Complete Wetsuit Guide
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This is hands down the most comprehensive wetsuit guide I have found so far, nice job!
It is so hard to find honest, free advice from someone online who is not trying to sell the item – making the advice slightly suspect. Thanks for the great info
hey you guyz muchos thanks!! :-*
Great write up. A little more can be found here as well.
Scuba Wetsuit Guide
Great Site! Knew fair amount about wetsuits and now i know more so i can help others in their purchasing of a wetsuit. Come Surf Isla Vista, CA!
Very, very good ,no need to buy rubbish after reading this guide. Go rip
I knew nothing about wet-suits, looked all over the net until I came across this website. For those of us, who are not aware of this secret world of wet-suits, this has been a eye opener. Thanks, for the research and dedication form making this information available.
At least now, I know what to look for when I buy a W-suit
:)
thanks people.. have been surfing for a while and finally convinced to start winter surfing and youve really helped me understand my suit and its benefits..
thanks a ton for some honest talk about looking for wetties. It’s easy to get lost in all the promo stuff out there and I swear I go blank once I walk into the shop. Update this puppy when you can!
First site I landed on. I won’t be needing to go to another wetsuit guide page :) Thanks a ton!
Super informative!! Let the kite season begin!!
I would like to be given some general guidelines for which wetsuit to buy for different water (and maybe air) temperatures. Saying one suit is good in the springs is only somewhat helpful (spring where?? New England?). But overall, I found this website quite helpful, and would certainly recommend it to a friend.
i’m not an average size….rather tall, and find 99% of wetsuits dont fit tight around the lower-back. most leave about inch space :( how big a problem is this since i want heat. planning on buying a wettie with lots of features(liquid and/taped sealed stiching, shortened zip with halfe a “batwing”, streatchy…. makes contact with lower-back, but no a tight fit as with rest of body……expensive suit, and dont want to buy a dud becuase a such a small, yet worrying factor, for the money i’m gonna spend.
what can i say superb, i d buy a wetsuit from you.
Cool guys!! This made my choise much easier!
As a girl from the cold land Norway, I wouldn’t know anything about wetsuits =P Thanks!!!
Well done writer! seriously this is the best free guide I’ve ever found.
Thanks – really useful guide – can now make sense of what wetsuit adverts mean!
thanks a lot for guys like you who find time and effort to share the knowledge to our brothers and sisters.keep up being a human.:-* God speed!:D
Thanks for the great advice, I’m new to Surfing and In Tasmania / Australia it’s really really cold. Your walk through has helped get rid of the jargon and made a lot of sense.
Good guide.
Question: What is the difference between a SCUBA wet suit and a surfing wet suit? I’ve done a lot of SCUBA, and I’m about to go into surfing, and I was thinking of buying my own wet suit.
I know for the same water temperature, SCUBA will be thicker, and that in theory, SCUBA neoprene is higher grade for compressions/decompressions, but is there a difference in fit or mobility or something else? Can I get a tropical SCUBA wetsuit, and use it for windsurfing?
no sucuba suits are less flexible than wetsuits for surfing a a big desighn difference!!!!!!!
Hi
Really excellent news and information provided here about wetsuit. I saw 4 wetsuits images here. I like that third. Really with beautiful colours.
wetsuit
Seriously, this is the best, most informative (without lacking humour ;)) website I’ve ever seen… PERIOD! Awesome work guys- keep it up!!
Peace;D
Thanks for the great wetsuit guide.
You’ve helped me choose my next suit properly.
is there a ‘most flexible’ wetsuit for swimming breast stroke. I’m swimming in a cold bay. I only swim breaststroke.Thanks.
Thanks for all the helpful info. I’m finally giving in to buying a wet suit after many years of polar bearing the cold water in SoCal.
I am looking for a multipurpose suit for swimming, boogie boarding and snorkeling.
This article really helped.
Thanks so much i just bought a hyperflex with taped seals because of your advice. It fits real snug but i realized on the size chart its made for 5’11 and 35″ waise and i am 6’3 with a 32″ waste, do you think its a problem ?
Hello,
With a heavy heart I write this to inform you of the latest loss to the surfing world. Oniell wetsuits has decided to pull their size XXXL wetsuits from their product line leaving us larger men unable to purchase there fine suits and to be comfortable in colder climates. It was explained to me that the XXXL suits were not profitable enough to continue there production. Rip Curl too has a product line that I had used for some time but their XXXL suits became too short in the legs so I had to move on. This is beginning to look like the trend.
I am not fat nor abnormally formed and arms are not large. I am 6’3″ tall 220. An XXXL is less restrictive in the chest and shoulders, the Oneill XXXL has more stomach pooch material from an XXL to an XXXL though annoying its worth the ability to actually paddle. I have surfed for thirty two years and have purchased new suits just about every year. A 3/2mm and 4/3mm for the winter and a spring and vest in the summer. Two growing boys too close together in age to hand me down and growing fast need full’s, springs, and vests each year and one full and spring for the wife every couple of years. That’s just about seven to ten rubber products a year.
Industry needs to realize that the younger generation that is moving product faster are not the buyers, the older or larger guy is, he is the one that forks out the cash for the entire family. If my loyalty to a company is repaid by the removal of a product that I need to continue the sport I love then what is left to be said about that company. I intend on taking my business, my entire business , suits, apparel accessories on down the road to a manufacturer that values my business enough to realize that I am the one that is their key buyer and I am encouraging my friends to follow.
If you can supply a suit that will get me back in the water I want to hear from you. You will get my business, my family’s business, and every person within screaming distance of every surf break I go to around the world will know that you did not sell out their key buyer and person that helped build their company to what it is today
Thanks! This is the information I have been looking for but really couldn’t find.
What do you know about this new? eco-friendly bioprene (lime based)?
Great advice – have been struggling to find a suit for my 7 year old daughter as kept getting blinded by the science not to mention the sales patter!
Well done guys!! really nice to finally understand what Im looking for!!
Cheers
This may be the most comprehensive page on wetsuits there is. Wow. A masterful job. Thank you.
Thanks for the info. I just tried to get Rip Curl to replace the tape on my F-Bomb. It had a lifetime guarantee on stiching and all they would do is offer me an upgrade,said they couldn’t repair it. I reluctantly said OK if I can keep the old one,she said no, they will make thongs out of the old one. I said no,it is such a waste. I would have paid for the upgrade if she said i could keep it. Never again RipCurl
Loved it…. Particularly the blah blah blahs! Thanks for the succinct, jargonless explanations.
Great guide! Anyone interested in specific recommendations can check out the results of a summer of testing in Iceland. http://www.outsideonline.com. I’d be curious to hear any feedback and happy to answer questions.