ROKA wetsuit review (1)

Triathlon Forum
1

I should start off by saying that I have been lurking on this site for over a year now, and this is the first time I have felt I had something to add to the discussion. I should also follow that by saying that, like many others have mentioned, I have learned a tremendous amount through this forum and I thank all members for that.

My old wetsuit was getting pretty tired, and I decided to order a new one. I did a bit of research (mostly through ST) and liked what I was hearing about ROKA. I ordered the Maverick Elite and excitedly awaited its arrival. In spite of the company’s best efforts, there was a screw up by USPS and the package went missing in their warehouse. Michael from ROKA was incredibly responsive and immediately sent out a replacement suit which arrived overnight courier to Canada. I should pause to say that one of the greatest things I have to say about this product is the customer service that I received. The personal communication from their Director of Business Development is not something that I have grown accustomed to with online ordering over the past few years, and it was a breath of fresh air!

So - how about the wetsuit . . .

I tested it out on a fixed 2000m open water swim that I swam 5 days ago with my old Xterra Vortex 3 from four years ago. I had been happy with that product but came to accept a bit of shoulder burn at 5 mins which would go away if ignored. It had begun to tear and split, which led to its replacement. My swim earlier in the week was 30:35.

Today I tried out the Maverick Elite. The fit and feel of the wetsuit is great. The thin arm and shoulder material makes shoulder flexibility excellent with no pull at all in the armpit. The fit of the Medium suit was perfect for me at 5’9", 160lbs. In the water, I could feel the relative increased buoyancy of the hips and legs over the upper body and once I got moving got the sensation that another reviewer described as ‘swimming downhill’ I did get a little water in from the neck collar as I got started, but certainly no pooling or any more than I have experienced with other suits in the past. One of the greatest features is the central torso buoyancy strip which really promotes core rotation as you swim. This is something I strive for when swimming in the pool, but felt was dampened by my other wetsuit. It really helped me keep a steady pace with less effort and just ‘felt fast’. I was conscious to try to swim at my usual race pace, and didn’t check my time until the end of the swim. I was pleased to see my time in this suit had dropped over a minute to 29:22.

Now I realize that this is a terribly unscientific trial, but thought that others might find the direct comparison helpful. To be honest, I would have been happy with the product had the time been exactly the same. The increased speed is just gravy.

I’ll be racing for the first time with it next weekend in New Hampshire at Timberman 70.3 and feel confident that at least the swim portion of that race will go smoothly!

2

Not sure if you’ll be able to answer my question fully, but it’s worth a shot…I’m 6’0", 155ish-lbs. (probably closer to 150-153 come race days) and wondering if I should get a medium or small/tall. Michael (Roka) thinks I should go with the small/tall, but I wonder if that’ll be too tight for me up top. Since you’re about 5 pounds shy of the 165lb ‘cut off’ of the medium, would you say you have enough room for your shoulders/abdomen to breathe? My shoulder width is ~18.5". Thanks.

3

I should start off by saying that I have been lurking on this site for over a year now, and this is the first time I have felt I had something to add to the discussion. I should also follow that by saying that, like many others have mentioned, I have learned a tremendous amount through this forum and I thank all members for that.

My old wetsuit was getting pretty tired, and I decided to order a new one. I did a bit of research (mostly through ST) and liked what I was hearing about ROKA. I ordered the Maverick Elite and excitedly awaited its arrival. In spite of the company’s best efforts, there was a screw up by USPS and the package went missing in their warehouse. Michael from ROKA was incredibly responsive and immediately sent out a replacement suit which arrived overnight courier to Canada. I should pause to say that one of the greatest things I have to say about this product is the customer service that I received. The personal communication from their Director of Business Development is not something that I have grown accustomed to with online ordering over the past few years, and it was a breath of fresh air!

So - how about the wetsuit . . .

I tested it out on a fixed 2000m open water swim that I swam 5 days ago with my old Xterra Vortex 3 from four years ago. I had been happy with that product but came to accept a bit of shoulder burn at 5 mins which would go away if ignored. It had begun to tear and split, which led to its replacement. My swim earlier in the week was 30:35.

