Hmmm expected the price to be a bit lower for the first entry into the market. That being said, I really like their trisuits.

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"see the world as it is not as you want it to be"

Do they allow a buyer to try and if not faster to return like ROKA?

That's just about the longest product page I have ever skimmed... Guess were going to have to wait until Monty is able to try one out. One of the unfortunate things about wetsuit expenses is very few people ever get the chance to try out multiple ones. You kind of just have to buy one based off reviews and hope you got the right one for you.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

No offense, but the wetsuit designer, and founder of the company has credentials that would far surpass Monty's. Podium at WC, ranked #1 in the world and NZ olympian.....me thinks that's a pretty good pedigree. Craig did his research and looked at a number of suits I'm sure, including my Maverick X as he was developing this suit. As opposed to many of the manufacturers, this guys are former world class triathletes and are students of the latest in tech. Looking at the info page, I have to say I have not seen such a blend of components in a wetsuit yet they are still less expensive than the Roka top end suit.

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Gary Geiger
http://www.geigerphoto.com Professional photographer

TEAM KiWAMi NORTH AMERICA http://www.kiwamitri.com, Rudy Project http://www.rudyprojectusa.com, GU https://guenergy.com/shop/ ; Salming World Ambassador; https://www.shopsalming.com

I don't think I ever expressed doubt that it's a good suit, did I? I just mean to say that there are a number of $7-800 suits on the market and without trying them all on and swimming in them, there is no way to know if one is actually better for the individual. I have a friend who was given one of QRs new wetsuits at Kona last year and it turned out to be kind of full of defects. And that's from the original wetsuit manufacturers. Smart people can get stuff wrong too, though I hope this one is good as more options are always better.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

No, you did not say anything to that point. I just feel that your choice of test could be done better. Obviously there is a strong bias on ST due to long lasting relationships and perceptions that hold to this day. I also feel that the wetsuit market has split pretty severely as of late, with actual quality manufacturers and hang on pretenders. I wasn't even aware that QR was even competitive in the high end suits. I know of a lot of lower suits that will be "fine" for most and can be had for a pretty reasonable price. Others have a buy and see a huge sale shortly thereafter which is sad for the retail price buyer. While not anywhere near the DeBoer price point, I have to say this suit seems to have a LOT more high end features (Airdome, limestone neoprene, shark scale pattern, leg cut patterns and more....) than many offerings at an even higher price point, such as Roka, BlueSeventy, etc.

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Gary Geiger
http://www.geigerphoto.com Professional photographer

TEAM KiWAMi NORTH AMERICA http://www.kiwamitri.com, Rudy Project http://www.rudyprojectusa.com, GU https://guenergy.com/shop/ ; Salming World Ambassador; https://www.shopsalming.com

of course there is really no differecne between the top wetsuit and the 'midlevel' suits. and often midlevel suits can be faster than the top levle suits ( ie for a leg sinker and orca 3.8 is not slower and likely faster than the most expensive orca at a much more resonalbe price. at the end its a lot about fit and not features .

dont get me wrong I think the kiwami suit is a very good suit and if it has a long upper body , it quite likely would be a fab wetsuit for myself. there is many things i like about this suit for myself. but the time saving chart is just total bull...

the other suggestion i would have take off that gimick at the forarm and charge 50 euro less.

I purchased 3 wetsuits and tried each in repeated tests over one week. I was hoping the lowest cost suit would be the fastest so I could save some money

Unfortunately for me the most expensive suit was faster over multiple tests. I returned the other two per their return policy for a full refund

I am willing to give your suit the same trial. If it’s faster I am happy to have spent the money.

Do you have the same sort of return policy of being able to try and return if it is not the best suit for me?

Similar to Blue Seventy and ROKA?

Are the legs 5mm or 4mm? The copy says 5, the graphic says 4...

Unfortunately, the biggest factors in the speed and comfort of a wetsuit for an individual is not cost, but how the brands divvy up their features... Things like buoyancy profiles and ares that are more flexible can make a big difference in how suitable a wetsuit is for an individual. I'm a bit bummed, because I would have loved to try the Kiwami suit, but just replaced my suit at the start of this season. I ended up going with a lower model suit than I was originally planning, because the buoyancy profile on the slightly cheaper suit better helps cover my deficiencies than that on the higher priced model. In the end, the suit I selected would likely be the faster suit, even if it's slightly less hydrodynamic than the other one, because my droopy leg position causes way more drag than the lower end suit does, which helps to better streamline my position.

