I'm back in the market for a wetsuit after realizing my fit issues with the DeSoto T1 (severe chafing all around the neck) make it a no-go for me. (As an aside, Emilio and Tracy were exceptionally helpful, which makes me even more bummed I couldn't make their suit fit.) The experience made me realize that the ability to take a wetsuit for a trial swim, and exchange it for a different size or model, is crucial for me.
I know Xterra has a generous 30-day swim and exchange or even return policy, similar to DeSoto. I understand Roka offers a similar policy for suits purchased directly from them. And trisports.com offers a one-swim policy (oddly, they insist this should be in a pool, while most wetsuit companies warn suits should never be exposed to chlorine), which appears to cover exchanges and as best I can tell, also returns, and the upside there is a broad selection of suits and sales that are less likely to be available from manufacturers (I'm not counting Xterra's perma-sales). Anywhere else that should be on my radar? There are no brick-and-morter retailers within reasonable driving distance from me.
I hesitate to ask for specific wetsuit recommendations, because it's so subjective and people tend to recommend what they own. At this point, I'm leaning toward either something mid-range from trisports, which allows for exchanges as needed, or just something mid-range from Xterra, I rented one there for a race and it fit fine, but their marketing (huge markup plus permanent deep "sales") rubbed me a bit wrong.
I know Xterra has a generous 30-day swim and exchange or even return policy, similar to DeSoto. I understand Roka offers a similar policy for suits purchased directly from them. And trisports.com offers a one-swim policy (oddly, they insist this should be in a pool, while most wetsuit companies warn suits should never be exposed to chlorine), which appears to cover exchanges and as best I can tell, also returns, and the upside there is a broad selection of suits and sales that are less likely to be available from manufacturers (I'm not counting Xterra's perma-sales). Anywhere else that should be on my radar? There are no brick-and-morter retailers within reasonable driving distance from me.
I hesitate to ask for specific wetsuit recommendations, because it's so subjective and people tend to recommend what they own. At this point, I'm leaning toward either something mid-range from trisports, which allows for exchanges as needed, or just something mid-range from Xterra, I rented one there for a race and it fit fine, but their marketing (huge markup plus permanent deep "sales") rubbed me a bit wrong.