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DMS Atlantis First impressions Quite a nice-looking suit in the no-nonsense school of thinking. Price £469 (includes hose). Material and construction A compressed neoprene suit with all seams glued and neatly covered with a fabric-type tape on the inside. Boots Solid rubber padded uppers; lined inside but with what we judged to be overly thin treads to the soles. Zip A cross-shoulder zip, beautifully fitted and stitched all round and finished with piping. Seals Neoprene seals throughout, with the longitudinal seam of the wrist seals cut at an angle to reduce stresses on the butt-glued and taped joint. The neck seal needs to be inverted to put its smooth skin next to the wearer. Wrist seal contact length 100mm. Knee pads Nicely integrated, rubberised-fabric knee pads. Valves There were gaskets on both sides of the centrally mounted inflation valve and on the outside of the cuff dump valve. Other features Two side pockets, nicely fixed but unusable when under water. Shoulder reinforcing as per knee pads. Reflective patches on sleeves. Ease of dressing "I slipped into it easily, but it felt a bit odd when I was wearing it. It was a little long in the body. I think it would have been improved with braces." In the water "I would never choose a cuff dump. A well-positioned auto-dump is essential for a diver with work to do. However, this one worked for the purpose of the test dive, except that it made a nonsense of the 'raising the arm and flexing the wrist sinews' test on that side! The comfort of the neoprene wrist seals was offset by the fact that there was slight leakage. The same went for the neck seal. Otherwise, it was very comfortable, except for the wide crotch seam tape of which I was very aware throughout the dive." Approximate weight of test suit 4.5kg. Made-to-measure service Yes. Tested by John Bantin. |
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