If it's properly fitted there's not much of a problem
with this. I'm also from Melbourne, and I've always
used a hood with my wetsuit. It makes sense since a
large part of the heat loss is through the head.

You can wear what you like-- there are no
"SCUBA Fashion Police" out there to check on
you. The biggest problem with shorter hoods is
the leaks at the back of the neck as you move
your head.

The shorter hoods are OK, but the cold water down the back
of your neck can be annoying.

I've never seen a 7mm hood, in any case.

-Don

I have a standard type hood, and it seals fairly well with my
paragon/pinnacle 'Arctic' suit.

When I first got this suit, I did a couple of dives with my old hood which
has a wrap around neck with velcro. The old hood worked great over the top
of an old front-entry semidry (great neck seal), but with the rear vertical
zip on the paragon suit it let a lot of water flow through. The full length
pull on hood works much better.

As for the choking feeling, all I can suggest is thin rubber, maybe trimming
the hood down a bit (particularly under the chin?) Or just getting used to
it... I'm a Melbourne diver, and dive all year round, so can assure you a
hood is certainly desirable.

Cheers,

Mick G

I have quite a thick neck and also hate the feeling of the neck section of
hoods.  What I did is got one (they are pretty cheap) and stretched out the
neck section with a piece of wood over a period of time so that it is quite
loose around the neck section only.  Works well for me.

Cheers
Pat