2022 Winter Wetsuits $350 - $550

The Psycho 1, from O’Neill, just squeaks into the $3-500 bracket for our Buyers Guide for Winter Wetsuits coming in at $499 – which you could argue is $500 anyway, but it’s on the marker so we’re keeping it.

The O’Neill Psycho is an evolution of the first Psycho which eventually spread out into an entire family of wetsuits ultimately resulting in this years Psychofreak. The Psycho 1 comes with welded seams, techno butter, FUZE entry system – basically a lot of high-end features you wouldn’t expect to find on a mid-priced suit. Not as wildly decked out like the Psychofreak, but this is a great suit for a smidge under $500.

The bonus being every time I suit up in this I feel like I’m going to Corey Lopez like surfing, I don’t. Also, I need O’Neill to bring in a modern version of that Animal Suit they had Gerr all up in the ads with back in the day.

The Rip Curl E-Bomb 3/2mm Zip Free Steamer is basically the Ferrari within the Rip Curl wetsuit matrix, built for hi-fi surfing by any shredder or kook with enough money to pay for one.

If it’s crazy that there are $900 wetsuits out there (tbh, a custom made suit sounds all sort of dreamy), it’s crazier that you can get a Rip Curl E-Bomb for $450. This is hands down one of the best suits on the market, regardless of price. We reviewed it a while back and as Tim said:

“This is for people who want to feel like they’re surfing in a gymnastics leotard and have the skills to do backflips at will. Also great for those who simply want to be as comfortable as a fat man in trackies when heading into the water.”

This is the suit you get if your Sydney, and north of Sydney up to the Gold Coast. Brilliant suit across the board, and for $450 it’s a steal.

This is also another suit I’m somewhat shocked with the sticker price – $500 – it’s an amazing suit up there with the E-Bomb from Rippy but with Billabong tweaks. It’s in this year’s reviews (coming soon) and both Tim and Jim were excited like little kids in a candy store surfing in this suit.

Triple glued and blindstitched sealed seams with 100% machine applied internal Superflex Neotape with 100% Airlite stretch. The neoprene also features 3D panel shaping with minimal seam design creating the most anatomic form-fitting stretch suit.

Like we mentioned with the Rip Curl E-Bomb before, this is a suit you get if your Sydney, and north of Sydney up to the Gold Coast. Brilliant suit across the board, and for $450 it’s a steal

It has been 10 years since Patagonia first introduced Yulex to the wetsuit world. A decade! The innovation has proven to be one of the biggest positive shifts toward sustainability in surfing since recycled boardshort fabrics. You used to buy Patagonia because you felt good about your purchase, but you can now also feel good AND get a top of the line suit.

The R1 Lite might not be the cheapest on the list here, but the R1 Lite has some great features (beyond Yulex) and Patagonia have one of the best wetsuit warranties getting around. If you’re looking for eco-minded wetsuit purchasing, start here.

The number of amazing suits coming at $500 this season is remarkable, all of them are amazing but I don’t think any of them have improved so dramatically as Quiksilver has with their Highline CZ.

The review is about to be online, and we talk quite positively about it in the Lipped podcast episode too. Everything from materials used across to the cut and fit of the suit has been improved, to a point where it’s one of the suits I go looking for now. Well worth a buy if you’re a Quik fan.

Xcel are the tradesman of wetsuits. Not flashy but plenty of depth and they get the job done. They took out awards for the warmest and all-round wetsuits last year (for the Drylock X suit – review here). If you’re looking at their Radiant Rebound suit here, you should have confidence it’ll be a good suit.

If you do want to go higher up the food chain, Xcel have the Drylock which runs at $550. My theory is if you’re spending $550, you may as well spend $650 and get the Drylock X which is a phonemonal suit.

Still haven’t used a Project Blank suit yet, from the reports I get is that they deliver a good suit for the price. Which would be hard to argue given their prices, if you want a value focused suit it’s between Project Blank and needessentials in my eyes.

This suit, their Eco Ultimate, is their sustainable/enviro friendly option. The suit that is all Yulex, Bluesign certified and recycled linings, etc it’s got all the bells and whistles in an enviro option for a very delicious price of $450. But if you beat your suits up, then for an extra $50 you get Patagonia and the Patagonia warranty.

needessentials came in hot last year with their Yulex suit with my initial thoughts being that ::
“The fit was outstanding for needessentials. Easily the best fitting suit I’ve ever used/tried from them hands down. The improvements in this suit over previous years is a testament to the work the team at needessentials are putting in.”

This year they’ve added in some extras to make it a touch warmer, and a touch less flexible but they’ve balanced it well. Tim has the review on that suit coming in the next few days, I’ll add the link in here it’s live. Overall, hard to pass up needessentials as the best value wetsuit brand out there right now – warranty increased, materials/enviro approach. Worth a look if you’re short on cash (or just want to save)

Another suit I haven’t yet seen or tried out, but am excited to see them enter the wetsuit market. The Modulator from Volcom probably won’t leave you dropping edits like Yago, threading Pipe bombs like Manoa or making finals like Robbo. But. It should keep you pretty warm, ready to perform and able to surf regularly.

It’s got all the bells and whistles you’d expect for this price range. Some quick-dry thermal lining, GBS seams with internal taping, limestone neoprene, etc. and you get a 12 month warranty which is a nice bonus.

For $420 this might be one of the buys of the winter for what you get. You can get a cheaper suit from PB or need, but at $420 you get close to a top market wetsuit that balances performance and warmth really well. All three of us talked it up in the podcast episode with Lipped (below).

Vissla continue to churn out amazing value and great product. Did you know they deliver around 80% of their range in enviro materials? Everyone should do more reading and research into Vissla.  The biggest stand out with the Vissla High Seas wetsuit is just how dreamy the rubber is. I’d like to make a bed cover from it, car seat covers, maybe even a flare-leg leisure suit to hit the nightclubs in – it’s that comfortable.

No idea if this suit, or brand, is widely available (or at al) in Australia right now. Manera is from Europe via a few different water sports and they now do surf suits and sponsor Justine Dupont, Pete Devries, Nate Tyler and more.

After spending to much time on the product page I’m impressed with what you get with a Seafarer from Manera. How to get one to test is another question. No idea on price either, so I’m not being much a help right now. If you’ve used one, lettuce know and interested in hearing about the suit.