QR SuperFull Long Sleeve Wetsuit Review

Triathlon Forum
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QR SuperFull Long Sleeve Wetsuit Review

Disclaimer: I am sponsored by QR, so read into this what you want

I’ve been using triathlon wetsuit since 1989. Amongst the brands I have used in chronological order (paying with my own money) were: O’Neill/Tinley, Richard Browne, Ironman, Orca, Nineteen, Quintana Roo. All of this over a period of 17 years. I have been a guinea pig in the evolution of triathlon wetsuits like many others. My last suit was a QR Ultrafull.

With a thick neck, long arms, long legs, broader shoulders, small waist, short torso and long legs, finding a proper fitting suit has been close to impossible. If it fits around the shoulders, I am floating everywhere else. It is fits everywhere else, my neck-shoulder area is so compressed that I cannot breathe. Three years ago, I settled for a QR Ultrafull and after three different attempts with a Small then Medium Short I finally settled on the Medium Small. This is a “thin tall guy’s wetsuit”. It worked for me due to my long arms etc.

Upon the recommendation of Herbert Krabel at QR and Team Timex athlete Jordan Rapp, I went for a Small SuperFull. This is the same suit that Jordan is using. For what it is worth at 6’3” his shoulders and arms are about the same size as mine at 5’6”. They just forgot to give me a proper torso when the DNA was being handed out.

I got the SuperFull out of the shipping box and put it on. It fit like a glove…everywhere. For the first time in 17 years, a suit that actually fit every part of my body. The material for this suit is so compliant, that it accommodates individual body variations quite well. The next day, I threw it in my backpack, hopped on the bike and rode over for a 10 min swim in the river near my home. It worked well, so I decided to use it in the Tupper Lake Half Ironman the next day. I had my best swim there in 14 years. While I won’t give the suit full credit (I have actually been working on my swimming), I had a solid 30:15 swim and 19th overall out of something like 700 people. What I noticed most (or least) about the Superfull is how little it interferes with the swim stroke. No restriction on reach or body roll like I would get with other suits. The neck line was great and I could breath well.

To sum it up:

Likes:

  1. Neckline: This has always been a problem area for me. Like all QR’s it keeps the water out but lets you breath. The neck sits low, not interfering with the “Adam’s Apple” area

  2. Range of Motion…awesome

  3. Conformance to body and stroke. This is even more important for a smaller swimmer like myself with imperfect stroke swimming at 80-90 strokes per minute in a race. There is no additional resistance from the suit on my recovery phase (and I am recovering more often than a long glider type)

  4. Speed: I have no quantitative evidence, but it felt faster than my Ultrafull by a noticeable amount. It may have been in my head, but the race results also supported it

  5. Buoyancy: Seemed good to me. Again, no proof, but it seemed as buoyant as my 1995 “borderline legal” Richard Browne “corksuit” (RB suits always had REALLY thick rubber…)

  6. Pedigree: If you are a person who gets sucked into marketing hype and brands, nothing better than swimming in a suit from the company that STARTED triathlon wetsuits. This suit is a highly refined descendent of Dan Empfield’s first creation

Dislikes

  1. The rubber is so compliant that I can see this suit ripping more easily than others. Maybe I am wrong about this, but you don’t get the flexibility for free. Time will tell.

  2. The suit was quite warm. I was cooking quickly in the 2K swim at the Tupper Lake Half Ironman. Then again, it is a wetsuit and it is supposed to keep you warm. I’d be worried about using it in borderline wetsuit legal temps for a full ironman, but would not hesitate to use it for shorter events regardless of temps.

My feeling is that the worse of a swimmer you are, the more you will benefit from a suit like this, especially if you have panic attacks during high speed swim starts. This is when breathing is a premium and many suits seem to cut off some of the access to oxygen or at least that was my experience with some suits I owned in the past.

Dev

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Good review Dev. I went through the same thing this year switching out my couple year old QR Ultrafull for the new Superfull to (hopefully) help with lower back issues when wearing a wetsuit. The difference is amazing, particularly in arm mobility and lat/back constriction. I don’t feel any range of motion constraints or tugging at my lower back. I still use my Ultrafull for “adventure” training and can really notice it tug on my lats/back even when I make sure the arms and legs are hiked up properly.

Keith

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Hey good point about the tugging on the back. When I mention mobility and range of motion, this is where it is very aparent. I am sure that a 1 piece suit like the DeSoto gets rid of this totally, but I was quite please by how the Superfull performed in this department.

Amazingly enough the same suit that fits Jordan Rapp fits me. This goes to show the range of fit on this suit.

Dev

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Maybe I’ll drop Herbert a line!!! I’ve heard nothing but great things about that suit. Sounds like it might fix the problems I’m having with my current suit. Thanks Dev.

Ian

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Ian, you should get one of these suits. As a good swimmer, you will find minimal interference with your normal stroke mechanics.

