Yet another thread about the suits...

Ok, I was wrong. The information I was looking at was referring to the PointZero suit. So, I screwed the pouch on this arguement. Here is one question for the blueseventy fans...are all their waterskins legal for pool use or just the Nero Comp? The Point Zero has been used in the pool by masters.

Dolphin 2 - every time you show up and spout, you expose an increasingly impressive amount of ignorance. The price of a product is determined by many factors other than the cost of the materials and labor. You have supply and demand, you have advertising costs, you have R & D. Comparing the price of a garment to a commodity traded on international markets is ridiculous. You keep saying the tech suit craze like it just happened. Do you know anything about swimming. IT ISN'T NEW. If you've been to a USMS meet in the past decade, you might actually know this. Have you watched the Olympics in your lifetime? You are roughly 20 years late on buying stock. You have no idea how much profit or loss Speedo is making on these products. I would venture right now they are running a huge loss as they are giving many away and advertising like mad and you can't buy one retail, for the most part. Lastly, niche market tech suits will never be the profit leader for a swimwear company. It's your run-of-the-mill suit that every single kid on every single team has that drives their profitability. You really MUST STOP posting erroneous info. I beg of you. Even if you spend $550 on one of these suits, I still put swimming way towards the bottom of the list of expensive habits.

Ok, I was wrong. The information I was looking at was referring to the PointZero suit. So, I screwed the pouch on this arguement. Here is one question for the blueseventy fans...are all their waterskins legal for pool use or just the Nero Comp? Based on blueseventy's website, it appears that the pointzero3 suits are also made of the Yamamoto SCS fabric (neoprene is not mentioned). And the FINA approval extends to the pointzero3 as well. For what it's worth, I have one and wore it to Pacific Masters LCM Champs and I can tell you that I went no faster (on a yards conversion basis) in my 200 breaststroke than I did back in April. I did go faster (again, on a yards conversion basis) in my 100 and 50 breaststrokes, but I *think* I can chalk most of that improvement up to better training and the fact that I might be "faster" in a LCM pool (due to having slow turns). The suit didn't really feel heavy to me, though I did get an air/water bubble in the back of it (not that it appeared to slow me down). I did like the suit and will continue wearing it at big meets. I have no real interest in the LZR. I have FS Pro Jammers and can't imagine squeezing into a full body suit made of essentially the same material. The pointzero3 is much more stretchy. Here's blueseventy's website: blueseventy.com/.../ Here's an article on the suit from ironman.com (indicating that SCS is a "neoprene-like" material but is compressed so there is no buoyancy): ironman.com/.../blue-seventys-fast-speed-suit-will-be-worn-by-many-competitors-here-in-kona

The LZR also uses neoprene. The TYR Tracer Rise is coated with polyurethane according to TYR's website. Where is this documented? I haven't been able to find it anywhere.

I think it's a loss leader for them. Notice all the publicity around the LZR. Speedo is getting their brand associated with high performance and technical excellence. Good point. I've wondered if some Speedo flunkie has trolled this thread and just marveled at all the free pub they get.

Actually, couldn't be further from the truth. Tech suits came along before 15 years ago. You have previously stated you have never been a competitive swimmer so your assertions here are not fact nor experienced based. Swimmers have always had meet suits as far back as I can remember. Hey Aquageek Your memory must be affected by amnesia. The so called "Meet Suits" were nothing more than commercial off the shelf racing briefs that were sold at all sports stores. As one other comment suggested, why not put an asterisk next to all the WRs set in tech suits to indicate that the swimmer was in fact "mechanically dopped"? :dedhorse: Dolphin 2

As one other comment suggested, why not put an asterisk next to all the WRs set in tech suits to indicate that the swimmer was in fact "mechanically dopped"? :dedhorse: Dolphin 2 Then why don't we put an asterisk by all tour de france winners everytime they made a new bike. Why not put one next to all baseball records each time they raise or lower the pitching mound or change bats. Why not put one next to all track and field records each time they make a better running shoe?

I hope reality hits people that it's the athetes doing well in the suits. I just don't believe these new suits really give people that much of an advantage(exeception...Blue seventy since it has neoprene in the material) I think they give people a bigger mental advantage which is worth more than any suit. The advantage they give is really to the suit manufacturers who now can take credit for the swimmer's success by claiming that he/she won a Gold Medal while wearing their suit. I remember when pro athletes (such as swimmer Mark Spitz) got their mugs pictured on the Cheerios and Wheaties boxes and they could take credit for their success as being the "Breakfast Of Champions". As big a pain-in-the-behind as this suit technology thing has become, I've got to admit that it's turned out to be one of the most clever marketing gimmicks of all time and it's making the suit companies big $$$. :applaud: The bad thing is that there are a lot of your Average Joe swimmers who are burning through their budget to buy one of these hyper-expensive suits. :shakeshead: Dolphin 2

The LZR also uses neoprene. The TYR Tracer Rise is coated with polyurethane according to TYR's website. Kirk, I think you may have misread the articles. From the one's I read, they used neoprene as an example of "non-woven" material that maybe used in suits with the new definiton of fabric. Polyurethane is mentioned in the LZR several times but not neoprene.

The advantage they give is really to the suit manufacturers who now can take credit for the swimmer's success by claiming that he/she won a Gold Medal while wearing their suit. Dolphin 2 Ever see the swim suit ads in any tri/swimming magazine? Companies have been doing this for years, not a recent development.