Mann Lake vented suit

**Michael B** · 03-03-2013, 02:48 AM

Also, I found the vented material to be rough on your skin.

**Daniel Y** · 03-03-2013, 06:22 AM

I have the suit from Pigeon Mountain. I am planning on buying two more. one for my son and one for my daughter. They helped me with a cut out this weekend and we simply cannot do without them any longer. we are playing in the bees far to often. My son got 5 stings in all mainly due to no good jacket to wear. I got 6 but that is because I work to much with exposed areas or no gear at all. I am thinking of a full seat for times I will be doing a lot of overhead reaching like doing cut outs. I have to find and answer for the veil though. putting one on is like putting on sun glasses at night. it makes it impossible to see into even partially shaded nooks and crannies. I want a veil with a clear plastic viewing window. Preferably replaceable with inexpensive lenses so when they get scratched or dirty you just change them.

The zipper on the pigeon mountain is a bear but gets better with use. it is also backwards or they sent me the ladies version. It is major comfortable at mild temps. I just spent 4 plus hours in ti in the past two days. never broke a sweat. I wear a shirt under it so the roughness is not a problem. My only real complaint is the veil and I woudl have that with any veil. It does soften up a little when washed. I have had one small tear in ti so far which I was able to repair just fine. No wear on the veil after one year. no real wear on the jacket after one year. given I don't expect any jacket to last more than three I think it is doing very well.
I also own a more typical jacket. my daughter uses it but I consider it a waste of money. TI gets to hot and she has to walk away and take breaks to cool off constantly. She will use my jacket when I am not there and has told me several times it would make a great gift, hint hint

**USCBeeMan** · 03-03-2013, 02:50 PM

I purchased an Ultra Breeze several years ago. They are heavy and I don't think they are very "breezy" on these humid hot summer days. I use it during cutouts and working my bees. Very expensive. After just 1 year the zippers started failing in one direction. In other words, there are 2 zippers on each leg, chest, and head. Either one zips it up or down depending on the current status of the zipper. Now all but the head zipper will only work from one direction. I have to zip the top zipper all the way down the zip both of the zippers up the close the zipper itself. The metal "holder" on the head zipper broke off on one of the zippers.

Needless to say I basically don't have a viable suit. Sometimes I have used gorilla tape to keep the legs together.

I washed the suit a lot as I do a lot of cutouts. The honey, dirt, grime, and phermone from the stingers make it hard to use the suit again. If I don't wash it and go into one of my apiaries, the bees will start attacking me as they smell the pheremone from the stingers that were left behind.

But this type of suit is still much better than the cotton suits that don't breathe at all and bees can sting through them.

I just ordered one from PM. I think it cost me $175. But the UB suit is $259. You can now purchase the UB on Amazon. I googled UB and found that they sell them also at MannLake.

My UB is a large and was too big for me, but I needed the suit ASAP and didn't have the time to return it and get a medium. I am 5'8" and weight about 180. Ordering a med in the PM suit. If it doesn't find correctly, I still have time to get it exchanged.

Hope this helps.

**kincade** · 03-03-2013, 03:18 PM

I love my ultrabreeze and have found ub customer service to be nothing short of fantastic. Have you tried to email them about your problems? Id bet they would fix it.

I had a complaint about the veil touching my face. I emailed, and they sent the new design with boning to keep it rigid. Works perfectly and im very happy with the jacket.

**simplynatural** · 03-04-2013, 10:20 AM

Thanks for the comments.

**signalten** · 03-04-2013, 01:36 PM

I can't speak about the Pigeon Mountain quality but looking at their site it appears that the only difference is one is a jacket and one is a suit. Yes, you want to order a little bit large. If the suit becomes tight against the skin, you can be stung through it. So, larger works better especially when you are lifting or bending.

**Charlie B** · 03-04-2013, 01:38 PM

I wear a ballcap underneath my hood and the brim of the cap keeps it off your face.

**simplynatural** · 03-04-2013, 01:42 PM

Oh brother, I missed that one - so if you get the suite it is professional quality otherwise who knows *G*.

I did not realize they are $20 more (I was reading too many old posts that said ML was much more expensive), and then $20 shipping on top. So i might just end up going ML and regretting it.

Also ML only has hooded and while I have NO experience with either, I do think my overheating husband would probably be more comfortable in a round style. Only one person commented on it being warmer - any other comments on hooded vs. round?

**Daniel Y** · 03-05-2013, 06:17 AM

I only use the fencing hood. but my kids have a round hood. they prefer the fencing hood when they can get ahold of it. I have read comments from others that they do not like the restricted peripheral vision of the fencing hood. I don't notice. A ball cap woudl help when looking up.

I wear and extra large tall shirt. I go the extra large jacket and the sleeves are barely long enough when i each. the most common place I get stung is on the wrist where the jacket slides back just a bit. I am worried that an extra large suit will be to short for my 6foot 2 inch body.

**Ledge** · 03-05-2013, 09:02 AM

I'm 5' 11" 260 lbs, and my extra large Mann Lake Ventilated suit could be larger. The sleeves aren't long enough, nor is the torso. Squatting down, it binds up. Not terrible, but I should have gotten a bigger suit to grow in to!