swimrun wetsuit

Welcome to Gear Talk with our friends Annie and Brooke from Swimrun Labs. This week we have a special guest to help us with this week’s review: Marcus Barton.

In this episode we have a long-awaited wetsuit review. We were finally able to get to test the “new” Orca RS1 Swimrun Wetsuit thanks to Marcus who owned one and he and Chris shared their unfiltered thoughts after testing it.

The complete review is coming later in the show.

Gear Updates

Both Brooke and Annie were (finally) convinced by Chris to buy the Surf Ears 3.0 ear plugs and both thought that they were a game changer.

Chipper has been training in the Ark Sports VIGG leading up to Ödyssey Swimrun Austin. He’s loving it but did experience some chaffing around the neckline.

Chris recently picked up a pair of the new Adidas Terrex Speed Pro Trail running shoes through one of his hookups. They haven’t been tested yet but out of the box they are pretty minimal, appear to have excellent drainage, and grip on the soles. Full review coming soon.

Guest Gear Review

Thank you to Adam and Matthew of Team Jersey Buoys for the guest review! Adam recently tried an UTTER brand swimrun wetsuit for their Orcas race a few weeks back. He didn’t share a lot of details but thought it was a great suit. 

Untethered Thoughts

Brooke has felt very untethered this past year due to COVID and training pretty much in isolation. She was in pure Swimrun bliss to be able to be at Orcas Island and feel the energy of everyone at the race. She was worried about her passion for the sport but it has been renewed and we are all happy for that!

Shout Out 

We wanted to give a special shout out to our friend Adrian Cameron for sharing with us some major details about how he’s been testing shoes for Swimrun. We will be giving his special spreadsheet it’s own episode but we wanted to make sure to thank him for sharing the knowledge before we unpack his spreadsheet.

Orca RS1 Swimrun Wetsuit Review

It was great to have Marcus who has a lot of experience using Orca suits and, other than Chris, is the only one to have used/tested the suit.

The RS1 retails for $499 and it is Orca’s top-of-the-line suit. Orca website describes the RS1 as being designed using the latest innovations for this suit and claims that it was created for Swimrunners by Swimrunners. The suit comes in men’s and women’s sizes. (We were all disappointed that the women’s suits only came in 5 sizes while the men’s suits came in 9 sizes. Thanks to Swimrun Labs for pointing this out.) 

The most interesting innovation of the suit is “revolutionary vest-like” construction on the upper that opens like a, uhm...vest. It makes the wetsuit very easy to put on and cab down and we were curious to see how it would hold up during a Swimrun.

Swimming Impressions

Marcus thought that the suit performed well in the water. There was some water that would get in the front from the bottom of the vest-like upper. He thought that suit was a bit on the warm side and good for cold races.

Chris thought that the suit was almost too buoyant. It worked well in cold water because the material was a bit thicker than other suits that other high-end suits use. He thought that the material in the shoulders was a bit thicker than he would have liked.

Transition Impressions

Chris and Marcus agreed that cabbing down is super easy to do solo but there was a lot of material flowing around once it was at the waist. Marcus said it was akin to wearing a cape. Cabbing up was a bit tougher to get the zipper teeth lined up while running. This could be even tougher with cold hands.

Marcus noticed that there was a potential issue when exiting the water that it was possible to create a bunching in the front of the suit and it would create a gap and suck in water while trying to stand up. Marcus’s partner Caleb mentioned that during Casco Bay a few years back that he would get sand in his suit from the water going in. (“A negative pressure syphon.” -- Anne Molsberry)

Running Impressions

Chris thought that the suit was pretty hot to run in because the back panel was pretty thick. The bottoms were pretty thick and the pockets in the front were pretty worthless. He did like where the seams were placed in the crotch area and it was super comfortable.

Marcus agreed that the legs of the RS1 are too thick and could fatigue your hips on a long race. The pockets in the front weren’t well designed and it was possible to lose gels or other stuff due to the placement.

Pull Buoy Rankings Rankings

Marcus 2.5 Pull Buoys

Marcus thought that the vest-like upper was a “neat” idea but it didn’t just didn’t seem to fit. For a high-end suit, he would have expected much more flexibility in the shoulder. He also got chaffing around the neck every time he used it.

Chris 2 Pull Buoys

Chris was very disappointed with the suit. For the price point, not worth the money. He expected more tech for the price point. The internal pockets on the front waistband were worthless. The lower half of the suit was non-smooth neoprene and didn’t feel particularly better than the Synergy entry-level suit and would have expected a thinner material. The internal pockets in the front thighs for extra buoyancy pads seemed unnecessary given how thick the bottoms were. Finally, he would rather use an entry-level Ark Sports KORP or a Synergy Swimrun Wetsuit over this suit any day of the week and on race day. 

