cskins appear to have no problems either?

One of the young lads is having some problems with his, cant remember what kind of problems though.

There is a whole world of difference between the neoprene used by Excel and that used by Cskin, as well as the stitching and seam taping.

I think what cskin provide is an honest suit, not cutting edge, but it will last a good amount of time for the money. My Cskins summer suit is still fine, but I dont wear it much as its not as flexible as other suits.

In fact, thinking about it, if I was a surf shop, I would just stock Excel and Cskins, it would give people a good choice of some reliable suits.

I think ( il happily state my ignorance) that cskins are last years xcel designs

they are pretty flexible and warm, i have the 5/3 wired hoodless version, but the knees are as bad as the o'neills. I will need to return it after buying it last october. thats 20 surfs in the suit and the knee is going.
other than that i am very happy with it and i have been told their customer service is very good, but we will have to see.

you are right for once! they are made in the same factory as oneil and xcell the designs are usually 1-2 years behind

are c-skins not designed by Carey John Brown, who started gul in the late 60's - or has he sold that one too?

the only experience i have of c-skins is doing them up. i have two friends who had them and thay could never do the zips up on their own. next time someone comes up to you in the car park and says "can you do my suit up for me please" check out the make of the suit.

having said that both suits seemed to last well.

my suit is a hoodless ziperless c-skins wired 5/3 and i think it's a great suit... this is my 2nd winter in it and still toasty... no problems with knees or seams

only small gripes - could be slightly lighter & more flexible, but it's grand around shoulders and arms really
i tore the neck of it too getting in and out, but i patched it months ago and no bother since...

yeah c skins is still owned and run by carey

o'neill physco 2 all the way, must be the toastiest wetsuit arnd....

Just got my 2nd replacement suit from Rip Curl Torquay: 1st they replaced an Elasto 2 a year ago for seams (after a 14 months of use) and gave me an E BOM upgrade for free and now I have dropped in the E BOM last weekend for the liquid tape failing and cracking with a tiny bit of the seam on the bat wing opening, picked up the new suit today and after a good discussion with a couple of the reps they have told me that the liquid tape was not as flexible as the elastomax with the tape splitting easily during cold weather resulting in the tape failing on all fronts, they cannot rework the tape, also they have moved back to their old supplier of elastomax, which is a Japan manufacturer and apparently their preferred supplier, the liquid tape has been re-engineered and has now "apparently" proved out their design faults so this years Rip Curl suits they hope will stand the test due to their redesigns but that will yet to be seen

Let see how they go. I must say, I love my elasto suits and hope they stand the test as they are a farking great suit. At least they stand by their product!

The improved Rip Curls, how will we know them from exisiting stock. Are Rip Curl going to rebrand them from the E, H or whatever Bomb?

Don't think so, its up to you to report the issue with the suit, if you bring your suit back due to issues with liquid tape cracking or seals falling apart you get a new one, I've had two replacement suits and only bought 1 in 3 years so I can't complain about the service just hope the new suit is made of sterner stuff

There's already a H-Bomb, its battery heated.
http://www.ripcurl.com/hbomb/

Iv got credit for a new suit waiting but I think I might hold off til next winters new models, no point at this stage

well i managed to kill my suit today - first exel casualty? took off on a 4' "my ego" wave this afternoon and got the lip on the head. axed. had the hood rolled down.

while i was underwater it felt like i had the leash around my neck choking me. i came up with hands clawing trying to find the leash to pull it off - no joy. the hood must have balooned and pulled realy hard - the front zip held closed, but the seam across back/shoulders that holds the lower hood panel in place ripped across to about the spine. for the rest of the session.

sure it will be a warantee job - only got the suit in jan.