Today I tried out the Maverick Elite. The fit and feel of the wetsuit is great. The thin arm and shoulder material makes shoulder flexibility excellent with no pull at all in the armpit. The fit of the Medium suit was perfect for me at 5’9", 160lbs. In the water, I could feel the relative increased buoyancy of the hips and legs over the upper body and once I got moving got the sensation that another reviewer described as ‘swimming downhill’ I did get a little water in from the neck collar as I got started, but certainly no pooling or any more than I have experienced with other suits in the past. One of the greatest features is the central torso buoyancy strip which really promotes core rotation as you swim. This is something I strive for when swimming in the pool, but felt was dampened by my other wetsuit. It really helped me keep a steady pace with less effort and just ‘felt fast’. I was conscious to try to swim at my usual race pace, and didn’t check my time until the end of the swim. I was pleased to see my time in this suit had dropped over a minute to 29:22.

Now I realize that this is a terribly unscientific trial, but thought that others might find the direct comparison helpful. To be honest, I would have been happy with the product had the time been exactly the same. The increased speed is just gravy.

I’ll be racing for the first time with it next weekend in New Hampshire at Timberman 70.3 and feel confident that at least the swim portion of that race will go smoothly!

first post pushing a positive view of a product… not suspicious at all that roka is marketing here…

4

Tough to say, but I wouldn’t want it to be too short in the body. Is Medium/Tall an option?

5

Just pulled the trigger on the small/tall about 2 minutes ago. Current weight is sub 155 and 6’0" so I’m right in the middle for a small/tall. We’ll see how it goes. Looking forward to using it this weekend.

6

yeah, after I posted this I realized the optics of this.

No affiliation with the company, just wanted to share my experience with a product that many people might not have had their hands on yet.

7

FWIW, I’m 5’11" 1/2 and weigh 150lbs and I got a small and its fits perfectly. I would even go as far to say if it was a smidge smaller, it would fit even better. Just a data point for you as you try to determine sizing. Good news is they will swap the suit out if it doesn’t fit.

8

Thanks…I appreciate that. The problem(s) with my old 2XU E:2 is that I had to hike it way up just to ensure enough room in the shoulders. In doing so, it really didn’t ensure enough room to breathe and my shoulders/arms got sore about halfway through the swim. Granted, I’m not that fast to begin with, but when I can constantly swim ‘1.0x’ speed in the pool, but swim ‘0.75x’ in open water, something is wrong. I chalk it up to a wetsuit that is much too tight and restrictive. I’m not purchasing this wetsuit to gain speed, rather I’m purchasing it because of the price, customer service I received, and the reviews I read on here. Michael has been very good at addressing my concerns and answering my questions. I don’t have a problem supporting a small start up company with good reviews and, from what I have heard, good response from the professional community (granted, I do take that for what it is worth).

*I just weighed myself after a short run and came in at 149.X, so I know I am where I should be as far as weight is concerned. I never really thought a small tall would be too tall. Currently, my medium 2XU wetsuit says 5’7’ - 6’0" and I really have to yank that thing up to utilize the height there. Even then, it feels too short.

9

couldn’t agree with you more. the suit is comfortable and fast. small fits 5’7" muscular 150 perfectly. company folks are very helpful. this is not a company promotion.

10

I have the Roka Maverick Pro. The upper part of the suit is very supple, and offers little to no restriction in the shoulders. Also, FWIW, It fits me well, and I have a fairly stocky build. Further, the customer service is great.

11

Synthetic - We don’t have an affiliation with the poster, didn’t ask for the post, etc. Appreciate the skepticism though. :slight_smile: We do buy advertising on ST and have sent Slowman suits to check out, but we don’t ask anyone to post for us here in the forums.

Best,
Rob

12

Synthetic - We don’t have an affiliation with the poster, didn’t ask for the post, etc. Appreciate the skepticism though. :slight_smile: We do buy advertising on ST and have sent Slowman suits to check out, but we don’t ask anyone to post for us here in the forums.

Best,
Rob

Well it would help if more posts like this have users describe differences between the new and old suit, and even better someone who has used more than 2 suits;

Otherwise how can we factor out the new suit placebo effect?

