New wetsuit - entry level or upgrade?

kingQuez

My wetsuit started to show its age last year, and now a year on I have a giant hole at the calf and several small holes around the arm panels that have been repeatedly glued. The stitching around the neck came apart last week, and it looks like its not going to last for very long.

I think it was about 150euro and lasted me well. I have done all my races in it, and during the season swim at least once a week in the sea.

So for those in the know--should I replace it with the same suit, or something more expensive?

I'm ok at swimming, and will continue to do races for the next while.. but is there actually a difference between cheap entry level suits and the more expensive ones, other than the branding?

Is an old suit with holes going to be significantly slower than a new one? My only real fear is that it will actually fall apart before my first race this year, or that I'll pull a leg/arm clear off it at this stage.

sconhome

Whether to upgrade or not really depends on you, your budget and your swim abilities.

Like runners all the triathlon wetsuit brands will have a range of suits from entry level through to elite level with the differences between the brands being quality of manufacturing process and materials used. For most of us triathletes the brand will have little or no impact on our results and it will be down to whatever brand is 'hot'.

I have a sales booklet on one of the brands somewhere and it gives an indication of the changes a suit will bring to your swim leg. These can and should apply across all brands TBH.

If you swim under the same conditions, ideally in a pool for comparative purposes, 1000m in swimwear in 15 minutes you should see a 25% improvement in time (or corresponding decrease in effort over the same time) in a high entry level suit. You should see the benefits increase to about 40% in a top end suit with mid range being around 30-35%.

For most people established in triathlon and with a reasonable standard of swim a decent mid range suit should give a good balance of value / return.

I would suggest having your own suit repaired and using it as a training suit keeping the better suit for racing. Old uncoated neoprene will create drag, as will holes, scooping up water and slowing you down.

sconhome

Just went looking for the booklet and here is the details of that slide:

•Levels of swim efficiency, on average
–Without a wetsuit, you swim at ‘100%’ .
–
–With T2, you swim at 75% ‘effort’ to get same non-wetsuit result
–
–With R1, you swim at 70%‘effort’ to get same non-wetsuit result
–
–With V2, you swim at 65% ‘effort’ to get same non-wetsuit result
–
–With X1, you swim at 60% ‘effort’ to get same non-wetsuit result
–
–**The above savings are based on having a swimming technique that matches the level of suit being used •

Efficiency Conclusions
–When comparing swims with wetsuit and without, athletes will either:
–
a. Spend same number of calories or strokes, but swim faster with in a wetsuit
OR
b. Spend fewer calories and fewer strokes, but swim the same time with in a wetsuit
–
–The more technologically-advanced the {BRAND} wetsuit is, the greater the efficiency benefits

Mr Tango

Think those benefits sound a bit too good to be true!!

Saying that I bought the top of the range speedo wetsuit last year (half price as it was the previous years model) - Speedo Triathelte and I love it.

My advice on a wetsuit - I have now tried 3 brands is that you should go for comfort first and flexibility second.

My first wetsuit was still quite pricey and top of the range (again on offer) but I couldn't finish my stroke as there was feck all
stretch under the arms and across the shoulder/chest. My 1500 meter times in it were around the 20minute mark. In the pool - times were around the same (50m pool using say Joey Hannon race as a comparison) - so I had the push off the wall 29 times which obviously gives a bit of extra speed.

I would not justify a spend of €400-500 on a wetsuit which is what you will pay for a current model top of the range.

See if you can pick up last years model and my preference would be the Speedo or the Sailfish (trialled the Sailfish at an IM race and it was like a second skin it was so comfy. I had one shop telling me not to go Speedo and how bad they were but I still swam 52 minutes in it in an IM (I'm an ex swimmer and pretty branded to speedo so jumped at trying their suit). Again I had done a pool test set which came in around the same time - allow a bit again for pushing off the walls so the wetsuit was a bit quicker but within reason.

My 2 cents!!

sconhome

Mr Tango wrote: »

Think those benefits sound a bit too good to be true!!

I've been thinking about this since I read your post and pondering.

I may be wrong and could shoot myself in the foot, but you are a technically good swimmer?

If this is the case I would not expect you to see any real benefit to the differences in grades of a wetsuit. Mrs AKW is a good swimmer and she would see no difference between an entry level suit and a high end in relation to times. She hates the floating body position of the entry level and the restriction of the shoulders with the thicker materials.

I on the other hand love the higher end suits because I'm a poor lazy swimmer. The catch panels etc make up for a lack in my stroke. A good swimmer would have a well developed catch regardless of the wetsuit so would see little benefit from added forearm friction but would see the freedom of the thinner shoulder area as a huge +

Interesting seeing the differences through the eyes of a swimmer, thanks.

Mr Tango wrote: »

Saying that I bought the top of the range speedo wetsuit last year (half price as it was the previous years model) - Speedo Triathelte and I love it.

My advice on a wetsuit - I have now tried 3 brands is that you should go for comfort first and flexibility second.

My first wetsuit was still quite pricey and top of the range (again on offer) but I couldn't finish my stroke as there was feck all
stretch under the arms and across the shoulder/chest. My 1500 meter times in it were around the 20minute mark. In the pool - times were around the same (50m pool using say Joey Hannon race as a comparison) - so I had the push off the wall 29 times which obviously gives a bit of extra speed.

I would not justify a spend of €400-500 on a wetsuit which is what you will pay for a current model top of the range.

See if you can pick up last years model and my preference would be the Speedo or the Sailfish (trialled the Sailfish at an IM race and it was like a second skin it was so comfy. I had one shop telling me not to go Speedo and how bad they were but I still swam 52 minutes in it in an IM (I'm an ex swimmer and pretty branded to speedo so jumped at trying their suit). Again I had done a pool test set which came in around the same time - allow a bit again for pushing off the walls so the wetsuit was a bit quicker but within reason.

My 2 cents!!

Mr Tango

Fair point. My background is competitive swimming so 'yes' is the answer to your question. From my own perspective I think I could produce similar times in any of the suits.

I suppose the less strong you are as a swimmer the more benefit you would get.

I'd like someone to give some examples as I would be interested to hear some other time examples and get some data from the field!!

sconhome

I'd be happy to run trials at the next wetsuit night we do. Might put it out on Facebook for testing volunteers who can do a couple of swim sets with and without the different wetsuit.