But see my dislikes. If I cooked in Tupper Lake over 2 K in June, you’ll cook in LP over 4K in July even worse. I know lots of dudes that use them in Ironmans, but I’d be talking to Herbert about the HydroJohn, which will likely give you the mobility along with the reasonable cooling during the swim. No point leaving the Ironman swim in a 2L hydration and 1500 mg sodium deficit!

But for cold weather Ironmans or any shorter distance swim (2K or less), this is a great suit.

Dev

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And their sizing has changed a bit. I used to wear a ML and now I wear a M.

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Let me know if you have any questions. As for it being warmer than other suits, I actually don’t think that is true. But I guess it really depends on the person using the suit how warm it feels to them. I personally swim always in my Superfull during wetsuit legal races, and have not yet felt too warm.

Herbert
Quintana Roo

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Herbert…maybe it was no warmer than other suits. It just felt warm in TL (I swam for 15 min without a wetsuit post race and was not cool at all, so the water was pretty warm to start).

Maybe the suit allowed me to swim so hard, that I felt the heat. In other suits my arms would fall off before I could generate that much body heat…who knows? Anyway, to flip this over to a positive, it would be a great suit for California 70.3 or any cold water swim!

In any case, regardless of the brand, I think when the water is borderline wetsuit legal, going sleeveless in an Ironman is a good plan with respect to management of electrolytes and hydration. Might be a an excuse to sell a whole whack of Hydrojohns!

Dev

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Funny, I still remember when you flamed me on account of my commercial interest in posting on this Forum.

I can’t wait until the day you start coaching, it will be sad and hilarious at the same time.

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I used the SuperFull Long Sleeve most of last year. All your observations are right on. Most flexible suit full suit I’ve used, keeps me almost too warm (but I sweat alot, even on the swim), and I have lots of little rips in my suit as its so flexible it tends to rip.

I’m actually moving away from full suits though. I still feel the sleeves on these suits are holding me back in my stroke. I’m normally good for the first 500 or so, but then I can feel my shoulders starting to get limited. I come from a distance swimming background, and have a very long “reach and catch” which is probable why I just can’t get comfy in the suit (or any long sleeve suit for that matter).

But since swimming is my best disipline, I don’t think lose too much going from a full to a sleeveless…only time will tell.

For the fullsuits though, you definetly picked the most comfy!

-bcreager

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…Paulo, actually, I have been encouraging you to use your posts to market your company to grow your business by conveying positive messaging rather than needlessly picking battles. And yes, I did get goodies, I did put the disclaimer at the top and I tried to present some aspects that people might be concerned with in “dislikes”. As for coaching tri, that won’t be happening. I have other things that I would be far more interested in doing outside of being a semiconductor guy. But I wish you the best in your business.

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Maybe the suit allowed me to swim so hard, that I felt the heat. In other suits my arms would fall off before I could generate that much body heat…who knows? Anyway, to flip this over to a positive, it would be a great suit for California 70.3 or any cold water swim!

Dev

Maybe I don’t get too warm because I swim slower. :slight_smile:

Herbert
Quintana Roo

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With regards to your number 1 dislike, I have an 8 month old Superfull and it ripped while I was putting it on yesterday at CDA. I was pulling the sleeve up and the seam between the rubber of the arm and the water gripping pad on the lower arm pulled apart. I need to see if I can dig up the receipt and see if they will replace it.

Other than that, I loved it until yesterday.

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Nice review, I have to agree on all points although I haven’t really had the overheating problem either and I’ve used it in a few “borderline” swims as well. The shoulder mobility is awesome!!! Super fast to get out of as well with the breakaway zipper and the neck is pretty comfy. One thing, maybe I have a small neck or a too big suit but when I dolphin the suit lets in a bit much water around the neck. Nothing major as it clears out pretty quick but it’s a weird feeling. Otherwise, the best suit I’ve ever worn (not that I have much experience here) hands down. 2nd place goes to the Aquaman Metal Cell.

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Tai, maybe you just need to get into the weightroom and get a thick neck like me :slight_smile:

As for the breakaway zipper, I forgot to mention that in my dislikes. I guess it is a feature for getting out quickly, but on the other hand, it is a pain in the ass to zip up. I guess you just need to ‘start it’ before putting the suit on?

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“I guess you just need to ‘start it’ before putting the suit on?”

Exactly! That’s what I do with mine, run it up about an inch or two before putting it on, then it zips up just fine.

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you just lack choordination… :wink: took me a while and a lot of swearing now my fingers are used to feeding the blind zipper no problem. It is a pita at first though, gotta agree on that. Quick to get out of so worth it in the long run.

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Have they cleaned up the nech fit and seam issues. We always could tell the next day who used QR suits…look at the raw necks.

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ripping out in the arm has happen to me already, and it has only four times in the water. very poor quality control at QR…but a fast suit. too bad

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Neck fits great. With respect to ripping, I would imagine that you really have to baby this suit. I can’t imagine that this much flexibility comes for free.