One Wetsuit to Rule them all....

Wow, I really thought the requirements for those different categories were mutually exclusive. 5mm is probably pushing it, I'm not much of a surfer, but I'd say 3mm to still be able to move somewhat unencumbered.

bts

All I know is that I got a killer deal on tribonzai.com. xterra vortex for $100. That's the extent of my wetsuit knowledge.

You could always pair a 3mm hooded vest with a 5mm Shortie over a longsleeved tri wetsuit for some extra warmth. Typically, your head and upper body gets cold faster than your legs at depth.

Anything much colder, and you'd need the trisuit as insulation under a drysuit!

From my understanding, scuba suits are different from tri suits. The tri suits have more air pumped into the neophrene, so you float better. A tri suit on scuba dives would require more weight, which isn't really something I'd want to do on a dive. The more weight, the harder it is to control bouyancy and remain neutral. On the other hand, if you do a lot of diving, you can get a diving wetsuit and wear it in a tri, but do not get the full benefit of extra bouyancy in the swim. If I were to look for only one suit for both, I'd look at diving specific suits.

Thanks for all the info guys,

it would appear the I am going to need to buy separate wetsuits after all which is what my local dive shop told me but I thought maybe he was a little biased and trying to get a sale. I think if I was to use my diving suit in a triathlon my range of movement would be limited and my swim time would be affected. I didn't know that there was more air pumped into tri suits but it would make sense - and I think you're right that it's certainly not something you want when diving, i find i'm like a champagne cork in the water as it is without adding more air!!

I checked out the website tribonzai.com also - there are some very good closeout specials there - it might be worthwhile letting everyone at BT know in a separate post....

thanks again