In Reply to: Bear Drysuits questions posted by Josh.C on December 19, 2005 at 22:05:33:

I have never owned a Bear drysuit so I can't give a helpful comment on the quality of their product.

I do own two DUI's and to me they have been worth every penny (or in the case of DUI - lots of pennys). I have had my origional suit for probably 8 years now and it just keeps on going. I bought a "spare" from DiveUS - a company that lists factory seconds, over runs, custom order suits that aren't picked up etc. on e bay. These suits come with a DUI warranty and are substantially less expensive - some around $1,000.00, with a few less, and others more. The DUI service department is excellent and is something to be considered because every dry suit will require maintenance about once a year. The zip seals are a bonus as seals deteriorate the fastest (usually at the worst times) and it eliminates the need to return the suit for this repair. I've had a seal tear, replaced it, and still made the gate time. Any drysiut that you get is going to cost somewhere between $100.00 and $300.00 a year to keep in the water.