With winter less than four and a half months away I’ve started to look into drysuits as a more convenient alternative to my 6/5/4 wetsuit.

Some drysuits have integrated booties while others do not. The drysuits with integrated booties seem like they would be a bit easier to get on and off, and they have two less gaskets to leak. However, separate booties can have really thin soles for better contact with the board, split toe design, and are easily replaceable when they wear out.

Does anyone have any experiences or recommendations as to which design tends to work better?

Like you've already mentioned - I will go through several booties before I get a new suit. It's real easy to step on a thorn, stick, broken glass, or sharp rock. They can also just wear out from walking in parking lots and from the grit on the board.

Something else to think about with a sealed drysuit with built in booties, is if you get a hole higher up on the suit. Everything is neutral buoyant until you go to get up on the board, then it's 62 pounds a cubic foot.

I have an irrational fear of drysuits. I like the idea of staying buoyant at all costs even if that measn wet in my 5/4! Regardless of dry or wet, like Reid is saying, separate boots are the way to go. I really like the Atan boots. Comes in 3mm and 6.5mm. Pros: They have fin sole so you feel your board and don't get stuck too much in the straps (better than other known brands I've tried!). Cons: They don't come cheap and don't last very long.

If ION doesn’t put booties on their dry suits, there must be a good reason! Nuff said .
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