Cold water Wetsuits

[Spud]

Hello
For surfing the Great Lakes (Lake Michigan).

Water temperature is around 32 degrees Fahrenheit ( 0 degrees Celsius).

So I am thinking 5/4/3 mm. Now what brand to get?

I am partial to the below 2 wetsuits.
Body Glove Vapor and Rip Curl F-Bomb, the latter is sold in a regional store . I am liking the Body Glove from the technological description of the suit, but a Wetsuit must fit well to work and I don't know of a retailer of Body Glove near me.

I want as flexible a suit as possible and as light as possible but will compromise for the sake of warmth.

I would like to keep cost down to around $500 US.

So which is the best suit on the market? Body Glove, Rip Curl or some other brand like O'Neil?
About 2 years I read user criticism of Rip Curl suits for their seams separating. Is this still the case ? I don't want to spend $400+ on a wetsuit only to have it breakdown in under a year.

Thanks

[trifish]

Take a look at Matuse wetsuits also. They are gaining popularity out here on the westside. Really nice suits that behave differently them most. They dont take on any water like most suits and are extremely light in comparison. Ive had a few oneill suits that didnt hold up for me. I picked up a hoplite 5/4/3 Matuse for Northern California's winter (upper 40's) but was to warm for my liking so ended up selling it and picking up a hoplite 4/3/2 instead. If you decide to go away from some of your local suits then give them a look
Another note, Ive had bodyglove suits also and they always fit 1 size smaller on me then oneil/matuse suits for some reason. Also I used to live in Chicago and you are a very brave man for surfing on that water

[Spud]

Does anyone know of the Body Glove Vapor Slant uses that Japanese Yamamoto super stretchy Geoprene rubber? Their website doesn't say anything about it but I ran across a website that said Matuse , Body Glove and Patagonia both use it.

Below website says the following about Patagonia, Matuse and Body Glove.

Now, not all are making wetsuits from an ecological standpoint, but what they do have in common is that they chose Yamamoto limestone-based neoprene from Japan.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/11 ... neopre.php

Do the Body Glove Vapor Slant wetsuits let water in like traditional wetsuits or are they like Matuse and not let water in?

TriFish
I haven't surfed Lake Michigan yet but plan on it. I am used to the cold weather here so I don't think it's gona be too bad for me.

[isaluteyou]

Think about going for a chest zip as well. For some reason every wetsuit i ahve ever owned from the cheap to expensive the back zip always goes and ends up leaking.