I am no expert and I cannot say that it is "proven" except all top swimmers are wearing this type of jammer, and they all claim to be "faster" - see videos in link

Yikes! Yep, that’s the price I’m seeing for these “fast” jammers. Holy smokes. Thanks.

Depends on the distance. For a 100-200, the Mizuno GX Sonic 5 MR is a rocket. For comparison, I recently swam back-to-back meets over two weekends. Swam one as a nothing weekend, wore my training briefs, swam the next one with a borrowed, older Sonic 5. 100 free was 2 seconds faster, 100 back was an even larger improvement but I had a crap start the prior weekend. The compression has a significant effect, helping you keep your core and hips up in the later stages of the race

They are eye-bleedingly expensive, though, and the suits are only really useful for four or five meets before the performance drops off. The new Speedos and Mizunos appear to have some longer-lasting fabric but I haven't heard from anyone who has worn them yet. If you live in Canada, the Mizunos are complicated to find. You can order from the US or buyee.jp but the exchange rates can make them even more pricey.

Oh, and in my experience any tech suit that takes you less than 20 minutes to put on properly is probably not tight enough.

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👍

I used these for a 1650yd meet last year. I figure they gave me about 2s/100yd. I was prepared to hold a 1:19 pace, ended up averaging 1:17. Who knows... could have been a combination of the fast pants, feeling good on the day, being somewhat rested from a short taper (no run or bike two days before). A couple of months later I did a 1 mile open water swim and PRed by 45 seconds on the same course.

https://www.swimoutlet.com/...-8157878/?color=navy

These are not the $250 super jammers and they probably don't last as long but they were affordable and faster than a pair of speedos :)

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What's your CdA?

Swim briefs are faster according to this incredibly funny thread from a couple months ago: https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ing=jammers#p7915434

What are you using them for? Tech suits are certainly standard for big meets for top level meets.

(I actually had a D2 assistant coach tell me that Arizona State has some sort of big time partnership and gets them for practices - no idea d true)

Are you looking for training or racing? Sprint or distance? Pool or open water?

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

They certainly work, and really it is the squishing of the junk that is most important. If you want to save a few bucks, get a year or two older model, materials have not changed that much. But you have to figure out how tight you can go. For me I wear 31/32 normally, and go with a 27 on the race suit. Some brands are tighter than others too, but if you start to pull I up and think oh shit, this is never going on, then you probably got the right size. Watch for sales, I usually get them for under $150(originally 300 to $400)..

Yes they do work. If you are doing pool racing I’d recommend buying a mid level technical suit from one of the big swim companies. If you just want something a bit faster for training I’d buy the entry level arena technical suit. The most expensive ones are probably not worth it (imo)

So just taking a step back, these technical suits offer compression and a slightly hydrophobic material which is apparently more slick / fast than skin. So they compress your legs and make that part of your body smaller which contributes to less drag. And the hydrophobic material means the water slides over the material better. Another thing apparently is that the compression forces the blood back into the heart and makes circulation work better. Finally there is some buoyancy advantage. How much this gives you per 100 I do not know but it definitely gives some.

Also - These technical suits are not the same thing as the regular knee length jammers made of the same material as a standard swim suit.

I have no idea if they stack up evenly across the brands and products - it makes sense a more expensive suit is better but a less expensive suit probably perfectly adequate too.

They are not very durable and the compression wears off after a while. So the economic equation of getting this needs to be weighed up. Personally I reckon getting a great goggle with nice anti fog makes swimming more enjoyable than an entry level tech suit for training but that is just my take. A goggle I rate highly is the arena cobra range (ultra or core).

One of the best threads this year lol

I got some mid-range Arena ones very cheaply and used them for training and was quicker by a good 3s/100m. Very noticeable, I carried on wearing them for training and within a few weeks that 3s disappeared and I was back to normal pace, but they're not supposed to be used as an everyday jammer. However they are effective and I'd imagine the crazy expensive ones (like $700+) would be even better. So definitely not a marketing gimmick, but as you'll read, good for only a few races. My full length OWS race suit is also pretty amazing, takes 10-15 minutes to get on, but is very quick.

Some racers on the east coast wear the full suit, even for some of the larger and more popular surf races. Leads to a lot of trash talking. It’s a completely non equal equipment choice. Do you put it at 3 seconds per 100?

I think I abandoned ST for a few weeks after that thread.

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Race jammers are about 2-3s. I reckon the full suit must be 3-4s per 100m? I did 10km averaging 1.38min/100m in one, no way I could hold that pace in normal speedos so they are pretty quick. And they last a lot longer than the race jammers.