Overall Impressions

We were definitely bummed that the 3rd generation of the RS1 missed the mark. For the price point, we expected much more technology and better/thinner materials. Ultimately, the vest-like top/cab down feature, while clever, is not enough to save this suit. 

That’s it for this week’s Gear Talk show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify,  and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions, and/or meme ideas. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined. 

Welcome to Gear Talk with our friends Annie and Brooke from Swimrun Labs.

In this episode, we have a roundtable discussion regarding the different tiers of Swimrun wetsuits (entry-level, mid-range, and high-end) and what features you typically get for the money.

Make sure to check out our companion video on YouTube to get a closer look at the different tiers of wetsuits.

Gear Updates

Annie tested out the HOKA ONE ONE Torrent 2 shoe. She wanted to really like them but they didn’t work out for her for Swimrun. She also recently tried the Saucony Switchback 2 shoe for Swimrun and found that the shoe did not drain water very well. She plans on drilling little holes and reporting back if that solves the draining issue.

Annie has also been practicing in the Ark Sports Korp and has been very happy with its durability. She also went commando for a Swimrun practice and is now a convert.

Chipper wanted to shout out the new Precision Hydration PF 30 Energy Gels. Chipper, Chris, and Annie have all tried them and think they are great!

Wetsuit Suit-Out

We get questions every week asking us for recommendations for wetsuits. Our answer is always “depends.” There are a lot of considerations in deciding what wetsuit to settle on. 

Free Suits

If it’s your first Swimrun and you have a triathlon or surfing wetsuit hanging around, you can totally use that with either zero or a few modifications by cutting the legs above the knees and the arms above the elbow. You can also check out the Swimrun Swap Meet on Facebook for a used suit.

Entry Level

These suits cost on average under $250. They have few bells and whistles but there are some really great options out there including the Synergy Swimrun Wetsuit and the Ark Sports Korp. (We have full reviews on both!)

Mid-Range

These suits run on average under $450-500 and offer a lot of upgrades from entry-level suits including thinner neoprene, different materials, and sometimes come with arm sleeves. The Ark Sports VIGG and HEAD My Boost suits are great examples of this range.

High-End

These suits will offer premium everything and you definitely get something special for the price. They are lighter, they wick water away better, and generally more flexible. The Ark Sports ORNO X is a great example of what is available at the pointy end of things.

Discussion

We all agreed that there are some features that we love and features that we can live without. We all thought that having Gen 2 bottoms, suits with good shoulder mobility, toothy zippers, a comfortable neckline, and removable arm sleeves are essentials for us. 

Chipper also really likes having a kangaroo pocket in the back.

Annie really loved having a thermal core panel in the suit. If you tend to not lead the swim legs then something a bit warmer might be a good idea.

We all thought that internal pockets in a suit, cargo pockets on the bottoms, Three-quarter leg length, dual zippers to help with cabbing down, mini pockets for a whistle (or a joint), and Gen 1 neoprene bottoms weren’t things that would entice us towards purchasing a suit. Brooke likes zippers that end at the waist so that they don’t get tangled up with the pull buoy and/or tether belt.

Closing Thoughts

All in all, there’s a Swimrun wetsuit for every budget. We hope that this episode has helped lay out what features you get for the money and, more importantly, what features you will find most important. Make sure to check out our companion video on YouTube to get a closer look at the different tiers of wetsuits.

That’s it for this week’s Gear Talk show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions, and/or meme ideas. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined. 

Welcome to Gear Talk with our friends Annie and Brooke from Swimrun Labs.

In this episode, we have another wetsuit review. This week we do a deep dive on the brand new Ark Sports ORNÖ X Swimrun Wetsuit. This suit was just released a few weeks back and we were lucky enough to get 4 suits sent to us to test by our friends at Ark Sports.

Our complete review is coming later in the show.

Gear Updates

Brooke finally realized that she is small and not a medium as she previously thought after using Trista’s Ark Sports KORP suit. That small fit much better and resolved her issues of water entering the suit.

Chipper just picked up 3 pairs of the Magic5 swim goggles. These are allegedly custom-made and are sized to fit your face by using a facial recognition-type app to get the sizing right. Chipper also is trying out the Hoka One One Torrent 2 as his new Swimrun shoe. More updates on how that goes in the coming weeks.

