DeBoer Fjord 3.0 wetsuit review and 'test'

Triathlon Forum
1

Let me tell you that the outcome of my ‘testing’ is nothing as I expected it to be, read on.

When the the deboer wetsuits came out 5 years ago Monty said the review was coming and the final testing was done. Well, somehow that review never saw the light of the day here on the ST home page or in the forum.
To be perfectly fair and transparent, I did get to test one of those first deboer wetsuits and I pulled a hole in the sleeve at first attempt to try it on so immeditaley send it back and never touched a deboer again.

Fast forward to early of this year. I was tempted to try this latest model of them, the Fjord 3.0, because another athlete told me that he felt faster in it and I told him it was just a lot of marketing BS from the owner, Alex de Boer.

Alex, as I am, is Dutch and we have been knowing each other for the last 30 years or so, and off and on have been doing business but not for the last, I don’t know exactly, but 10-15 years or so.
But intrigued by that comment from that customer, he was in for a bike fit, a seed was planted in my mind and in the end I couldn’t resist sending Alex an email if he was up for a good bet.

I told him I would buy one of his wetsuits, explained my non-scientific test that I wanted to do, and I thought he would never agree but he did. The bet was if I could show him his wetsuit was not faster then other good to very good models he would pay me back and double the amount. If I was wrong I would take up his Fjord 3.0 in our collection to sell it and buy demo-models for people to test in our Endless Pool that we have in-house.
And I would make a review where I would explain what I did as testing and how.
As said, he was up for it if I would do it fair and honest and I agreed and I bought one. I was like a 100% confident I would win this bet.

My normal size in most wetsuit is MT but when that came in in the Fjord 3.0 it appeared to be really too tight. So after consulting with Alex he exchanged this for the LT, first time in my life I needed that size in a wetsuit, but hey, it is what it is :-).
But still it makes you feel fat in the winter
The LT still felt pretty tight so good to go.

On Mondays I swim in a 25 meter pool so my idea was to do one Monday 3 to 4 x 500 m sets in the deboer Fjord 3.0 wetsuit and the alternate Monday one of the other top models of brands like Sailfish, Zone3 and Huub.
My first few tries were in our own Endless Pool and must admit that that should have been an early sign because I could manage to hold a faster pace then what was normal for me in the deboer wetsuit.

The first Monday I tried I swam pretty fast for me in the current shape and not 1 but all 3 x 500 m.
And I need to explain myself to put in the right context.

My year of '23 was a year of recovery after having surgery at the end of '22 donating a kidney to my father. The result was that this whole year my body needed time to adapt to the new situation of living and functioning with one kidney left and in all three sports I lost fitness. I just could not put in the normal hours of training and all my times were slower.
Why it matters is that my swim times even at that first test session in the deboer wetsuit were not where I expected them to be. Not at all.
They were much faster and were not in range with my swim times and current fitness without wetsuit.

Anyway, I noted my times and the next Monday tested another supposed to be fast wetsuit. Times were slower, considerably slower, but I thought could be form of the day. I wasn’t ready yet to accept I might be wrong and there is more in this deboer wetsuit then just marketing BS.

This went on and on and on for a couple months. And swapped between the deboer Fjord 3.0 and the other 3 top models.
I am an very average swimmer, like 17:30 minutes 1 km and, 16:30 in very, very good shape in the pool in swimming trunks, I want floatation in my legs and flexible shoulders in my wetsuit

As said, I did this protocol for a couple of months and of course my shape improved a bit but the times in that deboer wetsuit got faster and faster up to a point that I deliberatly tried to do a slower swims which turned out to be the fastest of all and to be honest never ever have swam that fast over a 500 m 3 x in a row in my life. Why they were faster? Probably because I swam ‘slower’ so with more technique and less power and it turned out that in my ‘slower’ swim I managed to improve my all time even best 3 x in a row on 500 m.

Neither one of the other wetsuits came even close, the Fjord 3.0 was about 90-100 sec. min faster for me per km, and that is the average on the 2nd best wetsuit in line. It was over 2 min faster for me compared to the ‘worst very good’ wetsuit from another A brand.

I know, this is of course all non-scientific but the repetition of numbers I did and having the same outcome over and over again cannot be ignored. I have seen it with some customers now as well in the Endless Pool when we tried this Fjord 3.0 wetsuit compared to some other very good wetsuits. They all felt and saw they could swim a higher water flow from the flume in the deboer wetsuit.

