couple weeks ago which included a base layer, custom cut 150 & 250 thermal layers (per my measurements provided for the Nova suit) a 5mm short neck hood (adequate for summer here in PNW), extra silicone seals and more. The Nova suit as built price came to a bit over $1100US plus around $400 for all the extra parts and under layers. USA import duties on the Nova suit are only 4%, but duties on undergarments range 24 - 28%, then add on a couple customs service fees ($40 in my case).

[@pinnacledivingco]

These are the number one suit we spend time on repairing every winter and spring. Last year alone, in just our local area, we had more than 20 of these in the shop for repairs, many less than 2 years old. I hope yours fairs better for you. 🙂👍

[@completehavoc8194]

I would love to know which component failed. Zipper? I've had this suit now for close to 3 years. Over 100 dives on it. No issues at all.

[@pinnacledivingco]

@@completehavoc8194 These suits are notorious for leaking, and it’s a combination of low grade material combined with low quality manufacturing processes. Seaskin makes their Nova suits from poly-butyl-poly fabric they get from a manufacturer in China. They import it. This trilaminate fabric has a short wear lifetime, and has a strong tendency to take on creases and break down on the crease lines. Case in point, I literally just finished repairing a customer’s nova suit where the entire crotch panel was leaking from both the seams and through the panel itself, as the panel had worn through and developed a ton of holes along its naturally developed crease line. These suits also have a tendency to leak from the seams all over. The reason for this is because Seaskin uses a heated machine press with rollers to apply the seam tape in long strips throughout the inside of the suit, and this is their method of sealing all the seams. Now… Many manufacturers out there do this, and many manufacturers use this same process. It’s cheap, VERY cheap for them to do, making it cost effective for the manufacturing process, and it “looks good”, so when the customer sees it, they “think” that is what quality craftsmanship looks like. The problem is, the glue used in this process is weak and breaks down fast. After a year or so it turns to a brownish color and begins to bleed through the sides of the seam tape edges. As it breaks down, holes open up under the tape and the seams around the whole suit begin leak to from the pin hole that open up. Finally, the plastic zippers don’t last nearly as long as a standard brass zipper does. Many of the plastic zippers on the market, such as the German made “TiZip”, were never actually even designed or made to be used as waterproof zippers. It just happened that they ended up being water tight, and so they were marketed to drysuit companies to be used for this. The problems are, that the water tight seal is actually only a very thin seam along the edge between the teeth, and this wears and can leak easily, and further, that the plastic skirt has a tendency to crack and delaminate. Once this happens, there’s no saving it, and it will leak. The brass zippers, on the other hand, have a cloth-based skirt, and the seal is created by the interlocking of the brass teeth on the inside, forcing the material seams together. These not only last far longer, they were intended from the beginning for use in this application.

[@pinnacledivingco]

​@tehavoc8194 These suits are notorious for leaking, and it’s a combination of low grade material combined with a low quality manufacturing processes. Seaskin makes their Nova suits from a poly-butyl-poly fabric they get from a manufacturer in China. They import it. This trilaminate fabric has a short wear lifetime, and has a strong tendency to take on creases and break down on the crease lines. Case in point, I literally just finished repairing a customer’s nova suit where the entire crotch panel was leaking from both the seams and through the panel itself, as the panel had worn through and developed a ton of holes along its naturally developed crease line. These suits also have a tendency to leak from the seams all over. The reason for this is because Seaskin uses a heated machine press with rollers to apply the seam tape in long strips throughout the inside of the suit, and this is their method of sealing all the seams. Now… Many manufacturers out there do this, and many manufacturers use this same process. It’s cheap, VERY cheap for them to do, making it cost effective for the manufacturing process, and it “looks good”, so when the customer sees it, they “think” that is what quality craftsmanship is supposed to look like. The problem is, the glue used in this process is weak and breaks down fast. After a year or so it turns to a brownish color and begins to bleed through the sides of the seam tape edges. As it breaks down, holes open up under the tape and the seams around the suit begin to leak from the pin holes that open up. Finally, the plastic zippers don’t last nearly as long as a standard brass zipper does. Many of the plastic zippers on the market, such as the German made “TiZip” were never actually even designed or made to be used as waterproof zippers. It just happened that they ended up being water tight, and so they were marketed to drysuit companies to be used for this. The problems are, that the water tight seal is actually only a very thin seam along the edges between the teeth, and this wears and can leak easily, and further, that the plastic skirt has a tendency to crack and delaminate. The YKK version ones are notorious for this. Once this happens, there’s no saving it, and it will leak. The brass zippers, on the other hand, have a cloth-based skirt, and the seal is created by the interlocking of the brass teeth on the inside, forcing the material seams together. These not only last far longer, and are more durable, they were intended from the beginning for use in this application. The thing is, as is very often the case when it comes to dive gear, the majority of the time, you honestly do get what you pay for, with few exceptions. People love the idea of these suits (and others out there like them without mentioning any brand names), because they see the price and think they're getting a great deal. The problem is, they're very hit or miss. Some people get a suit that lasts a bit longer before problems pop up, and others end up with a suit that leaks from one or more various places. It's Russian roulette.

