Wetsuit Advice

The Aspire would sit slightly higher than the Alante. The equivalent comparison would be the Zone 3 Vision Vs the Alante. You have quite a lot of choice in and around that price bracket.

Advice for someone already swimming and ready to do a few tris would be the Vision / Orca Equip level of suits. Going to Alante / Aspire / Orca Sonar is a step up in fit, quality and comfort. Nothing wrong with them as a beginner suit they will be more flexible and generally fit better as the materials are of a higher grade, thus the difference in price.

All good makes. Just be sure of getting good advice on the fit and handling of the suits.

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Since someone has started the thread.

What are the benefits of the pricier wetsuits to your actual swim. More flexibility = faster swim? Or just less fatigue? Where would I actually see the benefits? Are there any advantages to a better suit for a slow swimmer?
Was looking at them in B2R a few weeks ago. €550 :eek:

Apply the laws of diminishing returns.

If you're going to ask about the piece of string, you have to look at the swimmer's abilities A wetsuit won't offer shortcuts to training however there are some advantages over the levels.

There was an old thread somewhere where I had figures for 2XU where relative to skins, basic suit = 25% efficiency and level afterwards further 10%.

In brief (using Orca simply cos I know them better) and my own categorisations

Level 1 - TRN and similar - cheap, neoprene very basic, panelling basic, buoyancy basic
Level 2 - S5 - best for someone starting to swim in open water with little or no experience. SCS coated neoprene, reasonable glide, reasonable flexibility, ideal for sprint / olympic participants.
Level 3 - Equip - best for someone who has been pool swimming, is reasonably confident but yet to take on open water. Thinner SCS neoprene overall, balanced buoyancy, less fatiquing on shoulder. Sprint / olympic for people being competitive.
Level 4 - Sonar - seasoned swimmer going long. 39cell neoprene much more flexible and elastic than SCS = less fatigue on longer distances. Aerocell introduced to aid hip lift and rotation. Works on swimmers, useless for non swimmers. More panels and better fit overall. Olympic - Iron
Level 5 & above - Alpha 1.5 / 3.8 going to 39 / 40 /44 cell neoprene, more flexibility, balanced buoyancy, aerocell, infinity lining. Good swimmers looking for second skin fit with no drag or restriction.

Was looking at them in B2R a few weeks ago. €550 :

On this I had a delivery of Zone3 Victory (^Level 6 ~€780.00) as they were temporarily out of Vanquish (Level 5) they were snapped up by some really good swimmers when they compared the fit of the Victory with the mid level suits. We got a great deal on them and offered them out at €495.00 but everyone remarked on the fit, feel and performance of the suits.

All depends on fitting your budget to the ability to get the best return all round.

RacoonQueen wrote: »

See this is what I wonder about wetsuits. Either you can swim, or, you can't. Me picking up a €600 wetsuit wouldn't improve my time greatly (if at all) would be interesting to test it out.

The main advantage I can see (with my limited knowledge) is that the fit may be better so you may fatigue less, particularly over the longer distances.

My wetsuit cost about 120 yoyos and I bought it off the internet, I may change my opinion entirely if I tried on something else..but as someone with a crap technique and who is slow and sh*t who can swim a *respectable* sub 30 olympic distance, I don't really get what an expensive wetsuit could improve that good work in the pool wouldn't!
I also know someone that has the €550 one from B2R that did Austria who did a 95 minute swim...and someone who did Austria with a <€200 wetsuit who swam sub 70 in Austria. So....

Sure there is plenty of science behind it like!

780 quid for a wetsuit. Wow!

I have been thinking of a new wetsuit so genuinely intrigued by all of this at the mo.

