That’s the only way I can describe my feeling on the subject: distinctly unimpressed.

The subject, in case you care, is my drysuit, the new one that I got a few months ago made by Diving Concepts and which I wrote about here.

The problem it developed is that it sprang a leak in the crotch strap area, presumably cause by rubbing by the crotch strap when scootering, although maybe by swimming.

Now, I haven’t checked the dates precisely, but my guess is that by the time the leak appeared, the suit had done approximately 50 dives, maybe even less, and only around 10 or 20 of those will have been scooter dives. For an approximately $1000 dollar suit, I find that pretty unimpressive, crotch strap or no.

It’s also frustrating because, barring the leak, it’s a well made suit. It fits well off the shelf and allows really good flexibility for reaching valves and doing the various things that need to be done.

Fortunately, the problem is easily solved with a touch of Aquasure and a neoprene patch cover over the ‘rubbing spot’ which seems to have done the trick. However, how difficult could it be for Diving Concepts to include such a piece as standard, especially on a suit designed for ‘technical’ divers – whether you agree that they exist or not…

Time will tell how long it lasts, but I think it should be good now for a good while, but it certainly knocked my confidence in Diving Concepts to the point that I don’t personally know whether I’ll invest in another suit of theirs anytime soon unless such niggles get ironed out, especially considering I could get a brand new fully made-to-measure Protec Explorer like my other suit (that’s done around 500 dives without a leak) for just a few hundred bucks more.

Still, it’s all a learning curve I guess!