Shitty fit to good fit is night and day. Putting your wetsuit on properly vs not is night and day.

With the Blue Seventy line, I ordered a Helix and it was a few days late (or I ordered a few days too late ;-) and swam in the demo fusion suit for my first race. Basically went 32 and change at a half in the Fusion and went 1:04 or so in both IM's. I would say that the difference in speed (for me) is less than 1 minute over IM.

We had the rep up to do fitting sizing on a bunch of us, also a few in water sets to check speed etc. We have put a lot of people in the fusion and reaction with great success. I personally would go with one of those over the Helix…..Unless you are squeezing out that last bit of time.

Maurice

The differences will be in materials and patterning.

• Lower end suits will feature more generic neoprene which may look similar, but won't may not be as flexible, buoyant, or durable over the long haul.
• As you move up the pricing ladder, you get a higher grade of rubber, with name brands like Sheico and Yamamoto, drag-reducing coatings, various lining fabrics with water-repellent treatments, textured panels, better quality zippers, and panels with varying thicknesses to allow for extra flexibility, to encourage improved body position in the water, more buoyancy, ease of transition, etc.
• Things to remember: Smoothskin refers to smooth rubber (vs fabric) on the outside of the suit, and unless specifically mentioned, does not have a friction-reducing coating on the outside. Look for the terms "Glideskin or SCS," or if you're not sure, then just feel the suit. Non-coated smoothie can feel a little bit sticky, coated rubber feels and looks shiny and slick.
• Various brands have different "fit blocks," like running shoes and apparel, so some will fit a thinner narrow shouldered build, some tend to fit a bulkier build. Example, if you try on 3 brands of size medium full suit, same price range, you quite possibly will find each fits differently.

Especially with a full suit, it's tough to know how it'll feel in the water by just a try on.
Optimal is to go to a shop that has a variety of demo suits and/or a rental program, and of course the big bonus is someplace you can swim in it.
The lowest-end Aquaman suits are great suits, and fit differently from the more expensive Aquamans. Feel free to pm me w your size, etc, I can help you figure out a brand and model that will have a similar fit.

KS

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Karen ST Concierge

Right now ROKA suits are on sale for 50% off. You can get that high end suit for the price of a low end suit. Problem solved

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

What he said. Order before sizes sell out! 30-day period to demo and return for full refund, this is a no-brainer.

Personal experience: Most other wetsuits feel like undifferentiated slabs of neoprene to me, whereas my Roka Elite feels like a minimally restraining, performance-bolstering second skin. In part this is because it fits me exceptionally well, but it's also a function of the design and materials used. So for me, the difference is huge. I will say that it's probably mostly a difference in feel, I haven't timed myself but I'm guessing the performance difference is modest, mostly because I'm not a strong enough swimmer to be able to really capitalize on the difference.

When I did my wet suit testing I talked with many of the suit companies, sometimes even to the owner of the business.

The #1 thing they told me is that the highest price suit was not their fastest suit.

Their fastest suit was almost always not their flagship model but their 2nd highest or 3rd highest suit. Unfortunately in order to compete at the highest price points they had to add everything to the suit, often slowing it down.

Higher price does not always = faster suit.

Out of the 3 wetsuits you named I can tell you for certain that one of those is not the fastest suit that manufacturer sells.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

The vast majority of Roka athletes swim in the Pro, not the Elite, so it would be odd if the latter were supposedly faster. The only feature I could imagine slowing down a Pro is the forearm panels, but the Roka guys seem to have been very thoughtful about suit design, including rejecting a traditional catch panel, and seem unlikely to stick those on if they actually assessed them as slowing the suit down.

So I'm guessing you mean that the FON is not Tyr's fastest suit. Which doesn't seem wholly implausible to me.

I believe Andy Potts switched from the FON to the new Cat 5 suit, but that could have also been a marketing move. Plus, he's very vocal about trying something new in any given race, so that might have been one and done.

Just ordered a maverick pro and will do some 1000 repeats to compare it to the FoN. Will report in.

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"America is all about speed. Hot, nasty, badass speed." -Eleanor Roosevelt, 1936

Our Maverick Pro is definitely faster than the Maverick Elite and Comp. We've tested both significantly under controlled conditions with a variety of swimmers. No marketing fluff there from our perspective. We've also tested other brands' speed by tier with mixed results as noted.

Best,
Rob

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rob canales
ceo + co-founder at ROKA
http://www.roka.com

I just got a Roka Elite and I tested it against my 13 or 14 year old next to top of the line Ironman wetsuit. Let's say that my old suit is about equivalant to today's low end suits. The Roka was 51 seconds faster for 1500 meters in the pool. To me, that's huge!

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

Having swam in both B70 and Roka's, you must be talking about TYR. The Helix is the gold standard (for speed, not necessarily for durability). The Maverick Pro is the other gold standard (speed and durability). I have never fit well in TYR, but that's just my freaky (aka- fat) body.

That being said, I think both B70 and Roka have fantastic tier 2 suits.

Get a roka. I love mine. I am a MOP swimmer, so that should be noted, but if they are 50% off Get it.

As far as the difference between top teir and bottom teir. I went from a Blue Seventy Fusion to a Roka Elite. so, technically top teir to high mid teir. I was about 4 min faster in a half this year than last, but that is not necessarily the wetsuit. That being said, the shoulder flexibility was the biggest factor. I felt like my shoulders were much less fatigued in the Roka, due to better/thinner materials.

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Insta: Trihennessy - Out Rival Racing Elite Team
- Roka - WattieInk - NormaTec - QUINTANA ROO - Profile Design - Pioneer - Gatorade Endurance

I just tried out my new Roka yesterday and what a difference it was compared to my older Xterra! You're right, the shoulders felt much better and I had no breathing difficulties around the chest and neck area. That 50% discount is pretty darn good!

I thought i was getting a steal when i got it 25% off over a holday earlier this year. If that 50% off had been a deal i would have gotten the next model up. It really is significantly better than my older wet suit

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Insta: Trihennessy - Out Rival Racing Elite Team
- Roka - WattieInk - NormaTec - QUINTANA ROO - Profile Design - Pioneer - Gatorade Endurance