Ryan King

October 08, 2017

Why DUI/OMS?

Over the years I’ve owned almost every style suit that DUI makes. The trilaminate suit is great for travel and the CF 200 is incredibly durable but my current favorite is the FLX Extreme. On the rare occasion when I put a pin hole leak in the suit, half an hour with a hair drier and a bit of aqua seal and it’s ready to go the next morning. My CF 200 would take days before it was dry enough to repair. As travel weight limits keep getting lower, I appreciate not having to leave camera gear at home, or pay the overweight fees, because my suit is too heavy.

Memorable Dives

I was always leery of heated undergarments until I tried the Blue Heat system. On my first winter test dive in New England I was shocked at the fact that I could actually feel my fingers at the end of a 80 minute dive in 39 degree water. At that point, I thought it was nice to have but I didn’t really appreciate it until I was diving in the Great Lakes the following year. As we descended to the wreck of the Carl D. Bradley, I noticed that I had a small leak in one of my gloves. It didn’t seem that bad until we got to the bottom and the 36 degree water started to seep in. As we completed our dive and began the hour and a half ascent to the warm waters above the thermocline, I truly appreciated being able to turn up the heat to my hands so that I didn’t lose any dexterity.

I’m sure we all have stories about how zip seals have saved dives. I always carry a spare set of seals and a small bottle of dish soap so that I can quickly change out seals when I run into a problem.

 

DUI & OMS Products

I’ve been diving DUI and OMS gear for more than 20 years. I started with my first trilaminate suit, which I just sold last year to a diver looking to get into dry suit diving, From there I dove the FLX 50/50, the CLX450, a CF 200X and for the past 2 years I’ve been diving the FLX Extreme.  It’s durable enough to handle the wrecks in the Great Lakes and New England, caves of Florida and Mexico, and frigid waters of the arctic. It only takes a few minutes to switch between zip seals and zip gloves depending on the dive.  A few years ago, I added a Blueheat system to my kit which has made long decompression hangs and winter dives in New England much more comfortable. I layer it under a xm250 jump suit and I stay plenty warm. For this latest trip to the Arctic and the Great Lakes I added the 11 MM hood which was a great choice. I love the OMS lift bags and surface marker buoys for this simplicity and reliability. The Tattoo mask has been one of the most comfortable masks I’ve warn in a long time. It’s low profile enough to be comfortable but the teardrop lenses make it easy to see my rebreather’s HUD.

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