Well since I now officially have one race in the new suit I guess it is time to post a review.
First impressions. The suit is tough to get on, but I think the result is that it fits well. If you follow the instructions given it is no problem. The fit is very comfortable. Plenty of movement in the shoulders and it felt pretty free moving. I felt no discernible fatigue as a result of the fit.
The Zipper is a bit tougher to do up (or down as the case may be) but the result is that there is less friction on the neck. It is also extremely quick to undo.
This is definitely the quickest suit to get out of that I have ever worn.
In the water!
Awesome. The buoyancy was far superior to anything else I have tried. You really feel as if you don’t need to kick at all! As I mentioned earlier the arms were free to move with no restriction. The snug fit gave me a good feel for the water. I took 3min. off of my swim split from last year (for purposes of this review, the training had nothing to do with this. It was all the suit!:>)
This is the first time as well that I did not get any undo friction on my neck from a wetsuit. This is a pleasant surprise.
Now for the technical stuff:
“With the neoprene directly in contact with the skin, the entry of water is almost non-existent, retention of water is at a minimum.
To improve warmth and lightness of a wetsuit , these two being the most critical to wetsuit performance , the ideal is to offer direct neoprene to skin contact instead of skin to textile contact . The ideal suit – to – Skin wetsuit design has been difficult to achieve. Until AQUAMAN introduce a new and improve neopren laminated textile.
AQUAMAN has taken care of these problems thanks to Neoprene Sandwich Metal Cell. The Jersey is now sandwiched between two layers of neoprene! The side against the skin is a thin slice of neoprene Metal Cell cut at 0.5 mm and treated with SCS to facilitate sliding on and off the Wetsuit ; the Metal Cell is then glued to the textile already laminated
to the exterior of the neoprene. The textile is now no longer visible , but still there as it holds the seams together. Sandwiched between the two layers of neoprene, the textile is no longer in direct contact with the water ! Water absorption therefore becomes practically non-existent , while the warm factor is maximized.” www.aquamantri.com
In conclusion.
Great suit! I would definitely recommend it. Fast, extremely comfortable, and is definitely one of the top suits out there. You need to be careful with this suit as it will tear if you are to aggressive trying to put it on.
