I'll defer to more knowledge than I who post ...
but I'd think the fastest will be the one that fits best. Any restrictions from being not right in places, or washing in water from a poor fit will outweigh tech based savings.

Also just note the 'top end' may or may not be best for you (depends what your swimming in like) - the very top ones don't 'control' alignment or lift the legs as much as middle range ones (as the top top wetsuits assume you're top top swimmer that wants flexibility above all else and don't need extra lift in the legs or control to stay aligned etc).

Are you looking for a sleeveless or full sleeve? For sleeveless, you can get a Synergy from Amazon, which is pretty inexpensive. I have one, along with a nice Roka sleeveless. You can tell where the extra money went in the Roka, but fundamentally the Syngery is still a good wetsuit for swimming.

Now for full sleeve, I have no budget recommendations for you because I had a hard time finding a full sleeve with good shoulder mobility and flexibility until I bought my current Roka Maverick X. It's a near $1K wetsuit, although I bought mine during one of Roka's online "warehouse" sales for much lower.

Many companies mid line suits are as fast or faster than their top line suits.

In order to demand highest retail price they put all the bells & whistles in the top line suits. Some of those are there just bc people will buy Suit A that has those instead of Suit B that does not. Yet some of those make a suit slower.

years ago I did some wetsuit testing and many of the manufacturers told me that their mid line suit was the fastest.
When I was sponsored by a wetsuit company they sent me my race wetsuit. It was the mid line model. A few of my pro friends at the time were sponsored and got the top of the line model.

The brand manager told me they can't put their pros in anything but the top line suit but they could stick me in their fastest suit.

https://www.slowtwitch.com/...gh_My_Lens_7316.html

there are some other good articles on ST about wetsuit design and features that probably work & probably don't help you go faster

Here's a data point on full sleeved vs no sleeves. Makes me think I'll never go sleeveless again, although, truth be told, I haven't gone sleeveless since last century: https://www.slowtwitch.com/...t_in_2017__6200.html
~ 1.5sec per 100/yd which is A LOT of time

~:30 for a half IM swim. Or another way to look at that is someone going sleeveless needs to run just over :02/mile faster than you to make up for a bad decision

---

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

The contrary is also to be considered. If you are a "decent" swimmer and use your own technique to align yourself in the water, you may find the extra buoyancy from the beginner wetsuits to be annoying.

I am a mediocre swimmer.
I can hardly kick due to an old windsurfing injury.
So I would benefit from sleeved and boyant wetsuit.


Bottomline: pick a middle of the range suit that fits very well and don't worry about it too much.
Renting top end suit is not guaranteed to be faster.

I purchased mid range and expensive suits from 3 companies.

Asked ahead of time if it was ok to test and what I was doing. All said yes go ahead

Gave the 6 suits a numbers of swim tests each. Was hoping the lowest prices would be faster.

Unfortunately the most expensive was fastest every time

Sent the others back and bought a second suit of the most expensive for races. Am using the other for swim training.

What time difference have you measured per 100 M?
I would like to do a ballpark estimation on where to spend my money:
Suit, better frame, carbon plated running shoes,...

rent a few wetsuits within your budget, test them, then buy the fastest one