Product Review – Whites Fusion Dry Suit

Earlier this summer, I was asked to try out a Whites Fusion dry suit. I have only owned Diving Concepts and DUI suits. My only experience with Whites was when I dove the Nexus suit for my dry suit certification course. My experience with that suit was so bad, I questioned if I wanted to dive dry or not. So I was more than reluctant to try out the Fusion suit.

Once I took a look at the suit, the construction of the actual suit looked good. I really didn’t like the concept of a dual layer (for lack of a better phrase) dry suit. If you have not seen the Whites Fusion suit, there is an inner layer that is made of a tri-laminate material and an outer shell that is removable. It still isn’t clear to me why there is a need for the two layers. My opinion on that in a moment.

The inner layer of the suit didn’t feel like many of the laminate suits that I’ve seen. It seemed to me that this material was thinner and more flexible than other suits I’ve felt. They outer shell was made out of a Spandex like material that felt like it could wear out easily.

Putting on the suit was different than other suits I’ve put on. First, you have to unroll the suit down to the top of the legs. Holding onto the crotch of the suit, you put your legs in making sure you do not pull on the outer shell, but instead pulling on the inner layer to get the suit up. Once you got the suit up to your waist, you could then gently pull up the outer layer to make it snug. My overall impression of putting on this suit was that it felt like putting on two condoms at the same time. It just didn’t seem natural and was clumsy.

Once the suit was up to your waist, you could put your arms through and then your head through the neck seal. Again, making sure you are pulling on the inner layer and carefully pulling tight the outer shell. This suit differs from your traditional front entry suit. Most traditional entry suits zip from should to hip. The suit zips shut across the front of your chest from shoulder to shoulder. I dove this suit with my Weezle Extreme+ undergarment. The suit felt too small with this undergarment. At least on the surface.

Now for the dive. I wear a standard DIR rig, which is a one piece harness on a backplate and wing. With the zipper in the front, it restricted my shoulders and I had difficulty reaching my valves. I was still able to do a couple valve drills, however it didn’t feel natural like in my DUI suit. There was certainly more “pinch” in my shoulders than other suits I’ve dove. During the dive, it occurred to me that the Spandex like outer shell was there to pull the inner layer tight and keep any extra material streamlined. This may be good in theory, however I did notice that the suit was trapping air and it was difficult to move that air up and out of the suit.

In summary, this suit was no where near as bad as my experience with the Nexus suit. It wasn’t the greatest experience in a dry suit I’ve had, but not horrible either. I will also concede that the suit was not custom cut to my body type and the stock size may have contributed to my experience in it. I’m not impressed with the outer shell of the suit. There is the normal skin, that I dove, and a tech skin. I’m not sure what the difference is, but I can’t see it being a dramatic difference in the suit. But I could be wrong.

Personally, I still like the Diving Concepts Z-Tech and DUI TSL350 suits and highly recommend those.

Dive Safe,
Duane Johnson
Precision Diving

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