5/3 Steamer V.S. Dry Suit... for Ontario Canada?

I am new to all of this and am trying to weight out the pros and cons between a heavy wet suit and a dry suit. I am going to be using one or the other in Ontario Canada. Any one have any input to share, maybe you have used both and care to give me some clues. Maybe a dry suit to get me in the water now, then a lighter wet suit for mid summer? I am looking for the most economical solution; but if I am not comfortable it is also a waste of $.

Thank you very much Damian K.

I have a neilpryde 4000 semi-drysuit and a two-piece 3mm Bare wetsuit with a farmer john and jacket. As far as being warm enough, his combination works well on the Great Lakes all year as long as the air temp is above 40 Farenheit (is that around 4 Celcius)

The thing about the 4000 is that although it is warm and comfortable to wear, the quality and durabitity is crap. The seams are guarenteed not to come apart but the neoprene just tears right next to the seam. Also the plastic zippers are worthless, you have to close them carefully to keep them from popping open and be very carefull to make sure no sand gets in the zipper.

I am pretty sure that the only difference between a neoprene semi-drysuit and a steamer is the zipper is waterproof on the semi-drys so you do not get a blast of cold water down you back when you fall in.

My neilpryde 4000 required gluing several tears in the first year I had it, and after 2 seasons it is pretty much ready for the garbage bin. I think my next suit will be a bag-type drysuit such as the Ocean Rodeo - I have mostly heard only good things about them and the price has come down to only a little more than I paid for my neilpryde if you search for a good deal. Plus with a bag suit you can vary what you wear underneath depending on the conditions. A pair of shorts might work OK in warmer weather/water and heavy fleece underwear should be good in winter.

Whatever you do make sure you get something with a metal zipper and not plastic. For a drysuit or steamer I would avoid neoprene of the type that neilpryde uses.

My Bare wetsuit was a good buy, the knee patches have come off and it is getting worn out, but I have been using it for about 8-9 years now for windsurfing and now kitesurfing in fall through mid-summer when it was not too cold for it and sometimes when it was.

I kite on the west coast year round. When it's warm I use my 5-4 hotline when it gets colder I wear my pyro suite by ocean rodeo. I am never cold. Check out the site www.oceanrodeo.com Great kites as well.

Trevor