Annie also got a set of the Torrent 2’s and will report back as well.

Chris recently updated his “team” race kit by replacing his trustworthy compression bandage with a new slimmer H&H Mini Compression bandage. It’s a lot slimmer than the old one and capable of being worn in a kangaroo top due to its design.

Untethered Thoughts

This week’s untethered thought comes courtesy of Greg Dierksen of the Boston Wet Sox. He DM’d us with the observation that there is very little information about “the tether” out there and recommended that we do a Gear Talk show on the tether. Great observation and suggestion and we will be releasing that show soon! 

Thanks Greg!

ARK SPORTS ORNÖ X Wetsuit Review

Check out our first impressions video here to get our first look at the ORNÖ X wetsuit.

Here’s how ARK describes the ORNÖ X:

ARK Sports ORNÖ X is an evolution of our flagship model ORNÖ which has been tested and trusted by the Worlds best swimrun athletes since its launch in 2017. A pioneering suit positioned as the most thermal and buoyant suit in the ARK Sports line without compromising of keeping the lowest weight. What came to be the world's fastest swimrun suit, has now been developed, optimized, and revolutionized for the start of the 2021 swimrun season.

The suit retails for $710 and features premium Yamamoto Limestone neoprene, running+ bottom, thermal+ foam waist belt, and comes with arm sleeves. A men’s medium weighs just 510grams and a women’s medium weighs 500grams.

Out of the box, this suit looks and feels premium. But how does it perform?

Swimming Impressions

Chris and Chipper tested the ORNÖ X during two long Swimrun practices where the water temps were around 55 degrees. The suits worked amazingly. The suits felt properly warm and the thermal+ belt really helped to keep the core warm. The shoulder mobility was excellent. The anti-leak neckline worked as advertised. The running+ bottom felt like it was providing some warmth which might be due to the neoprene material lining of the running+.

Annie tested the suit with both a pull buoy and without. She felt that the ORNÖ X provided some buoyancy even without a pull buoy. She was surprised by how great the shoulder material felt during the swim. The shoulder material also feels more flexible and stretchy compared to the ORNÖ 02 which might mean that it will have better durability (read: fewer armpit holes requiring repair).

Brooke got her mind blown by the suit. She felt like she was swimming in a second skin and a perfect suit for the Pacific Northwest. She thought that just how it performs in the swim makes it well worth the money. 

Transition Impressions

Basically a non-issue. Everyone thought that the suit performed great coming in and out of the water. The zipper size felt sturdy. Cabbing down and up was a little challenging, partly because of fear of tearing the suit.

Everyone loved the new design of the rear pocket on the suit. It was really well thought out and worked as advertised. Similar feedback for the zipper size of the suit.

The .5mm arm cuffs were another innovation in the suit that everyone thought was great. They help the suit stay in place and keep the arm sleeves well-positioned to create a good seal to keep water out.

Running Impressions

Everyone thought that running in the ORNÖ X Suit was great. The running+ material that ARK uses allows for complete running freedom and no one had any major complaints about the run performance of the suit. 

Chris runs hot and felt like he had to cab down/lower the zipper on most runs. Chris also experienced a tiny amount of chafing with one of the seams on the inside by the leg opening but it was barely noticeable and nothing a little bit of body glide wouldn’t fix.

Brooke continued to get her mind blown running in the suit.

Pull Buoy Rankings Rankings

Brooke 5 Pull Buoys

She was smitten by the ORNÖ X Suit. A joy to run in, a joy to swim in, and she can’t wait to race in it.

Chris 5 Pull Buoys

He thought that this suit is the pinnacle of technology for the sport and ARK Sports once again raised their own high bar. Next to the VIGG, it was the best wetsuit that he’s ever worn.

Annie 5 Pull Buoys

She thought that this was the best suit that money can buy and worth every penny.

Chipper 5 Pull Buoys

Chipper wants to use this suit all the time. It was a joy for him to train in and he is looking forward to the next time that he can wear it...whether to a Swimrun or not.

Overall Impressions

This is definitely a milestone for us. The ORNÖ X is the first item to be reviewed that received 5 Pull Buoy ratings across the board. While it’s an expensive suit, it has all the latest innovations in terms of design and materials that raises the bar on what’s possible in a Swimrun wetsuit. Major kudos to the DaVinci of Swimrun, Daniel Sand, for once again raising the bar of what is possible in wetsuit tech! 

