What thickness of neoprene suit should I choose? The thickness depends on the conditions in which it will be used. Lycra suits do not retain heat well, they are usually designed to protect the diver in warm water from abrasions and other mechanical skin injuries. According to their thermal characteristics, when diving in water with a temperature of about
1.5-3.5 mm neoprene would be suitable for 28-29 degrees C
26-27 degrees C – 3-5 mm. neoprene
19-25 degrees C – 5-7 mm. neoprene
10-21 degrees C – 6.5-8 mm neoprene.
Actual comfort depends on the diver's individual sensitivity to cold, the duration of the dive, and the number of dives per day.
Many manufacturers offer two-piece diving suits, which in our opinion are ideal for our conditions. For example, with a two-piece 7mm suit you will feel great diving in Lithuania throughout the diving season, because our water bodies do not have time to warm up during the summer and even in midsummer, if you go down to a depth of 10 meters, the water will be only 12-15 degrees C, and if you dive even deeper it will be 3-5 degrees, so two pieces of 7mm will definitely come in handy.
Spearfishing suits are slightly different from diving suits in their interior, exterior and stitching. They usually consist of two parts: a jacket without a zipper with a helmet, and pants with or without suspenders. Most often, the inside (sometimes the outside) of spearfishing suits is open-seam, i.e. pure neoprene not covered with any nylon or plush. In order to put on such a suit, you need to cover the inside with a solution of soap and water to make the open-seam slippery or smear your body with linseed oil, for example. It would seem that there is no need to use such a complicated way of dressing when there are simple suits. When you put on an open-seam suit, it seems to stick to your skin, as a result of which water practically does not circulate and the heat remains much longer than with a simple suit (almost twice as long). Plus, these suits do not have any zippers, as a result of which the heat in your suit also remains much longer.
Freediving suits range in thickness from 1 to 5mm. They are usually one-piece suits. The outside of the open-faced pair is covered with a water-repellent layer.
