I replied earlier to someone that was looking to buy a full Ironman brand wetsuit and this is some additional information about two full suits that I tried out today. Until last night, my wetsuit experience was limited to what I had, a sleeveless Ironman brand Instinct. However, after reading the posts about the 60 degree water in AZ, I thought I might want to try a full suit. My association with a local tri shop allowed me to take two suits down to our local spring fed swimming area and give them a try. I am a bad swimmer, but I am improving, and I am just going to note the differences that I felt between the two suits. Also, different body types and swimming styles might benefit more from one suit to another.
Before anyone jumps in and tries to sabotage this thread with cries of learn to swim and quit using the wetsuit as a floatie, please just start a new thread or add to the old one about the pros and cons of wetsuit use.
The two suits were a an Xterra vortex and last year’s Desoto T1. The top of the Desoto was the higher end and the bib john was the lower mode.
Immediately after putting on the Xterra and going for a swim I noticed a key difference between my sleeveless and having buoyancy in the sleeves. My arms wanted to go to an “elbows high” position automatically instead of me having to put them there. I could see this as being quite helpful towards the end of a race when I get tired and my pull starts to drop. This suit felt good, but though it was M/L, I had a bit too much material to work with compared to my IM sleeveless that fit like a glove, but was a bit tight around the neck. When I got out of the water, I realized that I had some water trapped in the suit. Obviously, you are going to have some water underneath, but this was a noticeable amount. I pulled back the suit by the ankles and watched as water poured out. It was less than a quart, but that bothered me. I went back in and swam around to see if it would happen again. It did. I am not sure where the water came in, but it was discouraging. Honestly, I think it was a size issue and not a fault of the suit, but I wanted to point that out so that others that are looking at suits can check for this. It would really suck to swim an IM with a quart of water by your feet. Other than that, I liked it.
Two piece suits always scared me. It just didn’t make sense how a two piece suit could fit tight enough to not let water in, but amazingly it does. It was hard putting on, but that’s because I was already wet, so I just jumped in the water with half of it on and then it slipped on easily. Though I am a crap swimmer, I recently had a breakthrough with timing of the roll and the reach, and with both my current wetsuit and the xterra, I can’t get into the rhythm that I have when I am not wearing a suit. However, with the Desoto, I felt free to roll and I still had the benefit of full buoyancy of my arms and legs. I liked it so much I just kept swimming and ended up doing my workout in it. Afterward, I took off the top and swam a bit with just the bib part and felt pretty cool except you do start taking on water.
Final notes. I did not get any chaffing from either suit opposed to my sleeveless which will leave nice red marks under my arms if I don’t use body glide. Also, I did heat up more with the full suits, something that never happens with my sleeveless. For me, I am going to to go with the Desoto, but I just wanted to pass this info along to anyone that is looking at buying a wetsuit and is confused about what to get. I hope it helps.