13

Thanks for the interest, Synthetic. I suppose that’s the nature of user generated content… If you are looking for testing with statistically significant results, am not sure the ST tri forum is the right place to be fishing. :slight_smile: Of course, we get frustrated with user reviews at times as well, because we see people post in a “X vs ROKA” thread who haven’t even tried our suits, much less tested them against a modern wetsuit that was developed in the last 3-5 years. So you gotta filter the signal from the noise. But we do appreciate the people that go out of their way to offer feedback, positive or constructive. Everyone has an opinion and that’s what’s great about the forums. In terms of objective testing, we’ve also had many customers (and our own pros) provide test results showing how our suits are faster. We regularly have people tell us that our suits are 2-6 seconds faster per 100 yards than leading competitors. We’ve done our own internal testing and the results are similar. Is it placebo? I don’t think you’d get sustain performance gains, which we see, if that were the case. Also we’re elite swimmers ourselves and can tell the difference between high tech and hype - that’s what got us into the business in the first place.

All that said, you might consider just ordering a suit and trying it for yourself. We stand behind the performance of our suits and offer a 30 day money-back guarantee, even if you’ve swum in them. In fact we encourage you to swim in the suit to make sure it works for you. Free shipping both ways. It’s a pretty riskless transaction and will let you see for yourself what makes our suits different. You can run whatever tests you’d like, and we’d encourage you to post the results.

Note that we’ve given suits to a number of top coaches and media outlets to test/review, but rather than “seeding” the market with reviews before we launched in March, which would probably have been a smart business decision, we actually skipped that and prioritized sending our first batch of inventory to athletes. So you’ll probably have to stand by for a bit for the “industry” feedback since these guys are all very busy and their production/print schedules are set for the season. All of the offline feedback we’ve received has been very positive. Meantime, here are two unsolicited age group triathlete reviews: http://www.paincave.com/news_article/show/260669 and http://jessbartontri.blogspot.com/2013/07/roka-sports-wetsuit-review.html

Would be happy to chat further with you here, by email or by phone if you have specific questions.

Best,
Rob

14

Hmmm, but it’s ok for every newbie to throw out a review of a bike on here with no real comparison?

Ok, roka is getting a lot of attention right now, but that’s only because they came out with a product that has a “wow” factor.

Wetsuits have been stale for a long time now. It’s been Blueseventy helix versus everyone else. No one has been close.

Roka wetsuits are that much different. There is a “Wow” to it.

That being said, the maverick pro doesn’t work fo me…yet. I’m waiting for the next generation with the neck update.

Not sponsored by roka nor anyone else for that matter. I just like wetsuits and speed suits, and roka and Huub show the most interest in exploring new designs.

15

I should note that Zach’s feedback re: the neck is an example of what’s awesome about the forums. We appreciate the kind words about the design etc. but the product feedback is also very useful since we are actually making live updates to the suits between production runs. To date, he’s one of two customers I’m aware of that couldn’t get a proper neck seal, so we’re going to update the design in the next iteration to see if we can fix the issue for him. We’ve already made little tweaks to our suits in multiple inventory turns the season and will continue to do so. Good stuff.

RC

16

snip…
Roka wetsuits are that much different. There is a “Wow” to it.

That was my experience as well, and I felt it compelling enough to blog about it.

17

Hmmm, but it’s ok for every newbie to throw out a review of a bike on here with no real comparison?

Ok, roka is getting a lot of attention right now, but that’s only because they came out with a product that has a “wow” factor.

Wetsuits have been stale for a long time now. It’s been Blueseventy helix versus everyone else. No one has been close.

Roka wetsuits are that much different. There is a “Wow” to it.

That being said, the maverick pro doesn’t work fo me…yet. I’m waiting for the next generation with the neck update.

Not sponsored by roka nor anyone else for that matter. I just like wetsuits and speed suits, and roka and Huub show the most interest in exploring new designs.

Not sure I can agree with you here. I know… Shocker.

The Tyr Hurricane Cat 5 and Freak of Nature are more than close to the Helix and the the FON by far exceeds.