I get the reliance of people waiting for someone neutral to test and review the suit, as opposed to taking the claims of a manufacturer straight up, but I have always been impressed with Kiwami's products, and their design, so I expect this to be a super fast suit... More and more brands are entering the market with a top end wetsuit and then coming back with a mid-range model after, so that bothers me less that they come in with their higher end model, at a low-end of the high-end wetsuit price point...

I'm not sure the details as it has not even made the trip to the US as far as I know. That said, Kiwami has always set the standard for customer service so I would not be surprised if they would do everything to guarantee you are happy with the suit.

Not sure if it holds for their new wetsuits but I looked and ccording to Kwami website they only allow returns on unused items

If I’m remembering correctly our resident tri wetsuit originator said when they offered a buy and try satisfaction guarantee he only had a few people take advantage of their policy

good eye indeed. thank you.
the front of the legs are 5 mm while the back of the calves are 2 mm.

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Kiwami North America
http://www.kiwamitri.com
http://www.aquamantri.com
contact@kiwamitri.com
http://www.facebook/kiwamitriusa

it is highly likely we will adopt an identical policy, allowing you to test the wetsuit.
we are confident we have manufactured just not another wetsuit; what would be the point. we've included unique features that, we believe, will help the kiwami swift stand out.
in particular, we chose a limestone-based neoprene and not the widely used yamamoto neoprene.
so if you're interested in trying it, just email us at: contact@kiwamitri.com

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Kiwami North America
http://www.kiwamitri.com
http://www.aquamantri.com
contact@kiwamitri.com
http://www.facebook/kiwamitriusa

Anyone else find the testing chart on the wetsuit page kind of odd?

So, first of all it says all tests done as 100m repeats, with 4 levels of swimmers - Average, Average+, Good, Very good.

How many average swimmers (the lowest/slowest on their chart) can do 100m repeats at a 1:17 pace?? Wow, I suck :(

Also, for the same wetsuit, why is the difference between the average, average+, and good swimmers only 1 second??

The estimated gains over 2.6 miles:
average - 3:16
average+ - 3:16
Good - 4:43
very good - 2:53

Why did the 'good' swimmer break the expected trend and save so much more time than the average swimmers, and how was it calculated, why over 2.6 miles instead of 2.4?

Certainly looks like a nice wetsuit visually, just trying to understand the testing.

Cheers

2.6 miles Canadian...

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"They know f_ck-all over at Slowtwitch"
- Lionel Sanders

Makes sense, the detour to hit Tim Hortons.... :)

sorry for the typo : )

working on it.

thanks!

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Kiwami North America
http://www.kiwamitri.com
http://www.aquamantri.com
contact@kiwamitri.com
http://www.facebook/kiwamitriusa

here's a message from Craig Watson, Kiwami's co-founder, leader of SWIFT's R&D team:

Thanks to everyone for your interest and comments about the Kiwami Swift wetsuit. On behalf of Kiwami, I'll try to clear up a some of your questions about the suit and explain briefly our point of view.
The wetsuit is a product that's been missing from our collection since day 1, and not having a wetsuit has often led people to believe we aren't a "true" triathlon brand (even though we've been making triathlon specific textiles for 16 years now). It took us so long to take the jump because we are very aware the wetsuit market is saturated and we didn't want to just introduce something the same as what is already available. That's why we've decided to have only a very good top level wetsuit in our collection (there will be no mid level and entry level Kiwami wetsuits to follow). At Kiwami we're dedicated to making top quality products that help improve performance, which is what we believe this wetsuit achieves.

We'll offer the best customer service we can and as we always try to do. Of course we will refund a returned product that the customer is not happy with, but only if it is returned in perfect as-new condition. If the suit has been damaged in any way, unfortunately we can't refund. All experienced triathletes know that the neoprenes used for triathlon wetsuits are fragile, so there is a danger of damaging a suit if it's tested. I'm sure all the wetsuits brands will agree when we say "Please be careful !"

When developing the wetsuit we worked a lot on the cut, panel placements, different neoprene types and different thicknesses for each panel. That's a lot of prototypes and testing. We're all triathletes at Kiwami, with up to 30 years experience swimming in wetsuits, so kind of know what we wanted the final product to feel and perform like. We've come up with a suit which our internal tests show is fastest and most comfortable (yes we did test vs other brand's top level wetsuits), and those results are summarized on the SWIFT web page. Everyone's different so we don't expect Kiwami SWIFT to be best for everyone, but there's a good chance it might be. You won't know until you try yourself !

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Kiwami North America
http://www.kiwamitri.com
http://www.aquamantri.com
contact@kiwamitri.com
http://www.facebook/kiwamitriusa