SEASOFT TX™ Drysuits CALL TO PLACE ORDER

The SEASOFT TX™ is one of our best selling drysuits.

Why should you buy a SEASOFT TX™ Drysuit?

The SEASOFT TX™ is one of our best selling drysuits and has become a legend.  Try to find a drysuit like the SEASOFT TX™ from any other company for under $2,000.  You just won’t!

The TX™ is made of a special type of 4.5 mm SUPERSTRECH™ neoprene with 2 layers of Titanium Flake Foil™, a layer on the outside to reflect the cold away and an interior layer to keep the diver’s bodyheat from escaping.   The SEASOFT TX™ is so lightweight, comfortable, easy to put on and take off and easy to use, is it any wonder the 3.5 mm version, the TX3, scored the highest in an independent test by SCUBALAB when pitted against the industry’s best.  See this link for the scorecard:

 http://ads.bonniercorp.com/scuba/PDF/ScoringChart.pdf

The SEASOFT TX™ Drysuit has:

• STEALTH Booties™ with an elevated heel and real orthotics for comfort, warmth, stability, a strong kick and unsurpassed performance.

• Rugged kneepads that are the best in the entire drysuit business and they have a LIFETIME warranty!

• All SEASOFT Drysuits are built with NO cross seam in the crotch unlike our competitors.  In other words, the front and back of our drysuits are ONE piece of neoprene.  No one else does this, it is very expensive but it is the right way to do it.  We cut our suits as one piece eliminating the #1 place for leaks, the crotch area.

• Si-Tech exhaust and intake Valves, the valves recognized as the best in the dive industry.

• Ti ZIP™ SUPERSEAL zippers from Germany can be self-opened and closed and are more durable than traditional brass zippers, not to be confused with the fragile MASTERSEAL™ zipper.

• All SEASOFT drysuits are cut with raglan sleeves (wide sleeves) for a wide range of motion. The exhaust valve is located on the forearm for superior buoyancy control because the placement of the valve on the forearm will vent air 5 X faster than a shoulder mounted exhaust valve. This is the logical position for the exhaust valve, it turns your arm into the same role as the inflator assembly on your BC.  You wouldn’t mount your BC’s inflator assembly in any other place than the highest point would you?

Your arm now becomes your deflator hose so when you lift your arm, all the air moves to the top of your arm lifting the valve off the undergarment and venting air rapidly and efficiently.  Buoyancy control is so much easier.  So you don’t use your BC underwater with a neoprene suit, you use your drysuit for buoyancy control.

• STRETCHTEX Seals™ are our 3 mm hybrid neoprene neck and wrist seals that fold under for unsurpassed comfort, warmth, reliability and dryness especially when compared to latex seals.  STRETCHTEX Seals™ get their watertight abilities from being folded under approximately 1-2 inches with the small amount of air inside the fold trying to “escape”. This air then holds the STRETCHTEX™ against your neck and wrist creating a waterproof seal.

The SEASOFT TX™ can be used in temperatures from approximately 32 to 65 degrees F.  Of course, you will want a SEASOFT ALASKA™ undergarment for temperatures from 32 to 55 degrees.  The SEASOFT TX™, the drysuit for those looking for a neoprene suit that is comfortable, warm, dry and tough and yet affordable. Available in 8 stock men’s and women’s sizes AND custom suits as well.

The SEASOFT TX™ comes with your choice of approximately 20 color decals on the chest and wrist, one pocket on the right side and deluxe removeable suspenders.  Make sure to buy the special accessory package that includes the ALASKA Undergarment, SEASOFT Ankle Weights, SEASOFT Hood, Deluxe Suspenders and SEASOFT RANGER 5 Pocket Gear Bag.

Accessories from pockets, pee valves and ankles weights, butt pads, hoods etc. are all available – look for the appropriate link!

Bruce Justinen, the President of SEASOFT SCUBA, explains the difference between Shell Drysuits and Neoprene Drysuits:

“There are a lot of “experts” out there telling people which drysuit they should buy.  The problem is they are telling people based on their “experience”.  Usually that “experience” is predicated on the one or two drysuits they have owned.

