I need a new 4/3

chibichibi · Joined: 26 Jun 2006 Posts: 275

koogz...did you hit another railroad tie today or what???

this is a pretty great oneill. a bit heavy but built like a tank and warm as all getup for your full bay season.

http://www.bigwinds.com/wind/category/22/product/776

pacopicot · Joined: 20 May 2007 Posts: 35

O'Neill Psycho2 for ultimate comfort or Psycho freak for ultimate warmth.

koogzah · Joined: 06 Jul 2005 Posts: 530 Location: right here

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

Sorry, dudes, but I've bought two 3/2 shortys, two 3/2 full suits, one 4/3 Hotline fullsuit, and one 5/3 Body Glove steamer, all new, for $303 ... TOTAL, including tax. Sources include Walmart, TruVaue Hardware's HUGE sporting goods section, Second Wind in Hood River, and a PacNW chain called Liquidators (they had racks upon racks of Body Glove steamers and dry suits for $100 and $125). You guys can pay $1,350 + tax for all that stuff, or you can pay attention and get deals. It's your call. I've used the lesser-name (O'Brien) shortys and full suits for years, treating them like $3 paint-stained sweat shirts, without one single bug besides some fading.

BTW ... ProMotion tells you up front that you can't just grab a handful of their supersoft, superstretchy neoprene and forcefully pull a suit on or off. You use your palms and pull only on nylon-coated panels. On my $35 (O'Brien) and $55 (Hotline) suits I just grab a handful and yank, and they are FAR easier to get on and off than high-tech, supersoft. tighter suits. Is it any wonder that I wear the cheap stuff every time I don't NEED 5 mm of super-insulation ... and that I'd prefer to pay $100 than $325 for a Body Glove steamer? Dimes on the dollar for unused boards and sails 'cause a dude quit WSing for kiting? $10 for $100 Addidas and Nike sneakers when Joe's Sporting Goods went bankrupt? $20k for a new car that beats Corvettes around Watkins Glen ... with three boards and five full rigs inside? 25% off Kokatat GoreTex dry suits via special order at REI? $100 for non-Goretex closeout dry suits (like the Rodeo Wave stuff the kiters wear) from NRS? $80 Camaro steamers from Sierra Trading Post? $25 for name-brand Merino wool ski sweaters? $15 for a Tilley hat? This could go on for pages, but I'll spare you.

Be cynical, myopic, lazy, and cash-strapped, or pay attention/put forth some effort and reap the benefits. Sorry, but I just don't have a lot of sympathy for all the whining about the cost of stuff, about "having" to live in windless areas, and about not having any free time to WS, so I climb on this particular friendly reminder soap box every year or two to wake/shake people up. Like everything else in life, a little research and effort pays huge dividends.

That said, I love my new XXLS ProMotion dry suit, for which I paid retail this spring. When the chips (and water temps) are down, I don't mind paying full shot if necessary, and I expect this suit to last many, many years because the minute the water exceeds 50 degrees, it gets set aside so I can put the real wear and tear on my cheap stuff. Who the hell needs a fragile $300 shorty in merely cool weather?

Those who don't appreciate solid, useful advice can bitch and moan all you like about the lecture; nobody made you read it, and I care only about the people who benefit from it.

Mike \m/

windoggi · Joined: 22 Feb 2002 Posts: 2743

Thank you for caring, Mr Fick.

mac · Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 1:46 pm Post subject:

Windoggie--again, you rock! You out-Moed Mo!

windoggi · Joined: 22 Feb 2002 Posts: 2743

human_catapult · Joined: 20 Nov 2007 Posts: 374

I'm of the school of thinking that wetsuits do have a "get what you pay for" factor involved.

I ordered one of those cheap Camaro wetsuits off of Sierra Trading Post once. By the way it fit me, I would have thought my family jewels were being held in a set up vice grips. I would come off the water speaking a couple octaves higher than when I went out.

That said, there are some suits that are so expensive that they're probably not worth the extra money...

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

I try on unfamiliar brands first, or make sure I can return them if mail-ordered. For my latest ProMotion -- even though they're just a couple of hours' drive away -- I ordered two sizes, picked one, and returned the other. The whole process took far less time and money than driving there. NRS in Moscow, ID gladly does that, as do most dealers. (NRS also has a HUGE variety and selection of water wear from booties to $1,000 dry suits at deep discounts because they're returns or closeouts or discontinued.)

Mike \m/

mogunn · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 1307 Location: SF Bay

Looks like Mr. Fick's self-inflating Egonese scored him his own brand of wetsuit...SelfProMotion.

Anyone have a pin?

Poof...........