When and where to wear

This suit can be worn from early summer through to mid September here in the UK (14°c - 18°c) and comes into its own in the winter Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

By adding the O’Three Deep Skin short john, this temperature range can be increased.

Technical Info

Please take a little time to read and think about what is explained below, before you buy a wet / semi dry suit for diving.

O'Three would be the first to admit that their semi-drysuits, could take a little longer to put on then some suits currently available.

The demand for extreme flexibility and movement has been driving the surf and surface water sports industry for many years. There is neoprene available today which has been specifically developed to be super light and ultra soft, which is then laminated with ultra stretch super extend materials, that has quite simply surpassed what any of us in the industry thought could have been achieved only 3 or 4 years ago.

The benefits of these new stretchy materials are obvious:

• More people will and do fit into a smaller size range
• Much easier to "don and doff"

These surface neoprene’s are increasingly finding their way into the dive sector. We feel the main reasons for this are, the Surface brands moving into dive, designers who don't dive and the demand on the sales people to sell.

However, as with all things there are trade off's, these will become even more apparent the minute your choice of suit leaves the surface. 

The FACTs about the trade offs are:

• The softer neoprene will have less insulation at depth, 2 meters +, because it will compress quickly. As experience has shown these softer neoprene’s will collapse
• A smaller size may be achieved, which will result in over stretching, which in turn will create a colder suit. (A problem the surface industry is already facing)
• The flip side of this, if the suit is sized to what appears to be correct, it will more than likely be too big and will balloon and so flush through

So there you have it.  O'Three uses an array of neoprene and will continue to use them in the appropriate areas of individual suits.

It may take a little longer to get into and indeed for us to sell an O'Three semi dry, but we will not compromise our neoprene and diving knowledge for a quick sale.

Warning

Ultimately, it is you, the wearer of the suit that is generating the heat, the suit you choose to wear is simply the insulator. The thermal guidance information above is purely that, a guide.

If you are a petite lady and feels the cold when snuggled up in bed with a winter duvet on all year round, or you are a guy that wears a T-Shirt in the depths of winter your reliance on a suit from a thermal perspective is at either end of the scale.

Please be sensible realistic and careful when choosing a suit and the conditions you intend to use that suit in. Your life could depend on it.