How to Choose the Right Wetsuit for Scuba Diving

One of the most common recommendations for new divers is to buy a 5mm wetsuit. It's reasonable advice. A 5mm provides enough insulation for a wide range of conditions, and if you're only going to own one wetsuit, it's a sensible compromise.

But having owned wetsuits in 3mm, 5mm, and 7mm, I wouldn't make that recommendation myself. I'd buy a good 3mm and Bare Exoware instead. That combination gives me considerably more flexibility, with less bulk, and covers nearly everything I want to dive in a wetsuit.

In fact, I've reached the point where I don't intend to replace my 5mm or 7mm when they eventually wear out. My long-term exposure-protection setup will consist of Exoware, a 3mm wetsuit, and a drysuit.

How a Wetsuit Keeps You Warm

Neoprene contains thousands of tiny gas-filled cells that slow the transfer of heat from your body into the surrounding water. A small amount of water also enters the wetsuit and is warmed by your body. A properly fitted suit limits how much of that warmed water is replaced by colder water, reducing the additional heat loss caused by flushing.

This explains why fit is so important. A loose wetsuit allows water to continually circulate through gaps around the neck, wrists, ankles, and torso. Your body must repeatedly warm that replacement water, which can make even a thick wetsuit surprisingly ineffective.

Thickness matters, but so do fit, construction, water temperature, and the length of the dive.

Choosing the Right Thickness

Everyone experiences cold differently. Some divers are perfectly comfortable in a 3mm wetsuit at temperatures where others would prefer a 5mm or even a 7mm. Manufacturers publish temperature recommendations, but those are starting points rather than universal standards.

Here's how typical recommendations compare with my personal preferences.

I tend to run warm, so my preferences won't necessarily work for everyone. More importantly, temperature alone doesn't tell the whole story. A thirty-minute dive in 72°F water is very different from spending an entire morning making three dives in those conditions. Depth, activity level, thermoclines, and repetitive diving all affect how quickly you become cold.

I'd choose exposure protection based on the coldest water I expect to encounter and how long I expect to remain in it. Once you have some experience, your own comfort becomes a better guide than any manufacturer's chart.

Why I Recommend a 3mm and Exoware

Bare Exoware is lightweight exposure protection that provides more warmth than an ordinary dive skin without the bulk of a conventional neoprene wetsuit. What I particularly like is that I can wear it independently or layer it beneath another suit.

Exoware alone works when I want more protection than a rash guard or dive skin. A 3mm wetsuit handles cooler recreational diving, and when I combine the two, I get roughly the insulation I'd associate with a 4mm wetsuit. That extends my comfortable range down to approximately 70°F.

I can also wear Exoware beneath my existing 5mm, providing warmth approaching what I'd expect from a 7mm. These are comparisons based on my experience rather than precise measurements of equivalent neoprene thickness, but they're useful when choosing what to wear.

Another advantage is that Exoware is neutrally buoyant in my experience, so adding or removing it doesn't meaningfully affect my weighting. That's particularly appealing compared with increasingly thick neoprene, where additional insulation also means additional buoyancy.

The layered approach gives me more choices without carrying a collection of heavy wetsuits. Even with Exoware underneath, my 3mm feels considerably less bulky than a conventional 5mm.

For someone who primarily travels to warm-water destinations, I think a 3mm and Exoware are an exceptionally versatile combination. They'll cover a substantial range of recreational diving, although cold currents, thermoclines, and unusually long dives can still demand more insulation.

Fit Is More Important Than the Brand

A wetsuit should fit snugly throughout your body without restricting breathing, circulation, or movement. You want the neoprene lying close to your skin, particularly around the torso, with minimal loose material that allows water to collect and circulate.

Pay attention to the lower back, armpits, crotch, and behind the knees. Some wrinkling around joints is normal, but large folds or obvious gaps suggest the fit isn't right. The neck, wrist, and ankle openings should also be close-fitting without being painfully tight.

When trying on a wetsuit, don't simply stand in front of a mirror. Reach overhead, squat, bend your knees, and rotate your shoulders. Try reaching for your tank valve or manipulating equipment around your chest. If the suit prevents you from moving comfortably in the shop, it isn't going to become more practical underwater.

This is one reason I've consistently purchased Bare wetsuits. I'm tall, with relatively long arms and legs, and Bare's XLT sizing fits my proportions particularly well. That doesn't make Bare the best manufacturer for everyone. It simply means their sizing works for my body.

If a particular brand consistently leaves gaps around your waist or restricts your shoulders, try another manufacturer. I wouldn't buy an expensive suit hoping an obviously poor fit will somehow improve once I'm in the water.

Is an Expensive Wetsuit Worth the Money?

