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The Best Wetsuit
If you are shopping for a wetsuit, you are probably doing some kind of water activity such as surfing or scuba diving and you want to stay warm while you are in the water. A wetsuit keeps you warm by insulating your body so that your body heat does not escape into the cold water around you.
So now you are asking what is the best wetsuit. The best wetsuit is the wetsuit that keeps you appropriately warm and allows you to do your activity comfortably. Since people come in different sizes and shapes, not all wetsuits will work the best for all people. There probably exists a best wetsuit for you, and this site will help educate you on how to figure out which suit this is.
This site primarily focuses on wetsuits for surfing, but some of the basic principles of wetsuit selection can apply to wetsuits used for other sports as well.
Figuring Out the Best Wetsuit for You
There are 4 factors that contribute to how well a wetsuit will keep you warm.
1. Thickness
2. Fit
3. Design and Construction
4. Neoprene Quality
Thickness
The main reason you want to wear a wetsuit is to keep you warm while you are in the water. You want to find a wetsuit that will keep you appropriately warm. Wetsuits are constructed mainly of neoprene, which is a synthetic rubber. One of the main factors in how a wetsuit will keep you warm is the thickness of the neoprene.
Wetsuits are often referred to by their thickness which is measured in millimeters. Many wetsuits are constructed with two different thicknesses because the thickness of the neoprene also restricts your body’s movement, and therefore a thinner neoprene will be used in areas that need more flexibility like around the shoulders and arms. We will address this more in the section about doing your activity comfortably. A thicker neoprene would be used around the torso that doesn’t require as much flexibility for motion. An example of this would be a 3/2 mm suit where the neoprene around the shoulders and arms are 2mm and the neoprene around the torso is 3mm. Common wetsuit thicknesses are 3/2 mm, 4/3 mm, 5/4 mm. Thicker wetsuits are also available for more extreme condition activities.
People have different tolerances to cold water but a good ballpark estimate of water temperature and wetsuit thickness are:
| Water Temperature | Wetsuit Thickness |
| 82-75F | Trunks and Rashguard, no wetsuit needed |
| 75-65F | 2mm springsuit |
| 65-60F | 3/2 mm fullsuit |
| 60-53F | 4/3 mm fullsuit |
| 53-45F | 5/4 mm fullsuit |
| 45F and below | 6/5 mm fullsuit |
For colder water there are other wetsuit accessories such as booties, gloves, and hoods that will help keep you warmer. As I mentioned above, different people will have different tolerances to water temperature and may need to adjust their wetsuit to fit their comfort in the water appropriately.
Fit
Another very important factor in how a wetsuit will keep you warm is the fit. For a wetsuit to keep you optimally warm, it needs to fit you very snuggly with no air pockets. Your ankles, wrists, and neck should be sealed very tightly. The reason for this is that when a wetsuit gets wet it holds and seals a small amount of water against your skin. Your body will warm this water to your body temperature and the wetsuit will keep this layer of warm water insulated and against your body, keeping you at a very comfortable temperature. Ill fitting suits with air gaps and pockets and loose necks, wrist and ankle seals will allow a constant exchange of cold water to flow through your suit, sucking the heat from your body and therefore not keeping you very warm.
In more moderate temperatures, an ill fitting suit can be forgivable sometimes. In very cold temperatures, a flush of cold water coming down your neck from a loose fitting neck seal can be extremely unpleasant.
Different manufacturers will make different sized wetsuits that do not fit all body types the same. It is highly recommended to try on a wetsuit before purchasing it insure that the fit is good for your body type.
Design and Construction
The way the different pieces of neoprene are stitched together will also affect how well the suit will stay sealed and not allow cold water into your suit. The three common types of stitching found in wetsuits are:
Flatlock stitching: This is a standard stitching of wetsuits and the stitch looks the same on the inside of the wetsuit as on the outside. There will be a little water seepage through these seems and this type of stitching is appropriate for wetsuits that are used in more moderate temperatures such as 62 degrees and above.
Sealed stitching: The neoprene is glued together and then stitched. This is sometimes referred to as glued and blindstitched. This will allow very little seepage through the seams and is appropriate for colder condition wetsuits, meant for 55 degrees and up.
Sealed and Taped: These seams are appropriate for wetsuits made for very cold conditions. The seams are sealed as mentioned above and also taped. Good for wetsuits made for water temperatures 55 degrees and below.
Wetsuit design also has different types of zipper designs. Back zip and front zip are the most common zipper designs. If the suit fits well and the seams are good, the zipper design should not have too great of an affect on how well a suit will keep you warm. Some people suggest that since there is less zipper exposed for seepage on a front zipper design, this type of suit may keep you warmer.
Neoprene Quality
There are many types of neoprene that are used to make wetsuits. The higher quality the neoprene the more it will stretch. Higher quality neoprene will be more flexible and create a more glove-like fit to your body and thus keep you warmer. Also bear in mind that the thicker the neoprene you wear on your body the more restricted your movement will be and that will affect your activity in the water. The higher the quality of neoprene the better your range of movement will be. Neoprene quality will have a direct bearing to the price of the wetsuit.
On Buying Wetsuits
It is often very difficult buying a wetsuit because each manufacturer carries different lines of wetsuits each with various features. Once you have determined the thickness you are looking for, the variables that will most determine the quality of the suit is the design and the neoprene quality. What generally makes determining these factors more difficult is that different manufactures will have different product names for stitching styles and their different qualities of neoprenes. This make comparing different wetsuits from different manufactures difficult unless you are able to physically try each wetsuit on and feel the difference in quality and understand the quality of the neoprene in each suit. If you are not an experienced buyer of wetsuits, it is highly recommended to go and try on each wetsuit you are interested in before purchasing it.