I’m looking to get a sleeveless Blue Seventy wetsuit for the upcoming season.
I’ve had a Reaction sleeveless in the past and thus why I’m sticking with Blue Seventy. I’m looking at getting a replacement and was wondering if upgrading to the Helix is worth doing?
Comparing the two below it looks as if the Helix has thicker and more flexible rubber which gives more buoyancy and keeps you warmer in the water. But is there a noticeable difference in comfort and perfomance between the two?
I opted for the Reaction (full suit) instead of the Helix earlier this week, mainly going off of Slowman’s review.
The Helix is a $700 wetsuit and it’s worth every penny of that assuming this suit is a good size match for you. It really is one of the signature wetsuits out there. The blueseventy Reaction, at $420, gives very little away to the Helix. It would be understandable if you put the two wetsuits on and were scratching your head trying to figure out which is the better.
The sleeveless suits are priced based on the price of the sleeved suits, not on their cost or speed.
Because of the lack of shoulder issues, sleeveless suits benefit less from many of the material and patterning advances that have gone into suits. Many of them are actually counterproductive (ex. a reduction in rubber thickness that reduces flotation, but increases shoulder flexibility is carried over from the FS design to the sleeveless).
I have a QR sleeveless from twenty years ago, and it’s probably not much slower than many of the sleeveless suits today (Dan would probably back me up on this). It has thick, inflexible rubber (by today’s standards), but doesn’t restrict my stroke.
While I agree that there isn’t much difference in the sleeveless suits on the flexibility side, these two suits have distinct buoyancy compensation designs that vary a little bit from one to the next.
Also, as far as price is concerned, I think you are close on the pricing being matched to the full sleeve version, but don’t under estimate the cost of materials and manufacturing. Sure the margin is likely higher on a “top of the line” sleeveless model, but the cost to produce it is also higher. Aerodome rubber has a higher cost and the multiple different thicknesses add more seams and that costs money to produce. They may be using a better liner in the higher priced model as well. Is the markup 100% based on cost? Maybe, maybe not.
I have no dog in this fight, but I for the OP, assuming both are in your budget, I would take a look at the suit that benefits your swimming technique.