2 Piece vs 1 Piece Spearfishing Wetsuits

One of the most common questions we get asked regarding spearfishing wetsuits is what's the difference between a one-piece wetsuit and the two-piece wetsuit. So we've outlined a few of the differences!

You can read the blog below or watch our video on this topic here:

First up your one piece, as the name suggests, is just one piece everything together. Your two-piece is going to consist of a top with a hood built in and pants. The pants can be high-waist pants. Or they can have the bib and brace built in too, which we call a long john.

So aside from the number of pieces that make up the wetsuit, your one-piece wetsuits will have a zip down the back. It actually reduces the flexibility a lot in the wetsuit. A zip is difficult to get good flexibility out of it because it's metal. Whereas the back of the two-piece wetsuit is really high-flex. That's really important when you're trying to do a duck dive.

If you've got no flexibility, you're going to be very stiff in the water and your technique's not going to be as good. The other disadvantage of having a zip down the back is it generally with these back zip suits, they're using a cheaper zip. This will let a lot of water into the suit so it's not going to be as warm as a two-piece suit. The two-piece suit quite often overlapping the long johns as well, so even more watertight.

Generally one-pieces suit don’t have a hood on it, so you’re going to lose a lot of heat out of your head and also going to let more water in down the back. Two-piece, hoods fully attached. No water should be getting in there if it's been fitted correctly.

Your two-piece suits have a beaver tail system at the bottom. This will stop water flowing up the jacket. It keeps the jacket sealed to the pants. Generally with a buckle system. However we do also have some wetsuits where it's velcro.

One of the other things you'll notice with your one-piece wetsuits because they are targeted at more entry-level spearos, the price points a bit lower. The stitching's actually going to be flatlock. Flatlock stitching penetrates the whole neoprene, so it's going to let some more water in. All of the two-piece wetsuits we carry, are glued blind-stitched so much more watertight.

Overall two piece wetsuits are going to hurt the bank a bit more than a one piece wetsuit, but if your budget allows I think it is well worth it.  As you can see with the features we've just gone through, you're going to be much warmer in a two-piece suit and generally they're made out of much stretchier neoprene allowing you to execute a better duck diver and be overall more flexible in the water.

Thanks for reading. If you'd like to see more gear overviews and tips we have loads of content on our blog or YouTube channel so be sure to check it out. Or if you have any other questions get in contact with us via live chat, email or visit one of our stores our spearfishing experts will be happy to help out.