So in the end I started looking what can be making that major difference.
The first thing you notice when you put the wetsuit on is, contrary to other wetsuits on the market, that the lower arm is 5 mm thick. Most or actually all other wetsuits got thinner arms. This 5mm part is a very strong piece of treated neoprene and nearly impossible to penetrate with fingers or nails. It feels it acts like a ‘paddle’. One of the things that were very noticeable after the first few swims in that deboer wetsuit was the muscle soreness in my lower arm muscles.

The floatation of the wetsuit is from another level. You are lying on a surfboard, I am faster in the wetsuit by trying to use my legs as little as possible then by trying to do a kick.
If I weigh the wetsuit it becomes apparent why this wetsuit feels heavy when you have it in your hands, that is because it is heavy. Most other wetsuits in my size are about 1000 grams heavy, the Fjord 3.0 is 50% heavier, it is a whopping 1518 grams.

So that floatation comes from somewhere and that is most likely party due to the longer legs and arms then most other wetsuits. It reminded me a bit of the old Quintana Roo wetsuit that came all the way down to the ankles where most modern new wetsuit are sometimes more like just below the calf. And all that neoprene is all 5 mm thick.

The upper arms are 0.3 mm, again, that feels very thin but it is actually very, very strong. I have that wetsuit put through some pretty wrong methods of how to put on the wetsuit to see if I would tear it up at places but no it didn’t, at all.

That wetsuit is built like a tank, on strategic places it is about the most reinforced wetsuit I have ever seen, and that are a lot of wetsuits being in this business for over 35 years.

The collar is also different. If you ever tried a turning point in a pool and do a good push off against the wall you can feel the water enter the suit through sleeves and neck. Not so with this wetsuit.
I first found the collar to close a bit weird, my fellows swimbuddies even say it was ugly because there is more material then you would expect, but it works like a charm with little to no chafing at all.

So months later I needed to admit to Alex that his wetsuit, at least for me, was faster, actually much faster so I called him and brought him the news. He was still for a couple of moments and then said he seriously never expected me to admit this to be true. He was happy I was being so super honest. And I should be because I was the one calling him out on most of it they produce on the socials is just a big bunch of marketing bullshit.

And fair is what is fair, it is faster. That is the Fjord 3.0 suit. I cannot tell anything from previous models, my analysis is purely based on this model only. And I hate to admit it, but I lost the bet big time.

We can all discuss of the wetsuit is worth the money, but other wetsuits are also creaping up to the same price range and the deboer wetsuits have been on this $1500 level for the last 5 years while other got increased in price. But it is still a boat load of money, true. But for me a 4 -6 minute win on an IM swim distance is something that I cannot do easy with training.
Probably the gains in time will be smaller -or not- for much fatser / better swimmers then me. I can’t tell for sure, someone should try this test also.

What I have seen with me and I also have seen it already with several clients that came in less effort at even higher speeds in the Endless Pool so there is ‘something’ that makes this wetsuit faster.

Jeroen

2

this is good stuff and for somebody like me weight of a wetsuit is a pretty good indicator how well a wetsuit will do for me
as for other swimmers i wonder how many de boer pros have manged to get up one pack after using it.
at the end this is real test.

another question what about fit
iam aware people tend to size up for de boer
but what about upper body lenght ie more like roka or more like huub.

3

My mate did a similar test vs a helix and maverick x with the fjord 3. His reply was the fjord felt like a swimmers wetsuit - rewarded you if you were half decent. It also tested the slowest for him. I’m not rubbishing what you say btw, but he wasn’t convinced. Ended up with the new Helix.

In any event, you did say your tore it first time around and now you say it’s built like a tank ? Reinforced, ultra thin 0.3 but very very strong ?

Again not having a go. 90seconds over a competing high end wetsuit over 1km is A LOT though

4

this is good stuff and for somebody like me weight of a wetsuit is a pretty good indicator how well a wetsuit will do for me
as for other swimmers i wonder how many de boer pros have manged to get up one pack after using it.
at the end this is real test.

another question what about fit
iam aware people tend to size up for de boer
but what about upper body lenght ie more like roka or more like huub.

Torso length is very good, not al all like HUUB’s which are very short. Can’t say anything on Roka which is like a non-brand here in EU.

jeroen

5

My mate did a similar test vs a helix and maverick x with the fjord 3. His reply was the fjord felt like a swimmers wetsuit - rewarded you if you were half decent. It also tested the slowest for him. I’m not rubbishing what you say btw, but he wasn’t convinced. Ended up with the new Helix.

