I’m a total newbie and i’m buying my 1st wetsuit…what do you think sleeves or sleevless? I was sold on full sleeves (should help swim time and good for cold water late fall/early spring training), but the more I think about it maybe sleevless would be good…opinions please!
If you are only going to have 1, definitely sleeves.
All the speed concerns aside (full suits are faster), you’ll need it for early and late season races.
Plenty of threads on this topic. Do a quick search.
Jodi
The consensus is that full sleeves should be the way to go. A sleevless wetsuit is really a speciality item for specific conditions or people. Make sure that you take the time to find the brand that is the right fit for you, that you are in the right size for you and that you have the suit fitted to you properly when you are trying it on. It should feel a little tight when you have it on dry, but it will then loosen up a bit in the water when you are actually swimming. See more on how to shop for a new wetsuit at:
http://www.nineteenwetsuits.com/wetsuitUserGuide.html
Hope this helps.
Both Jodi and Steve hit the nail on the head! I will just add that you need to don the suit properly so it swims well. Even with the proper fit if you have the wetsuit on wrong it can slow you down.
Emilio De Soto has a nice video covering this topic here:
i am not quite a newbie, but i would not swim in a sleeveless in any race that i can think of. i think the last time i did was in the late 80s. but then my wetsuits always fit me right, they were always made right, and swimming faster was always a sort of premium with me… and fullsuits are faster.
but then i don’t live in kansas or florida and you might be doing wetsuit legal races that might make a fullsuit uncomfortably warm. when i find myself in this situation, i just keep the top off or down until within a minute or two of the start. when you overheat in a wetsuit it’s not generally in the water, it’s standing on the shore in 80 degrees for a half hour waiting for your wave to go off.
the flip side is, what of the water’s 58 or 60? you want a longjohn for that swim?
It really is a personal thing. I use a sleeveless and love it. I find full sleeve to be too restrictive. See if you can try both types and see what you like. I know some tri shops do have suits that you can try.
I just want to add that people who complain about full suits not being comfortable or being constrictive to the shoulders either have one that is old, doesn’t fit, or isn’t put on properly. A good full suit should feel like a second skin. I LOVE mine. LOVE IT! (It’s a Nineteen Frequency, but many companies make very nice full suits. Find one that fits well)
Jodi
Get the DeSoto Black Pearl bibjohn bottom and then buy both a sleeved and sleeveless top. That way, you’ll have both types of suit for the price of one. I love mine!
“I find full sleeve to be too restrictive.”
but did you swim in it against the clock, versus a longjohn? notwithstanding the occasional personal anecdotal report of longjohns being faster (including those on this forum), imagine how many athletes i’ve had in the water in the 20 years i’ve been studying this. i’ve yet to find a single one who’s faster in a longjohn. even those who swear they’re faster in sleeveless suits (typically pure swimmers) are not. that’s why, if you go to an ITU race, and you watch the start of an ITU swim, you probably won’t find a single person in a longjohn, and most of them were pure swimmers in their childhoods.
No I have never compared the two from a time perspective. What would you say the advantage is for an Oly distance ??
i’d say it this way. whatever benefit you get out of a full, you’ll get 3/4 of that out of a longjohn. so, let’s say you go 8sec faster per 100m in a fullsuit over no suit at all. you’ll get 6sec in a longjohn. you’ll be giving up 2sec per 100m, or about 30sec or so over 1500m.
if you go to the ITU’s home page, they have a gallery of photos of this year’s races. there’s usually a lot of swim shots. of the wetsuit-legal races, including the photos of the mass start, find me the one person stupid enough to wear a longjohn. i’m not saying there are stupid ITU pros, but none of them are that stupid 
Thanks for the calcs Dan, I want to go throw up now…In my last two races I was 8 and 17 seconds out of the awards while wearing a sleeveless suit. I’ll stick with the sleeveless Helix for the rest of this season, but next year I am in full sleeves.
Bob
I find full sleeve to be too restrictive
A common complaint. Are you sure that you are in the right wetsuit? Username aside, if you are in the right brand for you, and in the right size for you and the wetsuit has been fitted to you properly, there should be minimal of any restriction with a full suit. This is particularly so with the very best wetsuits. The neoprene used in the top end suits is extraordinarily flexible. Beyond that it’s going to come down to how the suit fits YOU.
Partisan plug: I have had a number impartial and experienced wetsuit users tell me that the Nineteen Frequency is the most flexible wetsuit that they have ever swam in.
i’d say it this way. whatever benefit you get out of a full, you’ll get 3/4 of that out of a longjohn. so, let’s say you go 8sec faster per 100m in a fullsuit over no suit at all. you’ll get 6sec in a longjohn. you’ll be giving up 2sec per 100m, or about 30sec or so over 1500m.
if you go to the ITU’s home page, they have a gallery of photos of this year’s races. there’s usually a lot of swim shots. of the wetsuit-legal races, including the photos of the mass start**, find me the one person stupid enough to wear a longjohn. i’m not saying there are stupid ITU pros, but none of them are that stupid ;-)**
i always want to say that but never did… yeah, i agree 100%!!!
notwithstanding the occasional personal anecdotal report of longjohns being faster (including those on this forum), imagine how many athletes i’ve had in the water in the 20 years i’ve been studying this. i’ve yet to find a single one who’s faster in a longjohn. even those who swear they’re faster in sleeveless suits (typically pure swimmers) are not. that’s why, if you go to an ITU race, and you watch the start of an ITU swim, you probably won’t find a single person in a longjohn, and most of them were pure swimmers in their childhoods.
Thanks, Dan.
I wish that I could take you along on my demos with consumers and my sales calls to dealers. With all due respect, there are many wetsuit users and dealers who continue to advocate for long-johns/sleeveless because they are “better”. In my view there should only be a very select group of people who need/use a long-john:
-
People who are racing in 1/2 or full IM races where the water temp is going to be borderline( close to 78F) and it’s predicted to be a very hot day and the athlete is prone to over-heating and has a history of dehydration problems.
-
People who for lack of a better description, simply don’t have the extra $50 - 70 dollars to spend on a full sleeve suit and have a price limit of say, $200 and want to get out of the shop with a wetsuit for less than that amount - MSRP for a Nineteen Pipeline Sleeveless is $190.
Agreed, that when swim performance is absolutley paramount ie. an ITU swim leg, EVERYONE is wearing a full sleeve suit.
I did a little test on this a few weeks ago. I’ll try to find my notes and post my results tomorrow.
I was faster in the sleeveless.
“I was faster in the sleeveless.”
if you were faster in a sleeveless, there are certain possibilities. you may have been in a bad or ill fitting fullsuit. you may not know how to swim in a fullsuit. one thing is absolutely certain, and that is that you’re giving up at least :30 in an olympic, and at least 1:00 in an Ironman, by swimming in your sleeveless. probably double that. in all likelihood, you’re going to respond like the great majority over the past 20 years and stick to your guns. fortunately, that’s no skin off my teeth. you may be one of the very few who just suck it up and admit there’s something you just haven’t found, and that’s your best wetsuit. you’ll know when you’ve found it, because you’ll be fast in it, it’ll be comfortable, and it’ll have rubber to the wrists.
I go sleeveless and love it. Never used one w/ sleeves though.
I bought an orca sonar full last weekend, so I guess the decision has been made.
take it with the sleeves it will give you a little more buoyancy
.