Anyone use Aqua Sphere WS?

I have ordered one to try out. It looks like they are
cheaper because they are generally thinner, and use some
composite materials instead of neoprene in places. And are
less buoyant -- a negative feature as far as the "non-
swimmers" with poor body position are concerned. I'll post a
review when I have given it a few test swims.

Andrew

First report. The suit arrived yesterday. A large part of it
(the gray part) is this teflon/lycra/neoprene mix. It's more
stretchy than plain neoprene. I bought the winter (1 mil
thickness) size Medium. They spec that for up to 5'10" and
180 pounds. I'm 5'9" and 130 pounds, so I thought the fit
was a little loose. Not baggy, no major wrinkles anywhere,
just not as tight as I would expect a swimming (as opposed
to surfing) wetsuit. I think that's more a reflection of
their sizing than the intrinsic potential of this design.

The zipper on the back is fairly short: from the
shoulders to just about mid-back. When you open the
zipper you see an additional "fan" of material behind it,
rather than the wetsuit just opening up. Not clear what
the advantage is there.

Overall it feels good, quite comfortable and I'd guess it
would still be even if it were a lot tighter (i.e. if the
wearer were bigger). Of course this is the point: 1 mil is
pretty thin. Great shoulder flexibility. So the question is
does it still hold the thin layer of water, and insulate
enough to keep me warm?

Haven't taken it in the water yet, will continue report
when I do.

Andrew

Here's the second part of the report. I took a half-hour
swim this noon. The water temp was about 57 degrees. As soon
as I waded in, and before any water came in, I could feel
the cold straight through the material. That's expected --
it's very thin. But the point of a wetsuit, of course, is
that once a thin layer of water comes in, it warms up and
insulates you.

Well it took several minutes for my face to stop burning,
but the rest of me got warm and stayed that way. I did
notice that the wrists weren't tight enough to prevent a
little shiver of fresh cold water coming in every so often
when my arm entered the water. I think I'm just not quite
the right size for this suit. (See earlier post.)

Thermally the skin suit performs 100% up to expectations. I
can't remember ever being so comfortable in water this cold.
In addition, the shoulder pain that always materializes in a
full suit (consequence of a dislocation many years ago)
never appeared. I was definitely less buoyant than in my
racing wetsuits, but that's not an issue for me really, as I
have decades of pool and naked (i.e. no wetsuit) open-water
experience with no wetsuit and my form and body position are
already good. In fact, I was able to get a comfortable two-
beat kick going instead of having my legs drag behind me and
way too high like corks. So I felt like my stroke was more
integrated.

The one real fly in the ointment is the rubbing from exposed
stitched seams on the inside of the neck. These were chafing
after just ten minutes. However, the neck doesn't fit as
tightly as it could (back to that fit issue, a little loose
on me) and perhaps if it were tighter there would be less
rubbing. But really those stitches should be somehow moved.

Overall consensus: for its purpose -- keeping people warm
while they recreate (as opposed to compete) in the water --
it's a compete success. I think that if it were really
intended to be a racing

that neck seam was a real downer, although I suppose a
little BodyGlide, a neck rash guard, or other device
would help.

If there were pre-race swim warmup at Ralph's next weekend
I'd seriously consider using it, because it would keep me
warmer *after* the warmup and before the race than would my
sleeveless QR. However there is no pre-race swim warmup so
it's a toss-up. I may use it anyway, just to get a little
more experience with it. I predict that the *concept*, as
apart from the implementation, has a real future for racing
suits. If I could get a tailor to custom-fit me one, I'd go
for it and love it.

WOW, thanks for the thorough reviews!
How about hydrodynamics? Did the suit make you feel slick in the water? Afterall, the insullating function of wetsuits is what justifies their use in some races but one of the best bonuses is that they make it SO MUCH EASIER to glide right through the water.

I've seriously been thinking about the Aqua Sphere suits with this in mind since, despite the fact that my form needs a lot of work, I feel pretty confident in my body positioning and don't think that I need much buoyancy aid from a suit. I'm also not planning on doing any events that would put me in cold water this year. So I'd just like a lightweight (thin) get up that doesn't hinder movement, is slippery, not too hot/stifling and inexpensive.

My biggest concerns with this brand is that they're not as warm as their rating and that they don't look too durable.