That’s it for this week’s Gear Talk show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions, and/or meme ideas. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined. 

Welcome to Gear Talk with our friends Annie and Brooke from Swimrun Labs.

In this episode, we break down the new Synergy Swimrun Wetsuit. At $200 this suit is an intriguing entry-level suit that looks and, more importantly, performs great. We would like to thank Synergy for sending us four of their new suits for us to test out.

Our complete review is coming later in the show.

Gear Updates

Annie swam in the Ark Sports KORP Wetsuit for the first time and only had good things to say about the suit. She tested it in pretty chilly water and didn’t experience any water pooling in the suit that others have experienced.

Brooke tried to go full commando under her wetsuit for the first time...and she wasn’t a fan.

Chris and Chipper got to try out the new Summer Smoc from Smoc Smoc. These bamboo fiber smocs are great for the summer months and make it really easy to change into and out of your Swimrun gear. 

Untethered Thoughts

This week’s untethered thought comes courtesy of Amy Bush. She asked us why our Gear Talk show isn’t called the “Löw Tide Töyz” show. We discussed this at length and will consider the suggestion and try to incorporate “labs” in there somewhere.

Synergy Swimrun Wetsuit Review

We all got to use the suits and have some well-formed opinions about the Synergy Swimrun Wetsuit. You can watch our first impressions video here to get a general overview of the suit.

The suit costs $200. It comes with three pockets (two internal pockets in the front and one large zippered pocket in the back), a whistle on the zipper, and male and female-specific sizing. The Synergy website describes the suit as follows: The Synergy Swimrun is a high-quality suit with the essential features; long front zip, total of 3 accessible pockets, and graded/variable neoprene thickness to allow best flexibility while retaining buoyancy for swimming and enough insulation to keep you warm.

Given that this is an entry-level suit, we thought that it would be important to calibrate our review with other similar entry-level suits with a similar price point such as  the ORCA Core and the BlueSeventy Alliance Swimrun Wetsuit. It’s worth noting that this suit does not come with arm sleeves.

Swimming Impressions

Chipper was worried about chafing with the collar of this suit but those concerns didn’t come to pass. The suit fit great and he thought that it kept water out well and kept him warm. He did feel that the velcro portion to secure the collar was a bit small and would have liked it to be a bit larger since it came undone during a swim and he had to adjust it.

Brooke was also worried about the suit collar. She tried the suit on when it arrived and thought that the neckline felt a little “chokey” because it came up pretty high. She didn’t experience any chafing. She did experience some water entering the suit from the arms and flushing through the suit. (We all think that this was a fit issue.)

Annie did not have any water entering into the suit and thought that the fit was spot on. She did experience some chafing. There is a seam on the collar that had some extra reinforcement but it did lead to some chafing. 

Chris’s expectations for the suit were low when he took it out of the box because at first glance it appeared that it was using a Gen 1-style design with thick neoprene on the legs instead of a more Gen 2 approach that is more run-forward. The suit definitely exceeded his expectations. The suit was great in the water and easy to swim in with good seals to keep water out and shoulder mobility wasn’t a problem. 

Transition Impressions

Chipper and Chris didn’t have any issues with transitions. The zipper was good for cabbing down and zipped smoothly.

Brooke and Annie thought that transitions went fine. Annie was able to cab down no problem in the suit. Brooke felt like she was carrying some water with her but that could be because of the sizing issues that she was having.

Running Impressions

Annie and Chris were pleasantly surprised with the run performance. Out of the box the suit felt stiff and had neoprene running down the entire front. They didn’t feel restricted at all during the run.

Brooke felt very comfortable on the run and didn’t feel like she would overheat in the suit. Sizing down may have resolved some of the bunching issues that she was having.

Chipper was very worried that he was going to cook in the suit because it seemed pretty thick. Just like everyone else, he was pleasantly surprised with how the suit performed on the run. He felt that the legs did ride up a bit but it wasn’t a deal-breaker. He did have some concerns about the front pockets not being super useful when cabbed down.

Pull Buoy Rankings Rankings

Chipper 4.5 Pull Buoys

Chipper thought that for the price point, this suit was good enough for him to race in the suit. He said that he would be fine racing in the suit. This was the top of the heap in terms of entry-level wetsuits and it was a great suit for most Swimrun conditions.

Chris 4 Pull Buoys

Chris thought that for an entry-level suit, the Synergy is great! A lot of thought and intention went into making this suit and for $200, this suit definitely delivers. He would use this suit over any other entry-level suit that he has tried.