I own 3mm and 5mm Bare Velocity wetsuits and a 7mm Bare Reactive, one of the company's premium models. Despite the Reactive's expensive thermal technology, I haven't noticed a meaningful benefit from its premium features compared with the less expensive Velocity line.

What I do notice is how bulky and buoyant a 7mm wetsuit is. I simply don't enjoy diving in it, and my Reactive now serves primarily as a backup if my drysuit is unavailable. If I were buying again, I'd save the money and choose the Velocity.

Construction, Zippers, and Seals

For most scuba diving, I prefer a full-length wetsuit. It provides more consistent insulation and offers additional protection against minor abrasions, jellyfish stings, and incidental contact with surfaces. Shorties can be comfortable in very warm water, but I don't consider them particularly versatile.

Semi-dry wetsuits use more effective neck, wrist, ankle, and zipper seals to reduce water exchange. They're still wetsuits, but limiting flushing can significantly improve thermal performance in cooler conditions.

Seam construction matters too. Glued and blind-stitched seams generally allow less water penetration than ordinary flatlock stitching, while additional sealing can improve durability and reduce leakage.

As for zippers, I prefer back-entry wetsuits. They're generally easier to put on and take off, especially when dealing with thicker neoprene or the fatigue that comes after several dives. Some front-entry designs offer better protection against flushing, but that advantage depends on the construction and seals.

I'd prioritize a properly fitting back-zip wetsuit that's easy to use rather than make getting dressed unnecessarily complicated for a modest thermal improvement.

Hoods, Gloves, and Additional Warmth

A good hood can make a remarkable difference in cold water. Research involving cold-water immersion has found that exposing the head can increase the rate of core body cooling by approximately 40 percent. That isn't the same as saying 40 percent of all body heat escapes through your head, but it demonstrates why head protection is worth taking seriously.

A properly fitting hood should cover your head without restricting breathing, vision, or movement. It should also integrate with your wetsuit collar to minimize water circulation.

Gloves and boots deserve similar attention. Cold fingers aren't merely uncomfortable; reduced dexterity can make it harder to manipulate clips, operate equipment, and perform ordinary tasks underwater.

Interestingly, although I tend to run warm overall, my fingers get cold relatively easily. I wear Bare 3mm gloves on most of my wetsuit dives because they provide a useful balance between warmth and dexterity.

Additional thermal layers can extend the useful range of a wetsuit, but there's a limit to how much insulation I'd add before reconsidering the suit itself.

Don't Forget About Buoyancy

Wetsuits are positively buoyant because of the gas trapped inside the neoprene. Thicker suits generally require more ballast at the surface, and that buoyancy decreases as the neoprene compresses during descent. It's one of the reasons I dislike wearing a 7mm.

There's another source of buoyancy that divers sometimes overlook. When you first enter the water wearing a dry wetsuit, air can remain trapped between the suit and your body, particularly around the shoulders, armpits, and torso. Depending on how much is trapped, it can add several pounds of temporary buoyancy and make descending unnecessarily difficult.

I recommend burping the wetsuit at the surface. Briefly open the collar while floating in the water, allowing water to enter and displace the trapped air. You're not trying to continually flush the suit during the dive. You're simply removing air that would otherwise escape as you descended.

Caring for Your Wetsuit

Wetsuits are relatively easy to maintain. Rinse them thoroughly with fresh water after diving, allow them to dry in a shaded, ventilated location, and avoid prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. Use a wide hanger or an appropriate storage arrangement that prevents stretching and permanent creases.

Salt, ultraviolet exposure, repeated compression, and poor storage can gradually degrade neoprene. Over time, the material may lose flexibility and insulating performance. If a wetsuit that once kept you comfortable no longer does, its condition may be part of the problem.

What I'd Actually Recommend

If I were starting over, I'd buy Bare Exoware, a properly fitted 3mm wetsuit, and a drysuit. That's the exposure-protection system I intend to own going forward.

For someone primarily diving warm-water destinations, I'd start with just Exoware and the 3mm. Worn independently or together, they offer considerable flexibility and cover most of the diving that person is likely to encounter, down to approximately 70°F based on my experience.

When the water gets colder, I prefer a drysuit rather than progressively thicker neoprene. But a drysuit is a much larger investment, and I recognize that plenty of divers don't own one or have any reason to buy one. For those divers, a 5mm is still a sensible choice, particularly when they regularly dive in cooler water. I've covered that decision separately in Drysuit: Yes or No?

I'll continue using my existing 5mm Velocity and 7mm Reactive while they're serviceable, but I won't replace either when they wear out. The combination of Exoware, a 3mm, and a drysuit covers the diving I actually want to do without the additional bulk of several progressively thicker wetsuits.

The objective isn't to own a wetsuit for every possible temperature. It's to own the fewest pieces of exposure protection necessary to dive comfortably in the conditions you actually encounter.