Dry Suits

[Gramps]

If you don't have the big cash to lay out and plan to dive locally, a full neoprene dry suit is a great place to start. I dove a Harvey's full neoprene dry suit for 4 years til it finally gave out. I think I paid @ $600 bucks for it. I put in well over 100 dives in everything from ice dives to the dog days of summer. Super comfortable! Negatives are they are a bit more buoyant since they are made of uncrushed neoprene verses crushed so you need a bit more weight. Another negative is you need to be somewhat careful around sharp objects. Full neoprenes are no where near as fragile as a trilam suits but not as rugged as fully crushed. Insulation wise they are pretty good...I got away with just long johns and sweats down in the winter down to my skivvies in the summer :
Once that suit died <a dive story in itself!> I was ready to lay down the bucks and buy the best...a DUI CF200!!! <Sorry, we did agree not to play out "Dry Suit High Noon" here, huh?> Anyway, I got my money's worth, it was a great suit for me at the time.
Dry gloves? it's up to you but as I am sure many on this board will agree, once you try 'em you never go back!