Which Suit for my Needs?

[Nemesis]

I'm deciding between the Omer Team Titanium suit, or the Omer Ocean/Med Mimetic suits, and can't decide which to get. Hopefully with a little more info from the experts here I can make an informed decision and the right purchase for me.

First off, I will be doing all my diving and spearing in Southern California, so I'm pretty sure I'll need a 5mm suit.

I'd most likely be doing more kelp and shore dives than open water, so for this reason I was thinking of going with the Ocean/Med Mimetic, as it'd break up my outline (plus I'm not super fond of looking like a big black seal when I'm diving in waters frequented by white sharks.) I'm likely leaning more towards ocean mimetic than med, since it still blends with kelp, but also looks quite nice in open water as well.

I'm wondering, though- if there is a big benefit to the titanium-treated neoprene as opposed to the normal open cell mimetic ones. Also, are the mimetic suits available with the titanium-treated neoprene? I've sent a bunch of questions directly to Omer, and a few weeks later, I still haven't heard back.

If the black titanium-lined suit is the way to go, does anyone have experience painting them yourself? I work in screenprinting, so it'd be rather easy to do the painting, I'm just curious about how the suit holds up after being painted, and if there are any tips or things to look out for that I should know.

Finally... should I be looking more closely at other suits instead? It seems that many pictures I find show that divers like the Omer suits, but in the forum discussions it seems I never read someone recommending them, but rather people recommend Elios and other suits.

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long-winded first post...
I look forward to sharing my future dives with you all, and yours with me!

[demasoni]

Welcome to DB Nemesis,

I'm a fan of custom Elios suits. It's really easy to order through their website - Home and as far as price, it'll most likely be around the same price as an off the rack Omer suit. The bonus with Elios is that it'll fit you like a latex glove! Feel free to e-mail them with any questions, they have always responded to me within 2-3 days.

My first suit was a Sporasub Viper that I bought at my local spearo shop with nylon lined inside and out. The Sporasub turned out to be more expensive than my next suit which was a custom Elios with open cell inside and nylon out and it didn't fit as well as the Elios either. So, my point is, go custom first!

There is another company out there called Diveskin. My buddy "Sheepeck" tried it out and he's really pleased with his suit and the good price - look at this thread:
http://forums.deeperblue.net/wetsuit...-diveskin.html

The titanium inner coatings make it easier to put the suit on, but for the ultimate in warmth, go with open cell inside.

[Nemesis]

thanks for the info, I'm gonna look into it tonite!

somehow I suppose I got confused and thought that the suit with titanium lining was also at the same time open cell

I appreciate the clarification..

[Nemesis]

thanks everyone for your advice!

I ended up getting a 5mil Muta Green Omer suit and I love it!

I went out to Anacapa this past weekend for some killer kayaking and freediving (no spearing in their reserve, which now that I've seen it, I'm glad for).

I was bein tailed for hours by a local seal. Whenever I'd stop my kayak and dangle my feet in the water, he'd swim up alongside me and float on his back about 6 inches from my foot, starin me in the face.

Sneakin through the kelp, I got crept up on by a bat ray that had to be 7' from wing to wing, and nose to tail... I was more startled than he was, but we enjoyed a nice swim through the grasses together for a good 40 mins.

It was great to ninja my way through kelp stringers and be nose to nose on the other end with a big calico.

Cant wait to get back out!

[sciencemike]

Wow sounds like an amazing dive! Congrats on getting a suit well suited for you as well. Enjoy and thanks for the update on your choice and how it worked out.