Speedo FS3

My thing is "who cares". If you swim "your" race it shouldn't matter. If you are watching the competition you aren't doing what YOU are supposed to. Yeah but in backstroke, especially long course and/or outdoors, you need your peripheral vision to keep from running into the lanelines. I wear rather large Speedo Baja goggles for that reason.

I have no problem with these athletes endorsing this product, they deserve to make as much money as they can. I do, however, reserve the right to laugh at any non-Speedo-paid person who shows up wearing this get up to the next meet I attend. Space Elf indeed. Also, Speedo's marketing jargon is approaching golf club/tennis racquet/$10,000 carbon fiber bicycle frame levels of absurd performance benefit overstatement combined with plausible deniability and legal-speak.

The extra bit of material in the high waisted Jammer comes at a heavy cost. None of these items interest me, but I am eager to see how much, if any, performance benefit is realized from these suits.

The marketing is BS, and no one with a brain will believe there is any synergistic effect. That said, I can't wait to try the new suit! Plan on pre-ordering this morning. It looks like you can order everything separately. Yes, but if you order separately you won't get the full benefit...:blah:

From speedo's web site: "Speedo FASTSKIN3 Super Elite Goggles Designed utilising accurate 3D global head scanning data, Speedo FASTSKIN3 Super Elite Goggles deliver unparalleled accuracy of fit, leak resistance and comfort and redefine goggle aesthetics and technology. With unique IQ FIT seal and strap and Dive Stream outer profile that improves the contours of the swimmer’s head, localised force is reduced by up to 63.4%, minimising the risk of goggle movement during a swim. The goggles also feature a Hydroscopic Lens that offers 180⁰ peripheral vision." With this Hydroscopic Lens , I'll be able to watch my own feet and kick for the first time while swimming/racing, that is instead of the swimmers' feet and kick in the adjoining lanes that I'm all too often seeing :D. My thing is "who cares". If you swim "your" race it shouldn't matter. If you are watching the competition you aren't doing what YOU are supposed to.

God I hate Speedo.

Then don't buy them and stop whining about it. Geez, no one is forcing this on you. Your absolutely correct. But I'm still interested in the potential effect the extra portion of compression may have.

Counterpoint - I can't imagine spending tons and tons of hours training, getting up early, torturing myself and letting $400 stand between me and my goal time for an event at a big meet.Counter, counterpoint -- I can't imagine I'll ever spend tons and tons of hours training as a Masters swimmer (e.g., a massive week of training for me is about 10 hours) to the point where I could justify that the incremental $300 to $375 (Tracer to Yingfa delta) would be borne out in performance gains with super-elite jammers. Bring back the body suits and I'll gladly lay down the cash. Jammers, no way. I'm glad there are people who think otherwise, though, because the scads of profit Speedo and other companies will make on these suits will help to support our sport.

The new high waisted Speedo suits remind me that after the suit ban I pitched a high waisted suit for men concept to both Speedo and B70 based on the theory that the more coverage the better, the new rules allowed it and, especially for masters, it would enable us to contain the floppy love handle area. I even (tongue-in-cheek) named it "The Record Waister". I noted we'd all have to get used to the new look, but if boxers can get away with it why not swimmers. Guess who got totally blown off. I still believe in the design concept. Now George, get on the stick and get those Yingfa folks to come up with their own high waisted suits for $50 or so. Rich, I agree that more coverage is faster, especially for older swimmers. Right up to the belly button & just above the knee. Many male swimmers wear theirs low, but hey they look cool. If you see my recent 2010 & beyond meet photos & vids I'm the dork with my jammers jacked up high. The top my suit can go just above my hip bones. More coverage & compression falls in the IMPROVE THE VESSEL category. Some Dumb suit Manufacturers don't provide enough fabric to pull em up . My other suggestion each male swimmer has a sweet spot for their jammer to cover their backs & it depends on how their backs are shaped. Ideally you want to go up as high as possible but some muscular swimmers lats create hole that let's in water, so they need to lower theirs to the best position. The front & back doesnt need to be level. I also noticed slightly too high slightly impairs my breathing.

Rich, I agree that more coverage is faster, especially for older swimmers. Right up to the belly button & just below the knee. Many male swimmers wear theirs low, but hey they look cool. If you see my recent 2010 & beyond meet photos & vids I'm the dork with my jammers jacked up high. The top my suit can go just above my hip bones. More coverage & compression falls in the IMPROVE THE VESSEL category. Some Dumb suit Manufactorers don't provide enough fabric to pull em up . My other suggestion each male swimmer has a sweet spot for their jammer to cover their backs & it depends on how their backs are shape. Ideally you want to go up as high as possible but some muscular swimmers lats create hole that let's in water. The front & back doesnt need to be level. I also noticed slightly too high slightly impairs my breathing. I try to hike my suit up before my races, but the design doesn't cooperate so that when I bend over for the start it pulls down again. I had trouble with water entering the back of my suit on the dive, but seemed to have solved the problem by having a wet suit prior to the race rather than a dry one. Give that a try. No way am I going to spend the kind of money they're asking for a jammer.