Hello,

I 'm looking to buy my first wetsuit. I like the fit of the BARE Velocity.

I'm trying to decide on getting the 3 mm or the 5mm. The majority of my diving will be in local Midwest quarries May to Oct,
and maybe the Gulf a couple of times a year. I don't find myself getting that cold on dives.

Any advice would be appreciated.

just depends on the temp and time you will be there.  5mm is a lot of suit to deal with if you don't have to.  on the other side I have a try density skin I like to dive with in the keys.  Fly into Miami or Ft. Lauderdale, rent a car and drive to the keys.  Lots of fish and shallow dives.

I'd really need an idea of the water temp, but I'm pretty certain you'll want a 5 mil at a minimum. I dive lakes and quarries here, and I wear an 8/7/6 semi-drysuit. One site is a constant 63 degrees, and I wouldn't dare dive it with less, unless I knew it was going to be a single dive.

I would guess roughly 60 F to 80 F.

Keep in mind the thermocline, which can be as much as 30 degrees cooler.

Another option is get the 3 mill, then another 3 mill shorty to wear over it to keep your core warm, or a hood to stop the massive heat loss from your head. . As mentioned, thermoclines can trick you.  I've been on dives in the gulf where it was 80 deg on surface, get down to 50' and it's frigid. Then hit bottom at like 140-150 and it's a nice 70 deg.

I have a 3 mil, a 5 mil, and a 7 mil.

In the lakes around us, starting about now, I could wear the 3 mil if I stay in the top 5-10 feet of water, figure low 70's  really high 60's.

Below that the 5 mil will suit me fine as long as the water temps are high 50's/low 60's, or I'm not in it (colder water) for long. This only gets me in the 20-40 ft range in these lakes.

The 7 mil will take me into the 30's and 40's

I just wear a swimsuit and a t-shirt rash guard in Cozumel in February in water temps from 78-80, but others on the boat are cold in there 3 mil full suits with hoods.


Temperature tolerances are different from person to person so YMMV.

I'm going to suggest you look at the Bare Reactive. It's more $$. I have the women's version, the Bare Evoke. I've had it nearly a month. They have this Celiant technology in them, minerals in the interior fabric that reflect your body heat back at you. I have the 3mm and 5mm, although the 3mm has yet to get worn as the local quarries are still cold at depth. I wore the 5mm for my deep class at the quarry two weekends ago. It was 46 degrees at 80ft and I was toasty.

I will be wearing the 5mm to dive Lake Michigan this weekend.

Definitely going to depend on your natural insulation and what you can tolerate.  I don't have a lot of natural insulation.  My OW and AOW dives were done at Dutch Springs, PA in July and August. The shop provided us with 7mm suits.  Avg water temp was 66-70.  I was plenty comfortable most of the time and certainly never too warm.  The deep dive (90ft) dropped to 48-50 degrees and I was freezing.  Below the thermocline at ~30ft it was getting uncomfortable.  At first I tried it without a hood, but made sure I had one for subsequent dives below the thermocline.

I haven't got a suit of my own, but when I do it will be 7mm.  Anything below 80 degrees it will be fine for me.  Warmer than that and I'm not wearing a suit.

The great thing about owning your own wetsuit is it's only your pee in it.

After only diving dry until about a month ago, you can be danged sure I peed in my wetsuit!