Tech Suit Recommendations?

There are so many good ones. Swimoutlet has a section on the different suits and I'm sure Swimmer Magazine has done articles on them. 

I'm writing because your statement about them being comfortable throughout the day. They shouldn't be. Wear them all day and they will stretch out. I use a different suit for warm ups, but some like the feel of the meet tech suit in the warm up(but I have a lot of old, but pretty good tech suits I use for warmup.) I put the suit on about 1 hr before the event. If I have some events close together(which I try to avoid) I'll keep it on, but usually take it off for warmdown (back into the old suit, no naked warmdowns) and on again later for the next event.

I purchased a Speedo Fastskin LZR Racer Pro over 3 years ago for 79.99.  It is a little stretched now but has held up and was a great championship meet suit.  I have recently retired it to "meet suit" status and recently purchased a Speedo Fastskin LZR Pure Valor.  That one set me back 325.99, but has been a wonderful upgrade.  Like Allen said, there are so many options (both brand and price) out there.  I have always been a Speedo guy myself, but I have heard wonderful things about Tyr and Arena as well.  I too only put my suit on close to my event.  I try to make sure I won't have to use the restroom or anything else that might require me to remove the suit.  If I have multiple events in a day, I leave the suit on...unless there were hours and hours between events (only happens on rare occasions at USMS Nationals).  When I am done, I usually take mine off for my final warm down (more comfortable in a brief!).  You DO NOT want to be trying to put a tech suit back on when it is wet.

Also, for care: I wash my suit out as soon as I take it off with cold tap water (inside and out).  Then I hang it up (inside out) as soon as possible to drip/air dry.  Being religious about your post race care for your suit will help it last a long time (it's why my Racer Pro has held up so long and why I still have my old old leg suit and my old Blue Seventy full body suit in working order!).

I like the TYR suits. I wait for a sale which is why I have some unusual colors. I looked and saw Swim Outlet has a number of men's tech suits on sale - some of the TYRs over 50% off.  

As Allen said, they are not supposed to be comfortable, but you should look at the sizing charts carefully to get the correct fit. The first time you put it on, it should be a struggle to get on.

Be glad that you did not try the full body rubber suits. They were  very hard to get on and off and very uncomfortable to wear between races.

Don't know if you are male or female, but if female, I would highly, highly recommend you find a store and try some on.  It may take 3 hours, and you may have to pay full price.  But having been through this with 2 daughters, a suit that fits right is huge.  If they don't, they can actually take in water and slow you down (if the front above the breasts, or back at the small of the back have slight gaps, they don't fit.  THe good news is once you find a style that fits, you can watch for them to go on sale and buy them for less.  But an ill fitting suit is a detriment, not an asset.

Also, for longer sessions, many girls have bikini tops, and they pull the tech suits down to relive the stress on the shoulders.  But once it is on above the waist, then it isn't as tough.

I agree!!! Torso length and hip circumference are really variable and there have been suits I wear a 26 and some a 30, even within same branding.   Generally, knowing your measurements is a good start. The other options is to buy 3-5 of them from somewhere with a solid return policy and enjoy the misery of trying on in your own home. 

The right tech suit for you isn’t going to be the same as for other people.  Gender, body habitus, torso length and budget will all matter.  I’m a female, 5-7, short short torso and about 150#, I just bought a finis rival. The 28 and 30 both fit but the 28 shoulder straps were VERY hard to get on and it dug in, so I kept the 30,  I dont believe that you need the *absolute* tiniest suit you can put on, as that may create massive discomfort and be susceptible to tearing and breaking on day of meet.   If I were a 20 year old sprinter, I’d have kept the 28. However- I am a 39 year old 200/500/200BR.  In 2019, I had a TYR thresher, in a 30, which was too large for me.  It’s nice to have on hand in case of rips/tears of my rival but it definitely has a different fabric feel and has the sewn seams (its 12&under legal) and that is reflected in the price point.  My best friend, who is roughly my same height and weight and events will be in a finis rival 2.0 because her torso is longer than me… so you just gotta try them on especially for women.

Even for men, you got to try them on if possible.  The size charts I used when going from my LZR Racer Pro to LZR Pure Valor were all wrong.  According to the chart, I should have been getting a size 25 Pure Valor.  I got the 26 (they did not have any 25s in stock), and after 25 minutes I couldn't quite get it on in any sort of comfortable way.  My thighs are a lot bigger these days and so I couldnt pull it up all the way.  Sent it back and got a 28, which took about 20 minutes of patient work to get on the first time, but fit a lot better.  Once it had stretched to fit me (I also then wore it around the house for an hour to let it stretch out), it got a lot easier to put on.  Now I can change into it in under 10 minutes.

Fair point!!!! My 12 yo son just went through the buy/return nonsense for his state suit. Why a 22 in one brand fits like a 27 in another I’ll never understand! 

Adding on to what the others have said, what is a perfect suit for one person might be a terrible suit for you, and vice versa. I am a dude, btw, so YMMV if you're a woman.

I buy a new tech suit every year for Spring Nats and usually follow the SwimOutlet guide for suggestions. I'll buy a handful of different suits based on the reviews in the guide, spend a hellacious few hours trying them all on, then return all but one.

I've got short legs with big thighs and a big butt, so most suits have at least one sizing flaw for me, whether it's permanent plumbers crack, too much quad compression, or the legs are too long, and so on. For some examples--I liked everything about the original TYR Avictor except the length (great butt coverage, perfect compression, but about 1-1.5" too much length); the Finis Rival has excellent coverage and compression, but was initially so tight at the knee that I had to swap it for another suit after just 1 event due to pain...I've since stretched the openings just enough to where they aren't painful anymore, without affecting the rest of the suit.

Beyond the sizing and fit, it depends on what kind of wear and benefits you're looking for. Do you want a suit with minimal, maximal, or medium compression? How hydrophobic do you want it to be? Do you want one that really alters your body position and elevates your legs, or one that maintains your natural body position? How much leg coverage do you want? And so on.

I've had mostly good experiences with the TYR Avictor, Adidas Adizero (the stroke one, I forget what it's specific name was), the A3 Performance VICI, and the Finis Rival once the aforementioned knee tightness issue was resolved. As a Masters swimmer, I used to wear the Speedo LZR Racer series of suits prior to branching out to non-Speedo suits (I was strictly an Aquablade and first gen Fastskin wearer in my pre-Masters days) but I discovered that the Racer series was significantly behind the tech suit technology times compared to TYR in 2016, when I made the switch, and I haven't looked back. I haven't tried the latest Speedo suits, the Pure Intent and Pure Valor, so they might be modern suits, but the Racer series felt antiquated in comparison to all the other suits I've worn since making the switch. As an aside, I still have yet to find an Arena tech suit I can actually fit into. Depending on the brand, I either wear a 28 or 30 for my Nats tech suit and have sized all the way up to a 34 with various Arena suits with no luck. That's definitely a YMMV situation due to my weird proportions, though, as I've heard nothing but good reviews from folks who can actually fit into Arena suits.