When it comes to wetsuits, I'm kind of old-school. I've never bought into the idea that a one-piece suit with a hooded vest is more versatile or warmer than a farmer john with a jacket. So imagine my annoyance when friend after friend told me I had to try the new Aqua Lung Solafx, a one-piece suit that doesn't even have the vest.

Up until now, I haven't bothered to review such suits. I decided to give this one a chance, though. First, a description. As already stated, it's a one-piece suit with an attached hood, an across-the-chest zipper, a water dam that fits over the head and shoulders, and inner seals at the wrists and ankles to restrict water flow. The torso of the suit is 8mm thick, while the legs and sleeves are 7mm.

I wore the suit on two different days. On the first, I made back-to-back dives of 99 minutes in 51/52 degree water, and 70 minutes in 53/54 degree water, with a surface interval of less than 15 minutes in between. On the second day, I made a single dive of 90 minutes in 53 degree water.

Unbelievably, at no point during any of these dives did I feel uncomfortable. Those are pretty long dives in relatively chilly water for a guy who's as thermally challenged as I am. But this may be the best wetsuit I've ever worn. Wow, I can't believe I just said that.

How does it keep you so comfortable? The 8mm torso certainly helps but, even still, that's not much compared to a 7mm farmer john under a 7mm jacket. My guess is that it has more to do with the well-designed zipper, the seals and the dam, all of which definitely do restrict water flow inside the suit. I barely felt wet inside.

A few other points about the suit. It comes with instructions on how to put it on and take it off, and, for the most part, it's pretty easy to do. Even following the instructions, however, I did have some problems closing the zipper the last three inches or so. That's a pretty minor point, though. The stitching throughout seems to be of pretty high quality. And the kneepads are designed with separate pieces that move independently of one another so as not to be too stiff and create a weakpoint in the suit. That's a good thing but I do wish the pads were beefed up a bit.

All in all, though, this is an excellent suit. It is on the expensive side, with a retail price of approximately $500, but I would recommend it highly for New England diving.

Special thanks to Undersea Divers in Beverly, MA for letting me borrow a SolAfx from their stock for this review.

Jerry Shine