Hi,
At 5’9 and 205 I have had a hard time finding a wetsuit. I have tried several from wetsuitrentals.com. I currently have one on rental that they are willing to sell me for $75. Great deal. It fit and worked well, so wondering what peoples thoughts were about buying a wetsuit, used.
I am thinking for $75 its a great deal. It does have demo stamped on the inside of it, so may have had a fair amount of use?
If it’s in good condition, and you’re comfortable with that amount of other people’s urine, go for it.
Which begs the question, how much urine is too much urine??? 
what wet suit did you try? I am close to the same dimensions as you and i need to rent a wetsuit for a tri in august.
What are they giving you for a suit?
Fit wise, I would guess you would be an XL in Tyr, and you can get into a Cat 1 or Cat 3 for $300 or less with some looking.
Depending on your shoulders, you might fit Orca and would be around a size 9, and I have seen great deals on the 3.8 and Alphas as well, and Sonars very cheap.
If you like the suit, it fits you well and the condition is fine, then the $75 is probably not a bad deal. I would pick up some Aqua Seal or Manett Seal Cement to be on the safe side and repair any of the nicks that might be there to prevent them for growing.
The only way to really tell “how good” of a deal the suit is knowing the make and model. If you are buying a used suit that retails for under $200, it is still a decent deal, you just have to see how comfortable you are with how the suit has been worn or handled before it got to you.
TYR Hurricane.
have not bought it yet, but considering.
male XL
.
If you wouldn’t think twice about exchanging underwear with an adult who has a bladder control problem this won’t be an issue for you.
really, ugh your killing me.
Serious question:
How much a diffrence is category 1, 3 or 5 suit? Some backgroud, swim is by far the easiest part of the race for me. I am a pretty good swimmer, so dont know if that should be taken into account with which category to look at.
On the peeing part… I suppose some folks do it, I never have. Maybe from wearing wetsuits for 25 years as a diver and windsurfer I know that most of the water inside stays inside, unlike the bike where at least the air dries it off and it sprays behind you.
I like all the Tyr suits, but you can’t go wrong with almost any of the suits out there. Sounds like you have tried several and these fit you which was my case as well.
Features are for the most part the same on the suits, but as you go up the chain, the rubber is mainly what changes. Biggest jump for the money is probably Cat 1 to Cat 3.
I think it goes that the Cat 5 is Yamamoto 40 and 39 Rubber, the Cat 3 is 39 and 38 and the 1 is a Yamamoto with Nano SCS coating. As you go up the scale, the rubber is a little more buoyant and flexible. The 3 & 5 also have the core stabilization system and the catch panels, which are nice, but not sure if they are worth the upgrade.
The Cat 1 is an awesome suit. Though it is the entry Tyr suit, to me it lines up more with the mid line on a lot of other brands, and at $75 for it, you are hard pressed to find it for under $270 new. I have seen the entry level on a lot of other brands below the $200 mark.
One consideration is that neoprene does break down over time. The little bubbles in the material that give it it’s buoyancy and insulation burst from heat exposure, crushing and just general use making the suit less buoyant and warn over time. A rental suit may very well see the equivalent of several seasons in one depending on how busy the rental place is.
While that is true, the biggest opponent of air bubble in neoprene is pressure. The thinner neoprenes will have a softer membrane, hence the increased flexibility, but even a heavily used wetsuit should still remain fairly close to its original buoyancy for a couple of years. Now my Henderson I dive in… Well lets just say even spending 3 minutes down at 100 ft can start adding up quickly.
I agree with others that you really can’t go wrong with most wetsuits, as long as they don’t have cuts and don’t have a “perma-stench” in them. What you described strikes me as a great price, so you have margin of error. If you wear it 3 times are realize you don’t like it, you really aren’t all that much.
Right now, with current lineups, I’m a big fan of Orca wetsuits and Blue Seventy wetsuits. But frankly, QR, Desoto, TYR, Xterra – they all make great wetsuits and if you stay at the $300 price point or below you are going to get a fine value. All my opinion, of course. If you have $600 to spend, I love the Blue Seventy Helix but most don’t need that. It seems like for $75 you can’t go wrong as long as it is a suit you like and don’t have visible damage.