Product & Review Data Company: Orca Product: Wetsuit Model: Speed Suit & PFLEX Price: MSRP: Street: Reviewer: David Lee Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

Since day one wetsuits have always been an issue for me. I have always had my suit custom made and it's difficult to find a good wetsuit builder who can really make the suit to accommodate all the little things that freediving needs. When you think about it, I have always done unassisted constant ballast. Freediving without fins. This particular category demands an incredible amount of physical motions from the diver. I always found that I could never really breathe in any neoprene. Always felt constricted. Until a friend from New York who is a big triathlon competitor said "David, have you ever tried any of the Orca wetsuits?" I have never even heard of the company before. He decides to send me one of his training suits, the Orca Speed Suit. This is their bottom of the line suit carrying a price tag of $249.99 usd. But don't let "bottom of the line" comment fool you. This is a factory cut wetsuit that you order from a size chart. So Andrew sends the suit to me.

4 days later I receive the suit. I pop the box open and grab the suit to pull it out. At the first touch of the neoprene I knew this was not an ordinary suit. The neoprene is so soft it feels like it's melting in your hand. It has regular fabric type neoprene on the inside and smooth neoprene exterior. It was early in the morning and I couldn't wait till work was over to try it on. When I got home I inspected the suit closer and noticed that all the seams are flawless in assembly with perfect sewing, perfect gluing, inner seals, awesome neck seal, and no shortfalls in quality. It was a size 8 according to the Orca chart and it fit me perfectly on my 173cm, 72kilo frame. According to their chart I should have fit in a size 6. Orca says the suits are supposed to fit close. Even though it was close fitting the neoprene stretches so much there is no restriction on the chest.

I spend the following day training in the suit doing multiple laps in the pool both above and below the surface. Swimming freestyle, breast stroke, back stroke, unassisted, long fins, short fins, monofin. You name it and I tried it. What I couldn't believe was, it felt like I was barely wearing anything. Usually you feel a little constricted under the arms when stroking but this thing stretches so well you really don't feel much there. This Speed Suit is 3mm and feels like 1mm. I also noticed that I was a bit faster above and below the surface. Take note, I am using their "bottom of the line" suit.

After this wonderful day of wearing a wetsuit but feeling wetsuit free I decided to contact Orca telling that I have fallen in love with their wetsuit and asked if they would custom make a suit with a hood for my next world record attempt. I got a reply and they said they would not be able to make a suit with an attached hood for me but they could offer a suit with a detached hood. This was something I was not too excited about but due to feeling more comfortable than I ever have in a wetsuit I decided I had to give it a try. A week passes and THE SUIT shows up in the mail The PFLEX. Their most expensive and sought after wetsuit weighing in with a hefty price tag of $475.00 usd. A little on the expensive side for a recreational swimmer / freediver. Again, pulling it out of the box I noticed an improvement in the softness and elasticity of the neoprene over the Speed Suit. Again I am at work and ready to strip down in my office and try it on, but I manage to restrain myself till the next day when I had pool training. That and I don't think my coworkers would want me running around in my underwear in my office. I didn't do as much techniques in the PFLEX as I did in the Speed Suit but without a doubt it would outperform the Speed Suit. Take for instance, in the Speed Suit I was able to cover 25m unassisted in 2.5 strokes and in the PFLEX I did it in 2 strokes. So that would be:

Speed Suit: Push off the wall - arm stroke - leg stroke - arm stroke - leg stroke
PFLEX: Push off the wall - arm stroke - leg stroke - arm stroke

The second test for the suit was to take it to depth. I boldly went where no trainee has gone and told Rudi, my trainer, that I was NOT wearing any other suit other than the PFLEX for my record attempts. He said "well, as long as you are comfortable." I did 4 dives in the suit before attempting the first

record to 63m/207ft. Each dive the suit performed and exceeded my expectations. Flexibility was excellent and the smooth neoprene glided excellent. The water was a chilly 19C at the surface and 16 at the bottom.

I managed to keep warm in this multi-thickness suit. It was strange but most neoprene as you go deeper it compresses more and more

(Except that crappy Rubatex neoprene) which in turn causes you to increase speed in your freefall. For me it seemed it did compress but I never noticed much of a change in buoyancy. Which is great because I keeps a nice

constant speed for freefalling on deep freedives which is essential for equalizing.

I love the PFLEX and would do my next record in it. However, the only thing I would want to change is getting a hooded version.

Strengths

Extremely flexible.

Provides good insulation from the cold.

Extremely fast.

Weaknesses

Velcro neck seal will eventually wear out letting water in.

No attached hood.

For more information on Orca Wetsuits visit www.Orca.com

Photos courtesy of DeeperBlue.net