I’m in the market for a new wetsuit to replace my aging 2XU Elite. I’m a 1:05ish IM swimmer with no swimming background. I have vey little kick and my legs tend to drag some. I was leaning towards the TYR Cat 3 based on the testing done last year by Triathlete showing that the Cat3 performed best for the “power swimmer” but not sure if the CAT5 offers anything in addition since it wasn’t tested. Then I came across the HUUB Archimedes 3:5 that seems to be built for someone like me. The I read the review of ROKA and seems like they might be worth considering too. I don’t know that ROKA offers anything over the other two options though but Dan seemed to take a liking and suggests I’m the right target for their suits - lean but not skinny, with “features are built for good swimmers, or those who seek to be good swimmers”. I’m not a bad swimmer…for a triathlete but I think I’m still in that “seeking to be a good swimmer category”.
i don’t understand the best for the “power swimmer” concept. what you want is a suit that floats you, fits you, doesn’t chafe, doesn’t catch water, fits your budget. it can’t be too short in the torso or too long in the torso. it’s got to have the right neck size – for you. you want a suit that won’t rip, won’t fall apart.
i just put up the zone3 review, we’ll do a review a day, more or less, for the next couple of weeks. the TYR hurricane suits are very nice suits. i could not find a suit that would outswim the hurricane 5, and that includes the freak. for me, the helix was its equal. and a few others.
i am not a power swimmer. so, the whole power swimmer thing i don’t get. the hurricane fit me well and it controlled my core well, grabbed me like a girdle, didn’t let me get away with bad habits. i like that in a wife, and in a wetsuit.
Power swimmer: He started swimming in June 2009 as a short-distance triathlete. He had no prior swimming experience. His body position in the water isn’t great (read: he’s a leg dragger), but he is also very strong and fit.
The CAT3 performed bast for that particular test subject. Obviously need to consider limitations of the test protocol and swimming in a pool vs open water but it’s at least some objective data to work from.
I just got the ROKA Maverick Pro Sleeveless and love it. I raced in it for the first time at Syracuse a couple weeks ago. I would say I am a similar swimmer - not great but not terrible (swam 1:03 at IMFL last year). My kick isn’t great either and sometimes I just bring them along for the ride. The ROKA holds my core in place, allows for comfortable rotation, keeps me in good position with my legs up, and is super comfortable neoprene. I’ve used the Cat 5 before and for my money I’d buy the ROKA again if I was buying another one. They are both great suits, but that’s my preference from my experience. Plus I thought the customer service from ROKA was better than from TYR when I contacted them both for various reasons.
to me, that’s not a power swimmer. that’s just a swimmer who does not have good technique (yet). spencer smith. that was a power swimmer. rob mackle. power swimmer.
we had our suits tested in the flume, at colorado springs, maybe 1995 or so, with something like, i don’t know, 50 swimmers. real swimmers. pure swimmers. everybody swam faster with long arms. long versus short arms, that’s a global warming argument. you either just agree to accept science or you stick to your preconception because it fits with your world view.
but - and this is where it got interesting - some of them swam better and better as more and more rubber was taken off their legs. if there are suits that help various kinds of athletes, poorer swimmers just need a lot of thick rubber everywhere. really good swimmers, that’s more nuanced. a lot of suits have 3mm or thinner rubber from the knee down. poorer swimmers don’t do as well with that. but a really good swimmer is going to hate all that float.
Why isnt xterra on your list there, and why wont slowman mention them? I read his history of wetsuitsarticle and it was devoid of that popular company. But word on the grapevine is he had bad relations with one of the owners. Lets hear it.
Other suits to consider are synergy, aquasphere, blue seventy, desoto etc. I think Roka has made a big marketing push by sponsoring top athletes. TYR seems to be over priced to death and marketed towards the ironman rich CEO crowd riding 50k$ bikes.
Roger, every brand gets it’s fair play on this board. There are plenty of brands not mentioned. Dan has done testing and has some suits that perform well for him and for a group of folks he tests with.
To the OP:
Have you tried any of the suits on? Step one would be finding out how they fit you. Each suit will fit every single person differently. In this respect, the advice of another athlete is hard to take their experiences and translate to your own.
In my opinion, any suit with a 5mm panel in the legs will help to float your legs, but won’t fix mechanics. A suit with core support can help as well. You core muscles along with the kick help to keep your body planed out on top of the water. They also help to keep your stroke in balance.
My recommendation would be to try some suits on before narrowing the list.
jake
I’ll say two things about HUUB, couldn’t find a company that will stand more behind their product than them, and nobody has researched the science of swimming more. I do know several people in the USA who have demo’ed a HUUB suit, and if they don’t love it, return it.
“I read his history of wetsuitsarticle and it was devoid of that popular company. But word on the grapevine is he had bad relations with one of the owners. Lets hear it.”
i have great relations with the owners of xterra. are you just making stuff up for effect? the only two articles i’ve written recently on wetsuits are yesterday’s and today’s. there are 2 dozen wetsuit companies i did not mention. i’m on great terms with all their owners.
Like I said its just rumors
…
im interested, since your article mentioned the wetsuits going direction of bike companies, have any gone under? We know Blue has had problems recently in the bike industry.
