I have a few tri tops with pockets. One of them has a zipper across the top of the pocket. A couple of others don't have the zipper but don't open. These tops fit like a second skin. You must stretch the Lycra to slide anything in and out of them. So in the water it catches no more water than a seam that's sewn shut.
All that is predicated on the top being the right size for you. It must be pretty snug when dry such that it still remains snug when wet.

This is something that all the tri top manufacturers are aware of and if it fits right you won't find the pocket catching water.

Finding a good tri race top is hard. I don't race tris any more, but I occasionally have a look around and I am disappointed with the current offerings. My requirements for half or full IM distance racing would be:

Assuming swimming with no top on, swim-skin(new or old) or a wetsuit as rules conditions dictate.

1. Must be full zip on the front. Reason, so that it can be put on easily and quickly while I am wet in T1( no half zip pull-overs)

2. Must be cut long, so that it reaches the top of my shorts

3. Pockets must be of a functional size, to carry stuff but not so big that they catch wind

4. Must be tight fitting

5. Must offer decent shoulder coverage( from sun) but still be sleeveless.

I keep looking for this elusive garment, but I have yet to find it.

The top that came closest to this was the one that strangely, Cervelo made for a couple of years but then dis-continued.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

The pockets do slow you down from my experience so I either don't wear a top or wear a garment without pockets.

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Michael J. Pelechaty
Brewer, Black Box Brewing Co.

"Yeah, I was depressed for a little while, but then I remembered how awesome I am."

i actually have a tri suit and for my next race i went with desoto cooler tri top and forza shorts.

i can tell you that when i spoke with Chuck at desoto he was specific to not wear it for the swim portion, as the pockets might create some drag. if you have a wetsuit a or a skin suit you should be fine.

You're right. I have a tri top with side pockets that acts like a drag suit in the water. I have other tri tops with no pockets at all which are super slippery. A lot of folks wear swim skins or wetsuits over their tri tops, so it wouldn't make a difference to them. If you're racing with a wetsuit/skin, or just using a top for training, the pockets are fine. But if you're racing in it, those pockets will slow you down.

I think I'm going to go with the pocketless tri top.
At my last tri, I was really paying attention to who was wearing what and most had tri tops with pockets. I wonder how many of those folks spent $2k on race wheels to save 40 sec over a 40k but negated all of that in the swim with the extra drag. I'm really just speculating but I wouldn't be surprised if 30-40 seconds were lost in the swim because of the extra drag and increased effort over 1500m.

By far the best tri top I have for swimming that has pockets is my LG Shark Tank I bought a few years ago. The next best one is my standard LG tri top.

Most all of my other tri tops are good but not excellent for swimming in. So yes, there are good and bad tops to swim in that have pockets.

jaretj

I'm that guy 100% of the time! I could swim naked and still have more drag than a good swimmer wearing MC Hammer pants.

Most of the races I do here in MN are wetsuit legal, but I'll skip suits on sprints or hot days.

When I do, I use my Under Armour compression t-shirts - they fit super tight (at the neck too), very few seams, no pockets, dry instantly, and are very comfortable overall. They lack a zipper, but I can't claim I ever miss that on these shirts, even in hot weather.

But they are not "tri tops", so I lose style points for that.

Cheers, Chris

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Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball

Yep, that's me too. Funny stuff - thanks for the laugh.

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Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball

I cut the pockets off of mine. I did some crude testing over the Summer (using a tempo trianer), anticipating a non-wetsuit race. I tried no top, pocket-less top and top stuffed into my suit. The top cost me maybe 2 seconds for 100 yd. Top stuffed into the suit wasn't much better.

Interesting that the pocketless still cost you 2 sec/100yds. I wonder how much it would have been with pockets.

In my experience, the pockets are not an issue if the top is nice and snug. If it isn't, then the pockets aren't the only problem, but the top itself sagging or bunching up. Also, some tops and one-piece trisuits have pockets with a small flap preventing water from entering the pocket to begin with. My Orca suits have those.

Keep in mind that I'm a pretty slow swimmer so we're talking maybe 2%. Might be less in open water. The top feels pretty snug but I can feel it sort of puff out when I push off on turns. I was most surprised that the old trick of un-zipping the top and stuffing it under my swim suit really wasn't much faster. Kind of like wearing an extra suit for more drag in training.

I way I get around this is to use a sleeveless tri top with a full length zipper. I don't wear it in the swim - I just put it on after the swim, pre-loaded with my gels etc that I need. Just as quick to do this, than to wear it in the swim and then put gels etc in the pockets after the swim.