Tom- I can't speak about the DeSoto wetsuit quality but ProMotion makes an excellent wetsuit for the price. Made in the US. Great customer service.

Like mhc, I cannot comment on the DeSoto suit. But I bought a Quintana Roo sleeveless last year for $160 that has served me very, very well. I have been very pleased with the QR, and I plan on using it for many, many years to come.

RP

I researched wetsuits earlier this winter and had decided that promotion looked like the most bang/$. However, if desoto is making a 2 piece for the same price I think I'd like to get the desoto.

I have a desoto dos and have had no problems with it... very satisfied even though I paid full retail...

The better reason not to worry about getting something cheap is that I have had amazing experiences with their customer sevice. I had a problem with the retailer who sold me the wetsuit and Mr. Desoto himself stepped in and helped me out... and when the retailer would still would not help me out, he took the matter into his own hands and assured me that if anything was wrong that he would take care of it.

I have huge confidence that if anything ever went wrong with your suit that they would be willing to take care of it...


good luck

 I bought the dos as my first wetsuit only a couple weeks ago. Since they are dicontinued (to be replaced by the 'tres'), the price was right (I couldn't afford the T1). I've only worn it once in the pool, but it felt very good to me. It is tricky to get on, but besides that, it seemed fine, and with a little practice getting off should be almost as fast as a one piece. Also, I assume you've read the reviews on this site which I found helpful and informative. Hope that helps.

-B

I recently bought a DeSoto 2-piece. I ended up getting a T1 Bibjohn and a Dos top. The main difference seems to be that rubber seems a little more "stretchy" in the more expensive T1 and it's probably a little easier to get on and off; I can't imagine the speed difference is much. I personally would have bought the Dos for both the top and bottom, but they ran out of my size in the bibjohn and I didn't want to wait to get one. The Dos seems to be of great quality and the customer service is incredible. Emilio DeSoto called me himself on a couple occasions to answer questions and to make sure I got the right size. For the current Dos prices, I don't think you can beat it.

The Dos is great. I hope nothing goes wrong with it but if it does, Desoto Sports and Emilio DeSoto are the best people to deal with in this sport. I bought the wrong size suit and Emilio bent over backwards to get me right. He exchanged top and bottoms and did whatever he could do to see that I was happy. DeSoto Sports rocks.

Bob Sigerson

Ditto all the raves on the DeSoto suit. I've got T1, but have looked over the DOS, and I can't tell the difference. I'd buy a DOS if it was a do-over.

Emilio is great. I was talking to someone at master's swimming last summer and mentioned that my new wetsuit was tricky to get off. Some guy comes running over and offers to give me a private lesson. Yup -- Emilio himself (a lane 1 swimmer; I'm in lane 5).

BTW--it's a breeze to get off after a few practice runs.

i have the dos bottom and a t1 top. the dos is quite a bit less stretchy, and "stiffer" in feel. this works fine in the legs. i have one pretty bad shoulder, and i doubt i could ever get a dos top off after swimming in a race or even a hearty OW effort.

I was just at the Desoto store today to pick up some new tri shorts and asked about the wetsuits. Just based on the feel of the rubber alone, I'd much prefer the T1 but I'm not sure that would justify the price difference. That plus the Dos rubber reminds me of my QR that is prone to cutting. I have no way of knowing which is actually tougher, but again, I prefer the feel of the T1. Apparently this year will bring the introduction of the Tres which will have rubber of a quality between the T1 and Dos.

BTW, got to love 3 pairs of tri shorts for $60! It pays to be near their shop.

I have an Orca Predator 2 and cant beleive the freedom the new rubber has - when I was pricing wetsuits I couldnt beleive the price difference between here (Australia) and the US. We get Orca and Ironman wetsuits massivly cheaper than you do - they both seem to match the price of their top suits with the top QR wetsuit in the US. We cant get QR's here anyway (well from a local distributer)

" i have the dos bottom and a t1 top"

this is actually a good compromise. i swam last year in a dos top and bottom and was quite fine, but a T1 top will be a bit stretchier and slightly easier to get off if you're concerned about that. the bottom is very easy to get off with either the T1 or the dos, so it's a place where one could save money.

the dos rubber does not suffer from any fragility, as one poster wondered. don't be concerned about that.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Thanks for the reply, its always good to get your input on subjects like this. I don't understand getting the higher quality top and the lower quality bottom. Isn't the higher bouyancy more important in the legs?

Anyway I got onto the desoto web site this am to buy a dos top and bottom and the $80 bottoms are gone in my size (size 4). Oh well, I should have tried earlier this winter.

I have had the exact same results/experience as Dan (slowman). At 6'4" tall, high wasted, and broad across the back, the fit is far superior to one-piece suits as well. The only difference I can tell to the more expensive Desoto suit is the degree of difficulty getting the top on and off. With a little practice, however, the dos doesn't take much more work or time. I swam in mine the entire season last year, and was pretty hard on it. Showed little signs of wear.