Hollis Biodry FX100
Drysuit Review by Matt Oreo
Late in 2009 Russell Kit and Adrian Briggs of Oceanic Australia were
kind enough to let me trial the new Hollis Biodry FX100 front entry drysuit for
our longer deeper technical dives on the Northern NSW
Coast. The below review outlines some of the
features of this great new suit.
Style
The first thing you notice is this is a very aesthetically pleasing
suit, all black with the manufacturer’s name and logo embroided in Red. It has
stylish knee and shin protection emblazed with the Hollis logo, which also form
a working part of the built in elastic gators which I will talk about further
on in this review. The Hollis branding also appears on the inflation and dump
valves on the suit.
Function
Flexibility - As you put the suit on for the first time you notice that
the wearforce material has great flexibility for a shell suit, this is even
more noticeable in the water, and even under squeeze you still have good range
of movement. This allows the suit to be less baggy than some shell suits while
still achieving great mobility
Socks - The foot of the suit is simply a continuation of the wearforce
shell from the rest of the suit. This is a brilliant feature as it allowed me
to slip my foot straight into my normal wetsuit boot and straight into my
beloved blade fins. No need for rock boots and oversized fin pockets.
Gators - The built in Gators are a great feature as it allows you to easily
control air movement in your lower legs and restrict any “floaty” feet problems
found in some suits.
Pockets - The FX100 has generous expandable pockets on both thighs that
allow good storage options for a variety of gear. It also has a Velcro system on
the pockets that allows them to become very streamlined when only holding
smaller objects or not in use.
Zips - The zips (yes there are two of them) form a quality seal on the
suit and are easily reached and operated by the diver given they are a front entry
set up. The main zip is of high quality and provided a perfect seal every time
I wore it. The secondary zip is a plastic tooth zip that closes the wearforce
material over the metal tooth zip to give extra protection from damage and
water entry. The suit comes with a stick of zip wax which is a nice touch.
Seals - The seals are standard latex seals which are easily cut to size
and have pronounced rings to provide a cutting guide.
Valves - The inflation valve is mounted centre chest and is fully
rotating allowing inflation hose connection from either side. The suit is
supplied with appropriate inflation hose. The dump valve is mounted high on the
upper arm and is positioned well for venting air from the suit. The dump valve
is adjustable for automatic or manual dump by simply rotating the valve
assembly.
Fit - I found the sizing to be exactly as described on the Hollis size
chart on their website. According to the chart I was a large and the large suit
fits very well. The suit also comes with built in suspenders to hold the suit
up when you want to peel it down between dives. As mentioned earlier, the
wearforce material allows the suit to be less baggy than some shell suits while
achieving the same if not better reach and movement.
Insulation - Given that the Biodry FX100 is a shell suit it allows for a
variety of undergarments and layers. Given that the waters I was diving in
weren’t extreme in terms of cold I was comfortable in 100 gram fleece. I then
tried wearing merely thermo core style vest and pants to reduce bulk and while
my dive buddies were shivering in 5 and 7mm wetsuits I was completely warm.
Summary
A very well thought out suit that is both stylish and practical. This
front entry dry suit has a long list of features that are all useful not only
to the technical diver but all levels of sports divers. The suit is also
supplied in its own Hollis canvas dry suit bag. This was my first experience
with Hollis equipment given that Hollis is still a relatively new player on the
Australian tech diving scene. I was very
impressed by the quality and attention to detail from Hollis and would
certainly consider Hollis as a quality option for any of my future tech gear
purchases. I would highly recommend this suit.
The Author
Matt Oreo is a SSI Advanced Decompression Technical Diver and PADI
Master Scuba Diver based on the Gold Coast and is a founding member of the
newly formed group East Coast Underwater. ECU comprises of a small group of
amateur technical divers that conduct exploration dives on the Gold and Tweed Coasts
in search of new reefs and wrecks. Matt can be contacted at matthew.oreo@bigpond.com
