I'm looking for a new full women's wetsuit for winter ocean swimming and wanted to get some advice.
I'm in San Diego, CA, and swim primarily at La Jolla Cove/Shores. Occasionally Coronado, where it's a bit colder.
I had an Xterra Vector Pro 2, which held up great, and a Vector Pro 3, which after its first season, developed a lot of tears under the arms so I'm hesitant to buy another since I won't be wearing it to race. I'm looking for something durable that will hold up during training swims of 1-3 miles, ~2x a week. I'm considering the Blueseventy Sprint or Fusion models, but have little experience with Blueseventy's products. Or perhaps the Xterra Vortex is more durable than the Vector Pro? It doesn't have to be "fast." Just warm. (LJ Cove gets to about 53 degrees Fduring winter, although on average when I swim it might be about 56-60 F.
Thanks for any insight you can provide!
I was one of the testers in the video. I tested two blueseventy models, and an AquaSphere. We were lucky because when we did the testing (in Sarasota, Florida) we had the coldest winter in something like 20 years, so the water got down into the 50s.
I am a cold-water wimp so I was amazed at how well those wetsuits worked. I do remember that I got cold in one of the blueseventy models. I don't remember the model name now but it was a model that had thinner neoprene over a large portion of the upper body. The other blueseventy model kept me warm, and so did the AquaSphere. So you'll want to compare the thickness of the neoprene in the models that you are considering.
rtodd and Jayhawk, thanks! I'll head to some local shops and try those on. Someone I swam with this morning had a Blueseventy and seemed to like it.
I have never heard of Nineteen--it's great to have another option to check out.
