SPEEDO PROTON

£140 Have Speedo delivered the ultimate entry-level wetsuit?

Kicking off our budget wetsuit testing (turn to p63 for more) with a bang this issue is the Speedo Fastskin Proton, which is, put simply, up there with the best budget wetsuits we’ve ever tested. Much of our surprise at this stems from Speedo’s chequered recent history in tri. The Aussie brand is one of the most influential in the sport’s history, with their Aquablade tri-suit in 1996 heralding the onset of one-piece tri-suit design ahead of tri’s Olympic Games debut at Sydney 2000. And yet their recent tri output is patchy, with the rigid Elite tri-suit in 2016 an oddity, and the Elite (2017) and Photon (2018) wetsuits scoring lukewarm reviews.

For 2019, Speedo have reduced the size of their wetsuit range to three wetsuits (with nothing above the £250 mark) and just two vested trisuits. Whether that displays a focus away from tri we don’t know, but what they have produced is stellar, with the women’s £70 Xenon tri-suit and £250 Xenon wetsuit already earning Best Value badges here.

It’s not often that we have to double check the RRP as we believed it would be more expensive, but that’s the case with the Proton wetsuit. We expected north of £200, but what we have is Yamamoto 38-cell neoprene, and a lean, lithe and continuous 1.5mm shoulder panel for an astonishing £140.

‘We want people to share our love of water, especially at an entry level

where people may be discovering the sport,’ say Speedo on the modus operandi behind the suit. Into the choppy waters of Weymouth for our key test swim and we felt plenty of love. Where budget wetsuits are often purely functional – a slab of buoyancy, a slither of flexibility – the Proton finds the balance between keeping you afloat and maintaining a feel for the water thanks to the 1.5mm thickness of the shoulders and supple neoprene. And it’s also damn enjoyable to swim in.

In terms of competition, it holds its own compared to Orca’s S7 and Zone3’s Advance (both £169), our entry-level wetsuit high-water marks. Negative points are few, although we would’ve liked the tight cuffs to be easier to remove and those with sinking legs could be better off looking elsewhere for more buoyancy than the max 4mm leg thickness offered here.

So we’ll be using it in 2019, but we’d love to see the current Speedo team create a top-end suit for those at the sharper end of racing than us. ‘Our range is constantly evolving, though we’re tight lipped on what’ll be included in 2020,’ say Speedo on what’s next. Unlike at the start of 2019, we’ll be eagerly awaiting what they have to deliver. speedo.com