Winter is here and it’s time for most surfers to start thinking about winter wetsuits. Should you upgrade now? Hold out a little longer and wait until next year? Or get through most of winter and pick something up on sale in September? One of the other pressing questions is ‘which wetsuit should I buy?’ This Buyers Guide for Winter Wetsuits should make all of those questions a little easier.
We’ve split up our Buyers Guide for Winter Wetsuits this year to help better cover the product (and price) offerings out there. As you would have noticed, new wetsuits brands are the new black and there are new brands popping up everywhere.
Today’s guide covers suits up to $350 and runs from most expensive to least. We’ve already dropped the over $550 guide, which you can check out over here. Early next week we’ll drop the $350-$550 guide. Ideally, these three guides will cover everything you’re looking for and help you get a good Winter suit that’ll work to your budget, keep you warm and let you stay flexible too.
SRFACE
Flex
$350
These guys, SRFACE, aren’t new but they aren’t stalwarts either. Out of Europe, SRFACE has been making wetsuits for a hot minute and are worth checking out. I’ve used their Yulex one (here) and was suitably impressed with both the pattern and cut as well as the material itself. That suit felt pretty good one, but did suffer a little from that lack of stretch Yulex generally has.
This suit though, their Flex suit, has none of those stretch issues. Painted as their performance suit and priced to walk out the door you’ll be looking at this suit or the Vissla one in this price bracket if flexibility and performance is what you’re looking for. GBS seams and internal taping, along with some thermal fluffy stuff, will keep you warm enough if you choose the right thickness for your area. And even though this isn’t their Yulex suit, there’s still eco-considerations built into the suit – dope dyed yarn, limestone, aqua-a glue.
Vissla
7Seas Comp
$350
The 7 Seas Comp from Vissla is another amazing value performance suit. If you’ve used their regular 7 Seas suit, you’ll know what you’re getting yourself into. Read our review on that suit, here. The comp version strips it back a bit more, to make it affordable at $350.
The main thing you’ll miss in this suit is full internal taping, none of that here just critical taping areas. But less tapes means more flexibility and freedom. Got the same rubber, same chest zip design, GBS seams, etc as the regular 7 Seas though. This would definitely be a suit for the ones who are north of Newcastle I reckon, unless you’re one of those freaks who can handle the cold water very well.
needessentials
Yulex Zipperless
$340
Very affordable suits came to the market via these guys – needessentials. First past the flag in this market space and they’ve been delivering affordable, great quality suits ever since. Definitely a go-to staple for any surfers chasing suits that don’t break the bank or destroy their wallets.
This suit is the Yulex option, and is a suit we’ve reviewed before (here), and is the ideal wetsuit for those wanting a more eco-friendly option at a cheaper price. At around half of what you’ll pay for the Billabong Natural Furnace or Patagonia’s R1 3/2.5mm, the needessentials Yulex suit is a screaming bargain with all the same environmental and social considerations.
Think a West Oz winter, Sydney North all year, or Californian summers, and you’ll be kissing seals on their snouts knowing no plastic floating around is because of the wetsuit you’re in.
O’Neill
Focus
$300
This is another of the few suits I haven’t really played with, surfed in, etc. BUT. It’s O’Neill. You’re an idiot if you think this suit would suck because of the price tag. Sure, you’ll be losing a fair few of the premium features you see on the higher suits but that’s just how it works.
The Focus has the FUZE CZ that I thoroughly love and don’t shut up about on this website. No TB or TBX here, just a nice Ultraflex rubber used, you’ll also get GBS seams and some critical taping internally. It does run with smoothie on the chest and back, which I love. Smoothie in some regards seems to have been forgotten about unless it’s a super cold water suit, but it does help with wind chill, etc even in more warmer climates. This could be a great pickup for those north of Sydney.
Xcel
Axis
$280
Based on the specs on the product page for the Xcel Axis it was easy to include this suit, even though I haven’t seen it. Xcel are the underground champions in the wetsuit world, with their Drylock X being a deadset epic suit (review here). Much like O’Neill, you can rest assured when buying an Xcel suit that you’re getting something tip-top regardless of price.
The only suit in this guide that is running a back zip, something I haven’t used in who knows how many years. But for those with mobility issues a back-zip can be such a saving grace when getting ready/puling it off. You also get a nice plush thermo lining and GBS seams that are critically taped. And at $280 it’s definitely worth having this in mind when shopping around with restricted budgets…
needessentials
Thermal CZ
$260
Very affordable suits came to the market via these guys – needessentials. First past the flag in this market space and they’ve been delivering affordable, great quality suits ever since. Definitely a go-to staple for any surfers chasing suits that don’t break the bank or destroy their wallets.
This suit is their thermal option, and is a suit we’ve reviewed before (here), and you want a new, premium steamer and still have change out of $300 to buy some new booties to boot, this is for you. If you want the best of the best, something that’s a bit more eco-friendly, or something with top-shelf finishing, then there are better options out there. You’ll just be paying a lot, lot more.
This is for people who are tighter than a penguins pucker hole but still want to stay toasty like a polar bear’s fur pole.
