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Van Kiteforum) John Zimmerman beantwoord een aantal vragen:
Hi Guys! Just back from Surf Expo where we officially launched this suit and where I answered many of these questions. I gave a quick read through the thread so far and I think I pulled all your questions out below... if I missed anything, let me know and I will get back to you.
John Z
William Munney wrote:
Looks good, but you couldn't use GoreTex at that price?We began shipping 100% breathable drysuits in 2009 after testing 3 different styles of material for over 2 years, including GoreTex. We settled on Gelanots material as we found it to be the most durable of the 3 we tested and that it remained waterproof after far more abuse than any of the other 3. We now have over 3 years of Pyro Pro and Surf Dry suit sales on the market proving the longevity and durability of this material.
tomatkins wrote:
I couldn't tell from the pictures how you put the suit on. It looks like it may have a "back zipper". Can a person put the suit on, without help from someone to zip it up? Also, does it have feet (socks) incorporated into the legs?
Also, with any of the "body bag" style drysuits, a person should always wear a life vest, burp out the air, and should never "dive" into deep water, which can force the air up into the legs, and hold you in an upside-down position.100% self entry. The zipper wraps around the neck in a U shape, the jacket pulls it all together and hides the zipper. This is a major advantage over other suits on the market, including the Lucifer.
Regards to jumping into the water and flipping upside down - you may have your own experiences with this but I have been using bag drysuits for the last 9 years and have never even come close to experiencing this. In fact, I am willing to say it's impossible. There just couldn't be that much trapped air in the legs to do what you describe.
Dirk wrote:
Interesting to see the T-zip plastic zippers on this instead of the really robust brass versions on the Pyro Pro and Surf. What is the view on this?We waited for years to introduce the flatter TiZip style zippers as the technology was not ready. However, after testing suits made with the newest style of zipper for well over 2 seasons we were comfortable introducing the new style TiZips to the Surf Dry last year and now to the Soul. For now the Pro will continue to feature the brass zip but we are not ruling out a change with it either.
Dirk wrote:
I guess it follows the fashion that NPX started with their drysuit - snowboard style. This one looks much better. Not so loose and colours/style like decent outdoor clothing and not like a clown´s costume...Plus has front entry.
Benefits vs. Surf Dry: easier to put on as it is only one layer plus has a pee zip. Benefits vs. other loose drysuits like the Pyro Pro: Hood plus pee zip. On the hood I am not convinced as I would always wear a neopren hood in cold conditions. But might be quite comfortable while rigging or standing on the beach as it adds wind chill protection.
But well targeted at flat water/inland SUPers who might prefer running around in outdoor style clothing and sailors to increase customer base.Obviously the Lucifer is a point of reference for this suit but clearly, the two suits are very different. Our suit incorporates our Captive Zip and Captive Suspension technologies, both of which ensure that the suit retain a well fitted, clean fit while offering insane mobility.
The hood is removable, lined with a soft neoprene and heavily vented to allow all water to quickly drain from it. As you mention, very comfortable to wear in the cold breeze rigging up but I tend to ride with it down.
At Surf Expo this year we pitched this suit not only at the Kite market but at the flat water SUP market as well. This suit realistically is ideal for anyone spending hours on top of the water, SUPers, Sailers, etc. It's a stylish suit in 3 colour ways and 100% breathable and includes a relief zip. The SUP market at Surf Expo was very excited by this suit.
CaptainArgh wrote:
lisaped wrote:
Captain, if you buy this one take care not to buy OR fleece to warm up http://oceanrodeo.com/drysuits/thermal-layers as you you'll need to take pee inside due to lack of a fly in that fleece :rollgrin: :rollgrin: :rollgrin: What a funny company with that new 900$ stuff making stupid customers to wear an additional useless 2.2lb of fabric without thinking how to tune all that gear to work efficiently
There's no fly in their under layer?! Well, hopefully that oversight will be corrected in rev 2.0!
Either way, I think most of us can get by with the base layers we already have from skiing and snowboarding.
And yup, $900 is pretty stiff, but the NPX Lucifer goes for $800. They are both pretty expensive but I'm sure OR would argue that they have an extra $100 of tech in there, right? (NPX version, below;)
Just noticed that the NPX version also has a pee zip! So to me, yup, no advantage between either. I want to stay warm & dry. I want to pee. They both solve those problems. 
LisaP was mistaken. All of our underwear has a flap to work with the relief zip. Further, regards to comparisons to the Lucifer beyond the fact that both have a jacket look the suits could not be more different.
Our suit has a very well vented and removable hood which will quickly drain water, the material is 100% breathable and proven through years of other suit sales not to delaminate or fall apart. The suit features Captive Suspension and Captive Zip design to ensure that the suit can be well fitted and not sloppy while still offering full range of motion. Our zipper is self entry style, not across the back and the jacket itself draws the zipper in and hides it from sight, again allowing the customer to don and doff the suit themself but not showing the zipper at all.
We have over 12 years of drysuit building experience which went into this suit. We made use of proven materials and we designed the suit from the ground up to be a functional, clean design making use of multiple patents we hold in drysuit design.
Starsky wrote:
Is there anything breathable about the ION fuse?No, the Fuse is not breathable and - being rubber - will only offer one temperature option. Our suits are 100% breathable and you can easily thermo-regulate by layering up or down underneath them. In any rubber suit if you sweat you will get wet and when you stop moving you will get chilled, both from being wet and from wind chill. Our suits vent off sweat and the material is wind proof, allowing you to (comfortably) use our suits in a much wider temperature range than any other rubber suit, the Fuse included.
John Z
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