Think to remember is most tri stuff is overpriced. If you know what you are looking for you can pick something up cheap. Admittedly the better you swim the easier it is to get something on the cheap that suits you as there is less demand for these

AKW wrote: »

In brief (using Orca simply cos I know them better) and my own categorisations

Level 1 - TRN and similar - cheap, neoprene very basic, panelling basic, buoyancy basic
Level 2 - S5 - best for someone starting to swim in open water with little or no experience. SCS coated neoprene, reasonable glide, reasonable flexibility, ideal for sprint / olympic participants.
Level 3 - Equip - best for someone who has been pool swimming, is reasonably confident but yet to take on open water. Thinner SCS neoprene overall, balanced buoyancy, less fatiquing on shoulder. Sprint / olympic for people being competitive.
Level 4 - Sonar - seasoned swimmer going long. 39cell neoprene much more flexible and elastic than SCS = less fatigue on longer distances. Aerocell introduced to aid hip lift and rotation. Works on swimmers, useless for non swimmers. More panels and better fit overall. Olympic - Iron
Level 5 & above - Alpha 1.5 / 3.8 going to 39 / 40 /44 cell neoprene, more flexibility, balanced buoyancy, aerocell, infinity lining. Good swimmers looking for second skin fit with no drag or restriction.

This is handy AKW. Would it be generally applicable across the different brands? Particularly interested in the jump to 39 cell neoprene, I would have expected that earlier than level 4 but good to know. Any comment on Speedo suits in that range?

Sorry for hijacking the thread so to speak... I am looking for the best place to get a tri specific wetsuit second hand. I say second hand as my funds are extremely limited and wouldn't go beyond 130 euro and that would be pushing it. I am looking for something very basic. Its for open water swimming events I have signed up to over the next few months.

You'd get an entry level suit new for about that price point online. Need to be careful about sizing but that's what I did.

I might be in luck for an ORCA wetsuit.

AKW wrote: »

Apply the laws of diminishing returns.

If you're going to ask about the piece of string, you have to look at the swimmer's abilities A wetsuit won't offer shortcuts to training however there are some advantages over the levels.

There was an old thread somewhere where I had figures for 2XU where relative to skins, basic suit = 25% efficiency and level afterwards further 10%.

In brief (using Orca simply cos I know them better) and my own categorisations

Level 1 - TRN and similar - cheap, neoprene very basic, panelling basic, buoyancy basic
Level 2 - S5 - best for someone starting to swim in open water with little or no experience. SCS coated neoprene, reasonable glide, reasonable flexibility, ideal for sprint / olympic participants.
Level 3 - Equip - best for someone who has been pool swimming, is reasonably confident but yet to take on open water. Thinner SCS neoprene overall, balanced buoyancy, less fatiquing on shoulder. Sprint / olympic for people being competitive.
Level 4 - Sonar - seasoned swimmer going long. 39cell neoprene much more flexible and elastic than SCS = less fatigue on longer distances. Aerocell introduced to aid hip lift and rotation. Works on swimmers, useless for non swimmers. More panels and better fit overall. Olympic - Iron
Level 5 & above - Alpha 1.5 / 3.8 going to 39 / 40 /44 cell neoprene, more flexibility, balanced buoyancy, aerocell, infinity lining. Good swimmers looking for second skin fit with no drag or restriction.




On this I had a delivery of Zone3 Victory (^Level 6 ~€780.00) as they were temporarily out of Vanquish (Level 5) they were snapped up by some really good swimmers when they compared the fit of the Victory with the mid level suits. We got a great deal on them and offered them out at €495.00 but everyone remarked on the fit, feel and performance of the suits.

All depends on fitting your budget to the ability to get the best return all round.

Just following on from this post I was reading triathlete mag online and saw this wetsuit test which kinda highlights the difference in the suits.

http://triathlon.competitor.com/2014/07/gear-tech/wetsuit-performance-test_103117/3

tunney wrote: »

The devil is in the detail. (now remember why I let my subscription to triathlete lapse)

Lets use my swim in Frankfurt as a test case for my Blueseventy suit.

Lets use the first 400m
and then the 400m from 3000m-3400m

Do you think the numbers would be the same?

To be fair they did highlight that the best improvements were seen in the MOP swimmers.

I will never swim in another wetsuit other than a Blue Seventy Helix. Have mine 5 years now and its still top notch. Bought it on blueseventy.co.uk for 400 pounds delivered if i remember correctly.

bryangiggsy wrote: »

I will never swim in another wetsuit other than a Blue Seventy Helix. Have mine 5 years now and its still top notch. Bought it on blueseventy.co.uk for 400 pounds delivered if i remember correctly.

I will never ever swim again in a blue seventy helix, I have two and hate both.

Could anyone explain the difference between Huub buoyancy ratios? i.e. they have 4:4 and 3:5 versions of their suits?

Cheers...it would be a 3:5 for me so.