It reminds me of the “pickup wars”.  Traditionally people are very loyal to a brand of pickup, Ford, Chevy, Dodge (now Ram), etc. Rarely, if ever, had they ever actually driven the “other guys” pickup but they would be sure to tell you that they would NEVER own one.  

That’s often how it is with drysuits.  But for the person wanting to buy a drysuit there are a lot of mixed messages, a lot of advice from divers, instructors etc. who have only used one drysuit or type of drysuit.  

 I have over 5,000 drysuit dives over the last 33 years.  I have experience with virtually every type of suit, vulcanized rubber, compressed neoprene, crushed neoprene, traditional neoprene, trilaminate shell, thin shell, heavy duty shell, stretched fabric over shell and hybrid neoprene suits and here is my experience with the two most widely used type of drysuits. 

Here are the main differences between shell suits and neoprene suits.  

SHELL SUIT:  In a shell suit the diver basically dives some type of a squeeze in order to have a useable suit  (remember, the fabric doesn’t stretch).    Because the suit has to be cut large enough to accomodate for their movements in a non-stretchable fabric, there is space for air to move in a large mass.  This big “bubble” in the suit would create potential mayhem for their buoyancy and control.  So in order to eliminate this chaos, they dive with some type of squeeze (they do NOT add air or they add very little, as they descend). 

Since, the diver is diving with a squeeze and since air is what gives them warmth and since the suit itself has NO thermal protection they are forced to wear big thick undergarments.  They have NO choice. 

For buoyancy control, they would use their BC underwater, if they used their drysuit, instability ensues for most divers.

NEOPRENE SUIT:  In a neoprene suit the diver uses air to keep warm.  Since the suit fits like a loose wetsuit and because it stretches the air does not form a large bubble.  The air is dispersed all around the suit as a layer of air.  As the diver descends he/she adds air to this layer.  They will get a minor movement of air but it does not move as a “body” of air.  The diver does not need thick undergarments because the suit itself is providing a layer of insulation but so is the layer of air.   During the dive they can add additional air that can continue to provide additional insulation.

In the winter, many divers will actually add a couple of pounds of weight so that they can add a small amount of additional air to their drysuit for additional warmth.  In a neoprene drysuit: Air = Warmth.

They will not use their BC for buoyancy during the dive. They will typically ONLY use their BC on the surface.

SHELL SUIT:  Once again, because shell suits do not stretch, it must be made larger, creating a large amount of excess material.  This excess material creates hydro-drag.  The more surface area (lose fabric, wrinkles, etc.)  that water has to flow over, the more drag it produces.  This uses up air, slows the diver down, tires them out prematurely and quite frankly nothing good comes from hydro-drag.

 From Wikipedia: “the larger the surface area presented to the water, the more hydro-drag produced.”

NEOPRENE SUIT:  Since neoprene stretches, it makes for a closer fitting drysuit and presents far less surface area to the water, typically 20-30% less fabric.  Thus, there is less hydro-drag in a neoprene drysuit and it is not uncommon for divers to have longer bottom times with part of that reason being that they are also warmer.

SHELL SUITS: So often, even with the thicker undergarment, many divers are cold when they dive their shell drysuits.  Of course, part of the reason is because they are diving in a squeeze (no air in the suit).  This causes the suit to collapse in on the undergarment and forces it against the body.  This can potentially eliminate a portion of its thermal protection. Also, the suit itself has NO thermal protection and with no layer of air, the only thermal protection is the undergarment.

NEOPRENE SUITS: The neoprene suit delivers the first layer of thermal protection, the dispersed air around the diver delivers the second, and the undergarment is the third layer of thermal protection.  Three will always beat one.

The argument made by some is that you need more weight for a neoprene drysuit.  The answer is that you do!  If you were diving a shell suit with a squeeze then yes, diving warm in a neoprene drysuit will require more weight but that is like saying that steel tanks costs more than aluminum.  Well, yes, they do, but the advantages are worth it.  

In the case of neoprene vs shell, as amazing as it is, the neoprene is usually the less expensive of the two.

IN CONCLUSION:  SEASOFT SCUBA does not make shell suits, it would be easy and extremely profitable to make them.   But we won’t and this is why – We cannot manufacture a product we don’t believe in.  Neoprene drysuits are simply better than shell suits in every way!  Once you dive one, you will agree.