I agree about sleeveless - even though people say it's slower, my two fastest ironman swim splits were set using a sleeveless Roka suit, so it can't be that slow. The only downside is cold. For 2000m or so, should be ok, but for 3800m in cold water, you could run into trouble.

I have the maverick pro sleeveless but they don't make that model anymore. The main thing that money (of a more expensive sleeveless suit) would buy you is better fit/compression around the torso, which in my experience is a big factor in helping me feel less restricted. The Roka suit is very good in that regard.

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If you aren't going to spend the top dollar to buy the best full suit then just buy a sleeveless.

I've had multiple full suits I didn't like and always preferred a sleeveless until I got my Huub Archimedes.

I bought a Desoto speed tube off ebay for $60. I bought the sleeved top and the speed vest from Emilio (on sale). I also have BS core shorts.....and have several options I've used to race (and train) in. I don't have near the $$ invested it would cost to buy the latest iteration of what's touted as the top-end suits.

I have no idea why more people don't take advantage of this scenario and give themselves lots of options.

My experience with sleeveless wesuits has been great compared to high end full sleeve wetsuits (Roka, Blue Seventy, Orca, Etc)...Fit obviously trumps anything else when going the sleevless option because you don't want water coming into it during your swim. Typically you want it almost so tight it is a bit uncomfortable on dry land, because it always gets a bit looser in the water while your swimming.

I would look for a suit with 5mm rubber because that will put your bottom half in a good position. Other than that like you have mentioned, all of the pricey technology is built around the shoulders. Roka, 2xu, orca, and blue seventy all have really nice sleeveless options around the 200 mark.

A person's ability to handle cold water is highly personable. I feel fine in a sleeveless in low 60 degree water but someone else may not be able to do it. If your a person that wants to give the lifeguard then business when the pool thermostat gets off track and the pool temp is 84 then you should be fine. If you love when the pool thermostat gets off track, then you may need to test the sleeveless in colder water before race day.


Lastly, Slowtwitch as a whole will always tell you full wetsuits are faster because some really fine gentlemen did some really good testing several years back on wetsuits. The only problem with that test was the testing for the most part was done on 100's. Shoulder fatigue caused by restrictive rubber typically doesn't start to show up until the 250-300 yard mark of continuous swimming and to truly test suits based on shoulder fatigue you would need to swim 750's-1000s which presents a whole other set of issues that would make that test almost impossible to meet the scientific guidelines without having a robot doing the swimming.

Hope some of this info helps. Cheers

Sleeveless is not slower in practice as long as you don't get cold. Although it is a NOT fair test for me in the pool because I overheat easily and that forces me to slow down, sleeveless always killed sleeved in my pool testing, but again that is a garbage test considering I grossly overheat in a wetsuit at 80-81. It is amazing, every week we swim OWS in Florida as pros. It is straight up gong-show. It is amazing to see that when I make the switch from sleeved-to-sleeveless, due to temps, how it is almost like I a got a nice fitness bump. My best swims to my peers in races have always been in warmer water (72-76) before the change to 71.6 for pros.

There isn't as much differentiation in wetsuits that are sleeveless. You can more easily get by with a cheap sleeveless because you don't need to worry about flexibility in shoulders. I just wrote an article for the main stream title '10 Tips for Buying a New Wetsuit" that lays out additional thoughts.

You can always save 25% on a BlueSeventy wetsuit here.

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I'm a step beyond you. Long time swimmer, not really planning to do any real cold water triathlon races but wanted a wetsuit for the extra speed, chose a sleeveless model for my first wetsuit. Love the lower body buoyancy, but still feel a little discomfort in the shoulders. Next time around, I'm thinking of a pair of Lava Pants or similar.

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