In any event, you did say your tore it first time around and now you say it’s built like a tank ? Reinforced, ultra thin 0.3 but very very strong ?

Again not having a go. 90seconds over a competing high end wetsuit over 1km is A LOT though

What I wrote is that 5 years ago that very first deboer wetsuit I tore up. The now Fjord 3.0 is a tank.

regards,

Jeroen

6

Great job Jeroen. I always appreciate your diligence and insight. I am curious on your comments about the neck including comfort. You say “with little to no chafing at all” The “little” part caught my attention because I would not expect any chafing in a pool for 1k. In my Roka I have been having problems with the neck only in 3800m swims, and in salt water (it is pretty bad there) and am looking for a solution. I also have a Helix but I haven’t worn it much because it doesn’t feel as fast as the Roka.

Thank again.

7

Great job Jeroen. I always appreciate your diligence and insight. I am curious on your comments about the neck including comfort. You say “with little to no chafing at all” The “little” part caught my attention because I would not expect any chafing in a pool for 1k. In my Roka I have been having problems with the neck only in 3800m swims, and in salt water (it is pretty bad there) and am looking for a solution. I also have a Helix but I haven’t worn it much because it doesn’t feel as fast as the Roka.

Thank again.

Since the first tests I have done a few longer swims as well. Normally I always use something like bodyglide becaue I always gets rash in all wetsuits, I think due to how I breathe, but so far in the deboer really nothing to almost noticeable. The first test swim I used nothing to see how ‘bad’ it will turn out to be but on some tests I just plain forgot. But with most wetsuits I can get chafing in a 1 km swim.

I do know that in southern EU countries like Spain they use a special silicone based neck collar to wear underneath the wetsuit collar and that seems to do the trick.
A customer of mine showed it to me once.

Jeroen

8

this is good stuff and for somebody like me weight of a wetsuit is a pretty good indicator how well a wetsuit will do for me
as for other swimmers i wonder how many de boer pros have manged to get up one pack after using it.
at the end this is real test.

another question what about fit
iam aware people tend to size up for de boer
but what about upper body lenght ie more like roka or more like huub.

Torso length is very good, not al all like HUUB’s which are very short. Can’t say anything on Roka which is like a non-brand here in EU.

jeroen

ok than more like sailfish then.
btw here you see that sponsoring works roka is quite common in Spain and uk …

9

this is good stuff and for somebody like me weight of a wetsuit is a pretty good indicator how well a wetsuit will do for me
as for other swimmers i wonder how many de boer pros have manged to get up one pack after using it.
at the end this is real test.

another question what about fit
iam aware people tend to size up for de boer
but what about upper body lenght ie more like roka or more like huub.

Torso length is very good, not al all like HUUB’s which are very short. Can’t say anything on Roka which is like a non-brand here in EU.

jeroen

ok than more like sailfish then.
btw here you see that sponsoring works roka is quite common in Spain and uk …

That very well could be, you don’t see Roka that much In The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium

Jeroen

10

Am I doing the math correctly the Deboer was approx 9 seconds per 100 yards faster than the Sailfish, Zone3 and Huub?

11

Am I doing the math correctly the Deboer was approx 9 seconds per 100 yards faster than the Sailfish, Zone3 and Huub?

If you replace yards by meters, yes, I know it sounds ridiculous that’s why I repetated the test mutilple times. I needed to convince myself this was actually happening and not one occasional swim that just went faster. It needed to be repeatable in numbers.
And this was faster than the 2nd best in line. I tested against one model of Sailfish, one of Zone3 and one HUUB model. All very good suits in their respective collections.

Jeroen

12

That’s a nice write up there, but as with all personal testing, there is something missing in your trials, not sure what it is either. Your test results got other top line suits 9 seconds slower than the 3.0, so what did that suit give you, close to 20 seconds per 100?

You and I are very different swimmers, and when I swim 20x100 on an interval, I can hold almost exactly the same second in repeats. I never test suits against each other, but always test them against my training jammer as a control. So how many seconds faster than just skin. It gets rid of any noise you have doing tests on different days when you can be completely off on paces, especially guys your speed, lots of variance.