Haven’t tried the Roka, but definitely would love to give it a whirl. I have used the Huub Archimedes 3:5 and love it as well, just still trying to figure out the proper sizing since I am right in between.

Wetsuits tend to be a “fit preference”. When I looked at suits a few years ago, I really checked out the Orca Alpha, the Orca 3.8, The Tyr Hurricane Cat 3 and 5, and the Blue Seventy Helix. Loved the Alpha for flexibility, but the Orca 3.8 and the Blue Seventy fit me like crap. Before that, the Zoot Superfull was the most comfortable suit I had worn.

The Tyr still remains the best fitting suit for me, and the fastest as well, but I don’t like their long term quality issues, and I think a suit really should last more than a couple of seasons. I don’t think the Freak would ever be on my list, though the Yamamoto 40 all around has got to be one of the least restrictive suits out there. Really not in my price range, and given how the Cat 5 wears, the durability would be a big concern.

The Huub Archimedes and Roka Maverick both appear to offer more buoyant legs to provide even more alignment compensation, which definitely sets them apart. The Blue Seventy and Orca Alpha, at least in my opinion, really target strong swimmers with good body position, the Tyr and others offer a best of both worlds, and what I like about the Huub, is they take the same basic suit and provide the option of even distribution or one giving more lift to the legs…

Have not seen or tried the Orca RS1 Predator, but the Yamamoto 44 is sick in terms of flexibility. Hell. In terms of weight and flexibility, the RS1 probably makes the Helix feel like swimming in a 90s surfing wetsuit from Oneill.

But to say it has been the Helix versus everyone else and no one has been close? Maybe when the Helix first came out, but others have caught up or passed

18

Actually, I think you are kind of backing up my statement that there really hasn’t been a great improvement to wetsuit design since the helix. Whether or not another suit is better is debatable, but they are all pretty much the same design.

Zoot and 2xu tried to give us panels/batman abs, but in the end, the helix design prevailed.

I think roka and huub have tried to change up the design, roka more so with their centerline channel.

19

Actually, I think you are kind of backing up my statement that there really hasn’t been a great improvement to wetsuit design since the helix. Whether or not another suit is better is debatable, but they are all pretty much the same design.

Zoot and 2xu tried to give us panels/batman abs, but in the end, the helix design prevailed.

I think roka and huub have tried to change up the design, roka more so with their centerline channel.

Huh?

Tyr Freak of Nature is by far a better suit than the Helix, and to that degree, if I had better swim mechanics and position, I would take the Alpha over the Helix as it had much better materials/flexibility

Your statement: "It’s been Blueseventy helix versus everyone else. No one has been close. "

This implies that the Helix is best suit on the market. In fact, it is now a marginal suit with almost every manufacturer producing a comparable if not better suit. I would surmise for most people, throw them in a Tyr Cat 5, a Phantom, an Orca 3.8, and Alpha, or a Helix, and outside of zipper style, it comes down to comfort and fit and that most people would have a hard time noticing a discernable swim time difference. What will be apparent is some suits fit better than others depending on body.

Obviously then style and swim type come into play, which is why Orca targets the 3.8 for those who need better position, while the Alpha targets the swimmer

No one has been close?

In the $600 - $700 price range there is a log jam of comparable suits. The RS1 and the Freak went high end material wise and have the lightest weight and highest flexibility but at a premium price.

The Roka Maverick Pro and the Huub Archimedes 3:5 have also jumped into the $700 +/- range, but targeted a little more towards targeting lift or other attributes, and are stand out suits because of that.

I would probably put the Huub Archimedes 3:3 in with the Cat 5, and rest of those

The Helix actually seems stale and dated compared to the rest of the field.

20

Just raced in my brand new Roka Maverick Pro. It is replacing a first year Blue 70 Helix which is disintegrating.

the ROKA blows it away. I mean absolutely no comparison. It is the first time in a wetsuit that I did not feel that my swim was hampered at all. In the past I felt that my stroke felt ineffective (possible positional?) anyway the Roka did not give me that feeling just felt great.

no connection with Roka other than they accepted my money :slight_smile:

adult onset swimmer who is going from guppie to minnow.