Brooke 3.5 Pull Buoys

Brooke doesn’t think that anyone should listen to her review. She thinks that she had the wrong size and didn’t enjoy it as much as she wanted to. She would maybe give it a higher score if she had the right size. She did think that this is a great suit for folks starting out and/or for training.

Annie 4.5 Pull Buoys

Annie gave it a high score for the value that it presents for $200. It totally delivered and exceeded her expectations for the price point. It has a great balance of swim buoyancy and run mobility. She would feel totally fine racing in this suit.

Overall Impressions

We were all pleasantly surprised with how the new Synergy suit performed and we would all recommend this suit to both beginners in the sport and more experienced athletes looking for a durable suit to train or race in.

That’s it for this week’s Gear Talk show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions, and/or meme ideas. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined. 

Welcome to the first ever Low Tide Boyz swimrun gear review! This week we are reviewing the blueseventy Alliance Swimrun Wetsuit.

blueseventy was cool enough to send us a couple of suits to put through the paces and they gave us their blessing to do an unbiased review based on our experience and, admittedly mediocre, athletic abilities. Check out the suit at blueseventy.com and remember to use the discount code SWIMRUN for 20% off anything in the store.

The Suit

Overall, the blueseventy Alliance swimrun wetsuit is a great suit. With a bunch of key swimrun features such as two internal pockets, front zipper, built-in tether loops, large back pocket and rubberized neoprene for durability, this suit is definitely versatile and durable. It comes with fully taped long sleeves that athletes can cut to their desired length. (We didn’t cut the suits for reasons we’ll explain later.) 

The blueseventy Alliance is available in men’s and women’s specific styles and retails for $270. This price point already makes this a very economical suit that is built to last. It comes in one colorway, black with orange elements. We weren’t huge fans of the orange but it is great for visibility in open water so we can’t knock it that much for that. 

The Test

We tested the suits while doing our swimrun trainings leading up to Ötillö Catalina in the Bay Area. The water temps were pretty chilly and in all, we spent about 3-4 hours in the suits putting it through the paces of swimming, running and transitions.

The Swim Review 

The suit was great in the water. Given how cold the conditions were when we were testing the suits, we definitely appreciated the thicker neoprene of the Alliance. As mentioned above, because of the cold conditions we ended up not cutting the sleeves we were liking having the extra coverage. 

This is definitely a swimmer’s suit. Good buoyancy throughout the torso. The shoulder neoprene felt just right, not too thin and not too thick. The neck was comfortable and the zipper didn’t feel obtrusive in any way. As mentioned above, we were really appreciating the thickness in cold water but we were worried about potentially overheating if conditions were warmer.

The Run Review

We felt that this was definitely a swimmer’s suit…when we were running. Given the thickness of the neoprene, we experienced some overheating on the runs and on one occasion we stopped to cab down because Chipper was “roasting.” We also experienced some hip impingement while running. We felt that the neoprene in the hip flexor region was a bit too thick for long running efforts and thought that this could lead to run fatigue. That being said, we did see teams at the Catalina race run in the suits no problem so this issue might be athlete-specific. 

Low Tide Boyz’z Rankings

(We’re unveiling are new pull buoy ranking system for our gear reviews! 5 pull buoys being the best and 1 pull buoy being the worst.)

Chipper: 3.5 Pull Buoys

Chipper though that the blueseventy Alliance swimrun wetsuit was good suit for certain races/ water temps but was worried about it in warmer races. It’s a good value swimrun wetsuit and its durability really makes this a perfect training suit. The suit could have used some exterior pockets in the thighs and more accessible areas for nutrition storage since the internal pockets we are bit tough to access without a lot of effort. Overall, he plans on training in the suit and maybe racing in it, if the weather conditions seem to indicate that the Alliance is the suit to use.

Chris: 4 Pull Buoys

Chris gave the Alliance 4 pull buoys for mostly the same reasons as Chipper. For him, the value of the suit at $270 (or $216 with the 20% off discount code SWIMRUN) made it a great suit for beginners or folks that want to have a more cold weather suit in their stable of options. He wasn’t a fan of the orange on the suit but he’s a diva and everybody knows that. Finally, if getting cold during a swimrun—especially towards the end of the race—then this suit is a great choice. 

Overall Impressions

Overall, we would definitely recommend folks checking out the blueseventy Alliance swimrun wetsuit. We are definitely stoked on the suit and plan on using it in training pretty regularly. Check out the suit at blueseventy.com and remember to use the discount code SWIMRUN for 20% off anything in the store.