[@cook3744]

Dive shops don’t like these suits because they’re less than half the price they sell them for. Even if you need a couple repairs it’s still a tremendous value!

[@iNekdima]

Thank you for the video, helped to make my own choice while ordering!

[@completehavoc8194]

You're very welcome! An update video will be coming soon regarding on how well it's stood up so far.

[@Robert_H_Diver]

Just ordered one, got the same options as you except the oval wrist seals. Can’t wait to get it.

[@completehavoc8194]

Hell yea man! You're gonna love it! Diving is just so much more comfortable with a dry suit.

[@Robert_H_Diver]

@@completehavoc8194 awesome! I’m in Alabama so it doesn’t get too cold here but I wanna be able to dive in the winter and in different places.

[@tonyhouk9047]

Who did you order your suit through? I’ll be moving to Mobile to retire hopefully not too long from now. Tony

[@tonyhouk9047]

That was for Robert.

[@Robert_H_Diver]

@@tonyhouk9047 the same place, seaskins in the UK. I’m from mobile!

[@Daveinstructor]

Many thanks, I'm fortunate I only live an hour away from the factory, I think I'm going over to see them....

[@h2ofrogman]

Checking to see how you like your suit now. I'm looking to get a different suit.

[@completehavoc8194]

It's fantastic still after almost 2 years. I have close to 100 dives in it. I will be making a follow up video detailing how I feel about this suit after all this time. There are a few things I don't like about it though. 1. The telescopic torso feature is badly designed. The way the material is stitched feels incorrect, and this is after I've dove a DUI suit and a Santi suit with the telescopic feature. If I were to buy this suit again, I would just omit choosing this feature and just use the flexible back as a means to don and doff the suit easier as it was originally designed. 2. The suspender (I chose the upgraded wider ones) clips just fall off them way too easily. I will be fixing this shortly by just sewing the clips onto the suspender material. Also, this would not be necessary if I didn’t choose the telescopic torso. These are very small cons in comparison. For the price it is utterly unbeatable. The durability of the material and manufacturing matches if not outperforms suits that are $4,000. For me personally, Seaskins has a customer for life. Inevitably this suit will wear out and I will be purchasing another Seaskin. Even so I don’t see myself needing to replace this suit for another 5 to 10 years. Most of time people have said that the number one failure point of a drysuit is the zipper. I’ve chosen a plastic zipper, and it still looks brand new.

[@zane812]

Thanks for sharing, how is it holding up?

[@completehavoc8194]

After about 30 dives on this throughout the year. No issues at all! Still looks brand new. This will last me a long time.

[@akant74]

@@completehavoc8194 Have you used other suites before?

[@florencioyeh8513]

how much did you had to pay to import duty?

[@completehavoc8194]

$57

[@bryanboldt887]

for my $1130US Nova suit, the USA duty was $42. note there will also be a couple addnl customs fees added on which for me were another $40 on top of the per item duties.