SASless, nice picture, but unfortunately I suspect that the wee man would be inverted by the cold water effect, so unless you were into sharing body heat in a liferaft with that particular survivor not much might rise to the occasion!
From what I can see the Latitude98 and the Helly Hansen SeaAir share the same wet-suit type face seal, which the E-452 has and doesn't work very well IMO. Perhaps a custom-fit type is what is required. I do like the idea of using one's own exhaled warm breath to keep warm.
I used to like the Shark suits with the single rubber neck seal and separate hood. The re-breather unit was horrible to use, even in training. I'll take the HUEBA over that one any day.
There is a review currently being performed by the C-NLOPB and the oil operators on the suitability of the E-452. Hopefully we can pass on some collective feedback for their consideration. Whatever the improvements may be they will no doubt have to be approved by Transport Canada et al before we can use them.
Iceberglead, good point, mil spec equipment should be the best, but will it be made commercially available? Perhaps the SAR guys have very similar equipment that may be worth finding more details on. I know of at least a couple on this forum in that vocation.
Question, who makes the pilot's flight suits and how good are they in the H20? Do they have a neck-seal like the Shark ones?