Theyre great deals around on the desota t1 suit right now. I love the thing. You might not like the 2 piece deal though but its worth looking at.

Dan

Take a look at Promotion wetsuits, www.wetsuit.com great suits, great prices, very helpful staff. I have some odd body dimensions and they were able to fit me over the phone. Wasn't the size I would have ordered but when it arrived it fit perfectly. I've never heard anyone say a bad thing about one of their suits.

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Jim

**Note above poster works for a retailer selling bikes and related gear*

I've heard from some of the guys back here using PFLEX great stuff about it. They say that has a great range of movement on the shoulders and gives you great flexibility on them. Personally, one of the things that bothers me the most is the flexibility, or the NOT flexibility of some of the suits I've tried.

Anyway, it's one of the most expensive suits on the market so you should also consider the Aquaman.

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ORCAs are great unless you are long torsoed. I am and the shoulders feel restrictive.

I had a Desoto T1 last year. It is fast and well made but I didn't like the two piece design. I had no trouble getting it off but it is still significantly slower than a one piece. Also the top rode up on my neck which felt wierd and gave me a hell of a chaffe on several long swims. Also a lot is said about the shoulders being less restrictive in this suit. I didn't notice any difference between the 2 poece and 1 piece suits.

Before the T1 I had the Ironman Stealth which was a good suit but not spectacular.

This year I used an Aquaman Metal Cell. Awesome suit in every criterion. It is very fast and comfortable. It is the only suit I've had that didn't require liberal amounts of Bodyglide with use. The upsidedown zipper is without question a superior design. The suit has high cut legs and arms with thin neoprene on the inside hence it comes off like lightening. I had a T1 last year of 28secs in a race I won by 18secs. Second place guy had a T1 of 50secs. In my opinion it is the best suit you can buy.

[reply]Theyre great deals around on the desota t1 suit right now. I love the thing. You might not like the 2 piece deal though but its worth looking at.

Dan[/reply]

There are some really good deals and I love mine. Slowman says really good things about them, too. I just added a TRES sleeveless top for 20-25% off, for the warmer swims.

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Dick

Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I know nothing.

if you want a P-Flex check out www.sportsbasement.com with the 20% discount they were offering the P-flex was around $270!!!!! that's a big discount from the $475 retail. I'm looking for a suit too but can't stand tight fitting suits and have heard that the P-flex is really really like a glove. Tried on the Aquaman Metal Cell a month back and I was in heaven. May tri the new Zoot as well as I can get it at a nice discount. I have a Desoto tres that I hate. Just not the right suit for me.

Good Luck,
Tai

Aquaman has nice suits. This is a great time of year to buy one. Emmanuel will be just like Santa Claus in cutting you a deal on his 2004 inventory.

Rocketboy

I have worn a sleeveless Promotion for 2 seasons. Great product and helpfull staff when it comes to fitting. I would buy from them again.

The P-Flex is a good suit. I used it at ironman New Zealand earlier this year. I thought it may be the warmest suit available. If you are doing a lot of cold swms that may be a bonus.

My two all-time favorites are the DeSoto T1 and the QR Superfull. I think the T1 is the fastest suit for me and the Superfull is the fastest one piece for me. You can't go wrong with either one of those two in my opinion.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Chris-

I hope that i can be of some assistance to you in your endeavour to find a new wetsuit. First off I should let you know that I am sponsored by QR so that if you feel there is any spin here you can just blow me off and sight that as the reason . Anyway...

As one of the fastest swimmers in the world at the Ironman level I have tried out many wetsuits and have had the luxury of choosing which company's product I will compete in. Because I come from a strong swimming background I am very particular about how a suit feels and operates in the water. That said I will give you a brief synopsis of some of the following suits.... IM, QR, t1, and orca. At first notion you may believe the t1 to be the best wetsuit for upper body mobility and removal of crotch pull. While the latter notion is completely true the former is not. I swam in the t1 for a year and a half b4 i demo-ed a few wetsuits and moved on. In that time i came to believe it to be the most mobile suit on the market... however when i began trying other suits on and swimming in them... (scenario... take 4 wetsuits to the local spring fed 72 degree pool and swap them out over a 3 hour period to come to a conclusion ) I found that amongst those 4 the t1 only came in third in terms of shoulder mobility. For me this was the most critical aspect of the how my suit fit... after the fact that it actually would fit my body and not allow water to enter. Shoulder and upper torso rotation are critical to allowing you to progress through the swim without much fatigue and the suit that i found to perform this action the best was really by far the QR Superfull. The shoulders are either 1mm or 1.5mm neoprene, therefore allowing for an INCREDIBLE range of motion that limits fatigue and therefore will increase your indurance... this also will have the added benefit of not allowing your back to tighten up as the swim progresses and thus a tight back will not be an issue as you then hop on your bike and proceed to curl up into the aero position.

IM Stealth- did not really work for me the rubber just seemed to tight and stiff all around.... that's a negatory good buddy

t1- nice suit but hard as hell to get into or out of... best option if you have EXTREMLY weird body dimensions and need say a 2 bib with a 6 top

Orca p-flex- performed quite well yet was not as flexible as i would have liked... i still esperienced some shoulder fatigue toward the later part of a 1000y

QR-Superfull- all i can say is that i was VERY suprised with how well it performed... incredibly flexible and buoyant it allowed me to fully extend my reach on each stroke. In addition the breakaway zipper is great for getting out of the thing and the new 2005 has v ankles and shortened to calf length legs to further assist in quick removal of the suit

I hope this is helpfull in your pursuit of a new suit and if you should have any further questions please feel free to email me. i understand that if price is an issue you may want to opt for the Hydrofull which is based on the same technology as the superfull.

best of luck

markavan@hotmail.com

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36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App

Thanks for your detailed advice. I have had a chance to try some suits on and here is where I come out.



QR Superfull just didn't fit. It was too boxy a cut and didn't fit my torso well.

Orca PFlex: Okay. Nothing bad. Fit fine.

XTerra Vector Pro 2: Fit great and the flexibility in the shoulders was tremendous. Also, my local tri-shop is letting it go for $325 to make way for the 2005s. Drawback is that it doesn't have a tearaway zipper. Problem is, I don't know too much about XTerra so any thoughts would be appreciated.

Finally, I really want to try out the Aquaman Metal Cell, but can't seem to find a place that carries them.

Based upon what I have been told thus far, it's all about fit so I should probably just pull the trigger on the XTerra absent advice to the contrary.

Thoughts please?

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I proudly DO NOT post my workouts on Facebook!!!

Chris-

Great to hear that you got to try some of the suits on. First question.... did you ever actually get to swim in them? And if so how far did you swim before passing judgement on a suit? i ask this because if two suits are a close call in choosing... 1500m of 80% effort swimming will usually give you a heads up as to how they will behave in a competition scenario. Between the Xterra and the P-flex.... hell for that price... Vector all the way dude. That is a sweet price to get into a nice suit like that. That said I hope it really is a perfect fit so that you can enjoy its use for years to come. GOOD LUCK!

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36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App