Holding well. I only need the suit to hold 3.5psi steady (though I will 'overbuild' it to hold far more than this)and the solenoid continues to do its job perfectly. I'm now working on a pressure regulator--to replace the 12v DC-powered solenoid--that requires no power, that will reduce the load on the 12v DC battery. I don't like batteries (at -70F they are likely to fail), and will carry one only for non-life-support systems, e.g. the radio (all instruments, e.g. altimeter and variometer, are mechanical only and require no power). I don't have to have a radio to survive, it's a luxury, really. To further reduce battery load, I'm thinking of getting away from the two-way VHF radio entirely, so that all I transmit is a series of codes, just by periodically pressing a button, e.g. 1 = all OK, proceeding 2 = all OK, descending, 3 = all OK, holding altitude, and so on (I can carry a solar panel to keep the battery 'trickle charged' up, but I still prefer to use less electrical power than more at every instance). Rather than continuous voice communication, which would draw a lot of battery power, this could suffice. I could carry a radio also, in the event I need to switch to two-way voice communications, and I know I need to carry an aviation-band radio in the emergency event of needing to talk with aircraft or air traffic control, but that would be on a separate battery used only for very short periods.
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