Hot take: drysuit valves from the 90s are way more reliable than the new fancy ones

I've been running an old Viking drysuit with those clunky metal valves for 8 years, never had a leak. My buddy just dropped $800 on a new membrane suit with the slim valves and it failed on the third dive. Anyone else sticking with the older gear or am I just lucky?

2 comments

2 Comments

kaiharris1d ago

Oh man tell me about it. It feels like everything now is made to look sleek and modern but falls apart way faster. I swear its just like phones or even kitchen appliances now - old stuff was built like a tank because they knew it had to last, new stuff is all about being light and fancy and breaking after a year so you buy another one. Your Viking suit sounds like a beast and I bet it'll outlive that fancy new membrane suit easy. Sometimes clunky and ugly just means it actually works.

emery_lopez1d ago

The original Viking valves are dead simple with fewer O-rings to go bad... I still swap the neck seal on mine every 3 years and the valve has never needed a single adjustment.