So I do the baseline first of just skin, then test the suit right after to get a fair comparison, using pace first, then HR and PE to hold the trials steady. This way if for instance my skin swims are 1;15’s, that is my baseline. On another day where I’m tired or just off, it could be 1;18’s. But that takes that noise out of the comparisons and the real number is the difference to the suit swims, which you then can use for comparisons, and to other suit brands too…

And yes I did do a full test on the DeBoer’s many years ago and wrote the entire test up. For whatever reasons it just never got published. And it sounds like the suits have changed quite dramatically since then too, and they were lighter than most suits back then than what you describe. But what I did find is that it was a nice fitting suit, except for the necks. Tried a couple different models, and even different sizes, but always got water in on the push offs of the walls. And in my OW test it still let water in, no matter how tight I made that dam neck. I heard from others that was a problem for them too, but of course a lot had no issues there.

The suit fit well everywhere else, and I got 7+ seconds per 100 out of it from just jammers. That was fine for me, as most all of the top of the line suits got me 6 seconds or so, and the fastest was the two piece De Soto, but barley over that suit. And mostly that was because of the extra rubber they had in it, and now sounds like DeBoer has followed suit so to speak. That is a good thing, because after fit, flotation is what makes a suit fast, and all the other stuff they all like to claim as speed enhancers, well are just marketing…

Its good that guys like you MOP’ers test these things, but with your results, there is just something off in your protocols. Those suits are not 9 seconds a 100 slower(well they were for you, not doubting your experiences). It’s just when folks get close to 20 seconds a 100 or more(some30+), it is really hard for those people to do tests that compare apples to apples. Could be fit, fitness, different day syndrome, you personally, etc.

Anyway great you got to it finally, a lot of people wonder about this dynamic, and the prices that go along. Seems in the years I have been doing these tests, the top of the line suits keep creeping up in $$, so not so different as it used to be.

13

That’s a nice write up there, but as with all personal testing, there is something missing in your trials, not sure what it is either. Your test results got other top line suits 9 seconds slower than the 3.0, so what did that suit give you, close to 20 seconds per 100?

You and I are very different swimmers, and when I swim 20x100 on an interval, I can hold almost exactly the same second in repeats. I never test suits against each other, but always test them against my training jammer as a control. So how many seconds faster than just skin. It gets rid of any noise you have doing tests on different days when you can be completely off on paces, especially guys your speed, lots of variance.

So I do the baseline first of just skin, then test the suit right after to get a fair comparison, using pace first, then HR and PE to hold the trials steady. This way if for instance my skin swims are 1;15’s, that is my baseline. On another day where I’m tired or just off, it could be 1;18’s. But that takes that noise out of the comparisons and the real number is the difference to the suit swims, which you then can use for comparisons, and to other suit brands too…

And yes I did do a full test on the DeBoer’s many years ago and wrote the entire test up. For whatever reasons it just never got published. And it sounds like the suits have changed quite dramatically since then too, and they were lighter than most suits back then than what you describe. But what I did find is that it was a nice fitting suit, except for the necks. Tried a couple different models, and even different sizes, but always got water in on the push offs of the walls. And in my OW test it still let water in, no matter how tight I made that dam neck. I heard from others that was a problem for them too, but of course a lot had no issues there.

The suit fit well everywhere else, and I got 7+ seconds per 100 out of it from just jammers. That was fine for me, as most all of the top of the line suits got me 6 seconds or so, and the fastest was the two piece De Soto, but barley over that suit. And mostly that was because of the extra rubber they had in it, and now sounds like DeBoer has followed suit so to speak. That is a good thing, because after fit, flotation is what makes a suit fast, and all the other stuff they all like to claim as speed enhancers, well are just marketing…

Its good that guys like you MOP’ers test these things, but with your results, there is just something off in your protocols. Those suits are not 9 seconds a 100 slower(well they were for you, not doubting your experiences). It’s just when folks get close to 20 seconds a 100 or more(some30+), it is really hard for those people to do tests that compare apples to apples. Could be fit, fitness, different day syndrome, you personally, etc.

Anyway great you got to it finally, a lot of people wonder about this dynamic, and the prices that go along. Seems in the years I have been doing these tests, the top of the line suits keep creeping up in $$, so not so different as it used to be.

If you ask if the Fjord 3.0 gave me about 20 sec per 100 meter compared to just a speedo that might be a little too much, more in the range of 15-16 sec.

I agree with you on the comment that those first line of wetsuits had a waterflow down the neck but this Fjord 3.0 is a whole different suit.
For me I didn’t think a 10 or 20 x 100 meters would have worked as a test, that’s why I did 500 meters.

But performed this numerous times as a repeat and the trend line was pretty constant over alle wetsuits taking in consideration that my swimming condition made me improve on all wetsuits during those months.
But the average numbers didn’t lie. And, as said, it is a non-scientific of a study you can imagine ;-).