Point taken, but I don’t care to debate terminology I didn’t create, and it wasn’t the point of my post. Bottom line is that the tester they put the “power swimmer” label on is similar to me so I’m leaning towards the suits that tested best on that guy - TYR Cat 3 was best. It also happened to be best for the other swimmer type - “balanced swimmer”. HUBB appeals to me because they seem to have a lot of experience and knowledge about swimming mechanics and what makes sense in a wetsuit. Your coverage of ROKA also suggested they understand what is important in a wetsuit. That’s why those 3 are on my short list. Of course fit is critical and even the “fastest” suit is a poor choice if it doesn’t fit well. I’d like to try each of them on but I likely won’t be able to actually demo any of them so I’m just looking for some objective feedback. Someone else asked “why not manufacturer XYZ”? Well, I’m too scientifically minded to go with something because “they make great wetsuits”. Xterra, Blue Seventy, Aquasphere, and De Soto were all in that test last year and they came out behind the TYR. If the TYR fits well I’m not going to consider something that didn’t test as well - understanding a single test is not the be-all, end-all…but it’s all I have to go on.
to me, that’s not a power swimmer. that’s just a swimmer who does not have good technique (yet). spencer smith. that was a power swimmer. rob mackle. power swimmer.
we had our suits tested in the flume, at colorado springs, maybe 1995 or so, with something like, i don’t know, 50 swimmers. real swimmers. pure swimmers. everybody swam faster with long arms. long versus short arms, that’s a global warming argument. you either just agree to accept science or you stick to your preconception because it fits with your world view.
but - and this is where it got interesting - some of them swam better and better as more and more rubber was taken off their legs. if there are suits that help various kinds of athletes, poorer swimmers just need a lot of thick rubber everywhere. really good swimmers, that’s more nuanced. a lot of suits have 3mm or thinner rubber from the knee down. poorer swimmers don’t do as well with that. but a really good swimmer is going to hate all that float.
some of these suits are more forgiving, size wise, than others. others, if you have big meat hooks for hands, you won’t be able to get them off. if you have good body position a 5mm chest might float you too high. if you’re big, a 4mm chest won’t float you high enough. if you have a long torso you might be better in a 2-piece suit. or, if you’re way not in fighting trim you’ll be better off in a 2 piece because you’ll have a hard time getting getting the zipper up on these performance suits.
i like all the suits you mention. i could race in them all and do great. i did blow the back of the calf out of a TYR i was testing. very fast suit, but, with extra features come extra stress points.
i tested suits from orca, huub, blueseventy, TYR, ROKA, aquaman aqua sphere, 2XU, de soto, zone3, and others i’m forgetting, and i would not be afraid to race in any of them. all were great. some were, for me, better than others, but not a spit ton better. you have it easy. when i first decided i wanted a triathlon wetsuit i had to make it.
Any notable differences between the Cat 3 and Cat 5? I can’t find any specifics on the rubber used - thought maybe the 5 uses the highest end stuff?My shoulders and lats tend to fatigue before my cardio is a limiting factor when I swim. Honestly though, I don’t swim near enough to expect great conditioning in that department. Some day I might make that investment but for now I need to take advantage of all the technology available to make it through the swim in a reasonable position to get on with my bike/run.
“Any notable differences between the Cat 3 and Cat 5?”
i don’t remember. there was at the lowest end. between 3 and 5 i don’t remember.
what you want is yamamoto #39 or #40 rubber, SCS on the outside. if you have that you’re in good shape.
I was guessing maybe the Cat 5 used some #40 to differentiate it. I’ll shot them an email and see what the secret is.
TH3_FRB,
Thanks for the interest. Please do give us a shot if interested. Some of our dealers offer demos, and we have a 30 day money-back guarantee that includes the ability to test/race in the suit and still return it if you’re not completely satisfied. We’d be happy to chat by phone (877-985-7652) or email (support@rokasports.com) to help with any sizing questions.
We’ve tested and are familiar with all three of the other suits you mention, and all are nice options as well.
Best,
Rob
I have the Huub and also the B70 Helix, I sound like you in terms of swim ability and ‘leg dragging’ - although I need to test some more, my legs float higher in the B70 than the Hubb although the Huub is a much more flexible suit overall, especially arms & around shoulders (overall a softer material). Sometimes have the feeling that my legs break the surface in the B70 and I have to correct my position. Just my take of course…
I’ll say two things about HUUB, couldn’t find a company that will stand more behind their product than them, and nobody has researched the science of swimming more. I do know several people in the USA who have demo’ed a HUUB suit, and if they don’t love it, return it.
I tried 2 HUUBs from a local retailer in Sweden. He sent me a suit to try and when I didnt like it, he sent me a larger one. Free of charge. I didnt like that one either, felt restricted (even though decently fast) and got some shoulder fatigue which suprised me. He was totally fine with me just returning the suit. No money charged even though I tipped him for being so kind and letting me try 2 suits and even sending them to me by mail.
Very suprised that I didnt like the suit since a lot of great swimmers use it (Rasmus Henning, Brownlees, etc) but wetsuits are really individual. I love how HUUB treat their potential customers.
Not really directed at you, and with some risk of hijacking the thread…
I’m probably a slightly worse swimmer than the OP with ~35 min for HIM. Been swimming for about 2 years, obviously looking to get better even if I’m not there yet. I’m currently swimming in a helix (which I got used from the ST classifieds). It’s a SMT which, if anything, should be too big one me: I’m 5’8.5’’ and 143 lbs and the SMT is supposedly 5’6’‘-6’0’’ and 150-172 lbs. I feel extremely restricted in this suit, even when taking a lot of care in pulling it up far when putting it on. No leakage whatsoever and, in fact, I often have to pull around the neck during swims to let a little bit of water in to increase shoulder mobility.
It could be that I have a slightly long torso, but I’m hardly a freak in this regard. I am very lean though, and for my size (perhaps) somewhat broad shouldered.
Any idea what suit (roka, tyr, huub…) might fit my morphology better? I’m almost tempted to go sleeveless just for piece of mind, but I believe in global warming and sleeved suits being faster so reluctant to go this route.
i am about to publish in Aquaman. look at the Aquaman ART.