Fourth Element HALO 3D arrives

The new high tech HALO 3D undersuit from Fourth Element has gone on sale in the UK.

It was designed with the guidance of World Record Cave Diver Rick Stanton, IANTD Training Director Phil Short and ice diving specialist BBC filmmaker Hugh Miller.

Fourth Element says the HALO 3D is the most technologically advanced undersuit for trilaminate and membrane drysuits available.

During its development, designers mapped areas of heat loss on the human body and the distribution of air around a drysuit diver in the water.

They discovered that when in the horizontal diving position, air in a diver’s drysuit migrates into the back of the suit.

The increased pressure on the diver’s chest is such that the drysuit tends to be squeezed up against the chest, and with conventional undersuits, heat is lost through conduction to the water.

In the thighs, large muscle groups required for finning receive a good blood supply but are also susceptible to air migrating into the back of the suit exposing the muscles to heat loss.

Fourth Element addressed these requirements to provide maximum insulation in critical areas, whilst minimising bulk. It chose a material called SpaceTek for the chest, torso, shoulders and thighs, to provide a constant 8mm layer of air.

And the HALO 3D also insulates the inside of the forearm, where blood flows close to the surface of the skin, ensuring that warmer blood flows into the hands.

The HALO 3D range is now available from Fourth Element stockists, priced under £300.