In a way this suit also reminded me a little of the DeSoto Water Rover, I think it was named like that, the 10 mm suit.

But you are a fantastic swimmer and, as I wrote, my good guess is that the better the swimmer the less a suit helps.
I have a serious SLS as in Sinking Leg Syndrome so for me a lot of buoyance probably is making much more of a difference than it will be for you, for sure.

A more scientific approach would be to have our gasanalysis tool available while swimming. To be honest, I tried to borrow the swimming add-on for our Cortex, but the Dutch distributor didn’t have this tool available and buying it was way too crazy at $18.000. One of those machines was expensive enough :slight_smile:

Jeroen

14

Jeroen I am struggling to figure out my size as well.
I have a MT currently and the shoulders are way too tight. Did you experience the same? I am swimming more than 30s/lap slower and needing to stop every 100y due to the tightness.
I’m 5’8 and 155lbs so I’m not a big guy. The MT sleeve is already long on me and almost comes to my hand. The suit is a big pain in the butt to remove and any time gained from swim will be lost on T1 as I struggle to take the suit off. I presume this means I need to size up.
Considering switching to LT.
Could I ask what your height/weight is?

Did you try swimming in MT and was it restrictive? Or you could tell right away that it wasn’t going to work and switched to LT?

15

Normally I’m in almost all brands like Zone3, Orca Blue Seventy the MT guy, at 183-184 cm and about 75-77 kg, only not in Sailfish where I am a SL but their sizing is just different.

The initial ordered size in the DEBOER was also an MT but that was way too tight. Never even tried to swim in it since it was nearly impossible to get it over my shoulders.
They really fit at the smaller end of the spectrum, even when I sized up to the LT my intial thought it was too small/tight.
But that took me 3 swims to only find out it was indeed the right size.

Due to the way the material/thickness of the suit is fabricated, I know the how and why, but I’m not sure if I’m allowed to tell it needs to ‘stretch out’ a bit by use. So that LT felt also quite tight at first but after 3 swims it felt perfect. It became easier and easier to put the suit on and also to take it off. There is this ‘thing’ when the torso is just over the waist where it tends to ‘stuck’ for a moment but I also found a trick for that and now removel is a as easy as to put it on.

Sleeves are long to give you the max 'paddle’effect at the forearms but also make sure to pull the sleeces really up the shoulder so it gives you the freedom of movement.

That said, I think with your 155 lbs an LT feels on the large side also with 173 cm if I translated that. I have customers with that weight and height in that size.
It could be that the sleeves in total are not high enough up over the shoulder or maybe it is just not your suit.

But give the LT a try, it is still a tight suit with my weight and height, but I like a suit to be tight.

Hope this helps a bit.

Jeroen

16

To add another size datapoint. I’m 178cm tall (5ft8) and approximately 68 kg (~150 pounds) and wear an ST. I must say it’s tight and it takes me significantly longer to put on comparer to the Huub Agilis in ST. However, when it’s on it fits well. Taking it off is not the easiest (especially considering it’s a 1400€ wetsuit), but with lube on the forearms and calf sleeves it’s OK. I’m still considering cutting the bottom centimeter off, I’m just not sure if the added sticking on both the legs and sleeves are intended for that.

17

I certainly am not going to claim to be a great swimmer with my fastest IM in freshwater perfect conditions was 1hr + a few seconds change for reference of my ability. But I don’t find the DeBoer wetsuit a faster suit for me.

I initially purchased a Fjord 2.0 and paid the exorbitant price and I found it didn’t fit great I think the size smaller would have been better but it was a slower suit to the Huub I had been swimming in. Lucky for me the rubber perished and tore just below my throat and if I give DeBoer cudos it will be how good they were with the warranty. They offered me the new 3.0 for a small fee which I obliged and was more impressed with the it arrived and it fitted smaller.

But in the meantime I had races so purchased a Volare V3 Australian wetsuit and had started swimming in that.

https://www.volaresports.com/collections/wetsuits-1/products/triathlon-wetsuit-volare-v3-mens

I swum in the DeBoer but preferred swimming the Volare it just feels nicer and my best analysis and only test of speed is I live on the ocean and regularly wander from my home and swim 1 to 1.5km down the beach, have a short rest and swim back at sweet spot pace for me around 1:45/100. Conditions with wind and swell can vary a bit but on those flat days I am usually at least 5sec/100m faster in my Volare and my DeBoer now sits in my cupboard.