Hi Mark, why are wetsuits mostly black? Why don’t manufacturers produce more colourful designs? It would be so much easier to tell divers apart underwater if everyone is wearing different coloured wetsuits. Are there advantages for wetsuits being black?
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I thought one of the reasons for black was to be less visible and don’t scare marine animals…
the issue is identification under water. try buying different color fins, hoody, dsmb to make yourself more easily identifiable to your buddy. some dms have a toy dangling from there tank
I live in Australia, and we have Big Bitty things think there called man eating Sharks, sharks have very poor eyesight im told by the surfers that surf at the bottom of Aus where the Great Whites eat people, so they all where Black .
Waterproof use blue, cressi got some red at the hood. But I guess Beuchat did it very smart, they added just colored lines. So you get some color in your wet-/drysuit and semi dry.
Funny fact, wetsuits for female divers are very colorful, maybe girls and women are also more open to buy a colored wetsuits.
Black is so generic 🫢 I want my own gear to not look like the rental stuff lol 😬
Black is slimming. If you have a few more pounds than you prefer, and you wear a tight rubber suit, black helps camouflage them.
Bull Sharks like blue, Whites like yellow, open water white tips like burgundy———-
There used to be a tv show called SeaHunt. The hero of the show wore a grey wetsuit. Since none were available, someone was in charge of painting his grey wetsuit for every episode.
Black also absorbs more sunlight, which helps keep you warm when in or out of the water.
OMG P-ang, you can’t just ask wetsuits why they aren’t black!
I’m sorry
Kalypse offers a wide range of colors on their tailor-made wetsuits and you can select the color for each and every piece of the wetsuit.
The only problem i have with black wet suit is the possibility of being mistaken for a seal.
I’d imagine that color doesn’t matter when diving the deeper depths too… the real question is why aren’t there hoods with Batman ears?
Mark, you’re right about latex being milky white. I am from Malaysia where we produce latex and latex related products such as foam, hand grips latex gloves and etc. The milky white colour of raw latex gets yellowish when going through the drying and pressing stages and colour is really hard to maintain if they were to dye the latex beforehand. That is why the best colour which can withstand all the processing is black and it is also inexpensive to get neoprene in black. Coloured neoprene goes through a whole different process which I dont think happens in the factories near where I live.
“I’ll stop wearing black when they invent a darker color.”
― Emmanuelle Alt
Thanks for featuring my question, Mark!
As with anything else. When you get down so far the color would just fade away anyway
I’ve always worn black scuba gear for the following pragmatic reasons; it doesn’t look busy, I don’t have to worry about colour matching, and I don’t want unnecessary interest from oceanic white tips…
I would like you to do a review on the new APLOS AP30 dive light rated to 300 feet of water. With 3 light setting choices! It’s claiming it has 3000 luminous and will light for 1 1/2 hours at full intensity
Navy divers and Navy seals wear black , a macho kind of thing.
It is also cheaper to produce Black Neoprene.
One problem is that manufacturers make predominantly pink and purple suits for women. A lot of women do not want a pink wetsuit, so we buy black. Manufacturers should stop thinking most women like pink😣
#askmark
I got a personal question, some diver who run a YouTube channel do also a kind of meet and greet, so you meet them they do even dives then. So I wonder if you thought about something similar?
I just thought, maybe there are some who would love to do some dives with you, so they would get a chance to meet you too.
Yeah, I’m always up to go scuba diving and meet new people.
#AskMark I am beginning to shop for a regulator set. I’ve got one dive shop in my area who sells a couple of brands. If you were to buy a reg would you lean towards the brands closest to you for service and warranty or would you be ok going with a different brand, with a particular feature, that the nearest retailer would be two or more hours away?
Personally, I’d rather get the brand that I trust or prefer over the nearest. It’s rare that they need to visit the service centre and with any luck a new dealer will open near you.
A nearby service centre is convenient. But, in this modern world there are service centers that you can send your regulators to and they ship them back to you.
@Scuba Diver Magazine Thanks for the reply. My local dive shop carries Aqualung, Atomic, and Dive-Rite which are all reputable brands. The big question is if I found say a Mares or a Sherwood, etc that looked appealing would it be better to stick to what is locally available for service after the sale.
#ASKMARK Sorry if this has been asked before.Snorkel or no snorkel. As when I dive overseas to some dive charters/agencies insist that you have to have a snorkel when diving.What’s your thoughts 🤔
Personally, I don’t tend to bring a snorkel on a dive. It’s hard to find a convenient place to store it where it doesn’t get in the way. They are very useful on the surface. However, if I’m in the situation where I need a snorkel on the surface then I just use my regulator. It’s rare that I have so little gas that I can’t breathe from my regulator.
I do bring a snorkel with me in my kit bag though, they are a handy piece of kit to bring but, it does spend most of it’s life in my bag though…
@Scuba Diver Magazine that’s my thoughts exactly the same. Good to know 🫡
#askmark is there any plans for a review on the new seal SL:01 drysuit?
Yes, I spoke with them at the GO Diving Show about organising a video. I’ve forgotten about it until now. I’ll message them and see if I can get hold of a sample drysuit to test.
I don’t mind the black suits, but as another commenter said, if you are female you have to deal with every accessory and pin stripe being pink. WTF? I managed to find some lavender pinstripes for my last suit, but I would really like a strong color, like red. Nope. Men’s suits get the red. Spare me the pastels. I buy black because if I don’t I will look like cotton candy.
Yeah, they make a BCD or wetsuit for women: Pink, Purple or Aqua Blue…
hi i bought a secont hand wetsuit from a lady the name is Divetek Inferno Dive skins can you maybe give me more information anout the suit. under sleeves the leg part there is a piece material hanging there its half roud what is that material for and i want to ask is that suit a dive wetsuit for scuba diving or must i use thet suit under a wetsuit im still learning about scuba diving and wetsuit. something els i want to ask when i go in the water and i stand up straight on the sand its fine but if i go deeper in the water and im still straight up and the sand disappear under my feet i cant float i sink down what can i do or put on my wetsuit to keep me float tank you sir
#ASKMARK
Hey, now… added to this, there is also the issue with visibility of colors at depth. Can you maybe elaborate on that in a video, as in: What colors are best to distinguish at what depths or environments (cavern, cave, open water, etc)
I mean, red would be a very bad choice, as it simply turns grey at some point, since all red wavelength is being filtered out quite early. I am very conservative and like to increase my own visibility.
The colour loss works it’s way through the rainbow Red>Orange>Yellow>Green>Blue but, differs slightly in water type.
Greens, Blues and Blacks blend into the background unless it’s a bright fluorescent green. Yellows and whites tend to be the best all-rounder but, they do get grubby. Orange is pretty good also. With or without a light source yellow is usually the best colour. Here’s an interesting resource with a table on water and illumination and most visible colours: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_vision
@Scuba Diver Magazine Thanks for that link!