I have been shopping online and searching a good price on a drysuit.  Anyone looking, i strongly advise http://www.kayakacademy.com/pages/store/drysuitinfo.html... i got a new drysuit by Kokatat for just under $500. They have a lot of great stuff and good prices! No huge retail overhead is how they are able to keep their prices very competitive.

Sounds like a Trops drysuit. Tropos by Kokatat is good stuff and a great entry level drysuit that will last you for years. Save the money for Gortex later when you know you will be staying in the sport.

Am i gonna stay dry, thinking maybe i should rethink, or am i gonna tare it apart with my swimming being a newbie?

you should stay dry... at least for the most part.  mine is not goretex, is pretty old, and i just get a little damp in some places.  usually don't notice until i am changing my clothes.

Why Kokatat is tops in my book... I won't count the quality and durability of the suit and the cool color choices. I won't count the easy-in goretex booties, either. Hey, the pee-zip comes on every suit. Let's s ay all that stuff balances out between companies... Kokatat is number one because when I send my suit in, for a nominal fee ($35?) they pressure test the whole suit, patch all the holes, they even put new gaskets in if I need them. Year after year. $35. Can't beat it.

To make the gaskets last longer I use 303 so they stay slippery and I use bee's wax on my zippers, even works on old booty zippers.

I second what dave said. First off I had no clue they offerd a lower cost suit that still breathes so why spend the big money when your still just getting into the sport. Kokatat makes good sh$t so i wouldnt worry about it tearing on swims.

Gore isn't really necessary, the kokatat quality will be there. Excellent choice.

Even gore dry suits aren't totally dry. Pretty close. I get water in under my wrist gaskets and sometimes through the neck gasket, so even if the gore is dry, I can get wet through the gaskets. But, it's ok. It's a water sport, right?

Before they made gore dry suits, everyone used coated nylon which didn't breathe at all. This worked well. Yours will be better than the best thing available ten years ago. You'll be fine in it.

Jim

I'd recomend going to a smaller gasket size if your taking on water thru the gaskets.

Can ya get a butt flap and a relief zipper? Let er rip baby!

and I'm sure you could totally find it!!!!

dude... Dry suite all the way. gortex.... and freaking but flap!

gortex drop seat $840 (thats with 10% off for picking up instead of shipping)

http://www.kayakacademy.com/cgi-bin/commerce.exe?search=action&category=DSW0&keywords=all