OVERALL VERDICT
Offering a warm, dry place to change as well as a cosy post-swim layer, these are a winter must-have. We test eight...
Thermal wetsuits are a great addition to your kit bag if you’re planning to keep swimming in open water from November to April, when water is colder. Unless you’re targeting a freezing-cold triathlon, though, they’re likely to be a second purchase to your summer/race suit, in which case you may not want to pay the earth.
With this in mind, we can’t ignore the price point on the Deboer in this test. It was the fastest suit over our 200m course, but at over a grand and proving frustrating to get on, it would be a considered purchase. Also rigid was the Zone3, which offers a useful option for breaststroke swimmers but, as most of us are likely to be swimming front crawl, we couldn’t award that top marks either.
This reveals the Huub as our best option for winter swimming newbies or those on a budget. Good performance and warmth but without breaking the bank. For innovation and a smooth, flexible swim we loved the Orca, and that would be this tester’s pick for most of our winter swims. When the mercury really drops, though, we’ll be turning to the Blueseventy, which offered the warmest swim!
Visit any open-water swimming spot during the winter and you’ll see folk congregating like a strange furry-cloak-clad cult. But dismiss the mighty swim changing robe at your peril. If you want to protect yourself from the elements both pre and post-swim (and keep your modesty intact), having one of these is a huge help.
But with so many on the market now, which are worth the spend? The robes in our test ranged from £90 to £160 so we judged them on value for money, warmth, extra features, practicality and their environmental impact. Many are now made from recycled materials, but remember that the truly sustainable products will also be recyclable again at their end-of-life. Not that that should be for many years, the 220 team still have one of the original Dryrobes (the trademarked brand) from 2010 still going strong. But with so many new launches available, which is best? On with the testing...