Stab Magazine | These Are The World's Best Wetsuits

Live Now — Episode 3 Of Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico

869 Views

These Are The World’s Best Wetsuits

Stab’s search for the warmest 3/2 and most comfortable 4/3 starts here.

hardware // Nov 24, 2019
Words by Stab
Reading Time: 3 minutes

When we invited the world’s best wetsuits manufactuers to our world’s best wetsuits shoot, we warned of real and honest feedback. Many ran the other way. The ones included were excited about having their product critically reviewed.

Welcome to Stab’s Best Wetsuits of winter 2019-2020—the Northern Hemisphere edition.

Our objective: to discover the warmest 3/2 and most comfortable 4/3 on the modern market.

Reasoning: nobody wants to wear a 4/3 if they don’t have to, so it’s our job to keep you in a 3-mil as long as possible. But, if that extra millimeter of rubber is required, we want to make sure that you don’t end up in a rubber straitjacket.

Tester: Stab’s resident tech geek, Michael Ciaramella. Having exclusively worn Xcel neoprene for the past decade, Mike’s utter ignorance of these six neoprene brands makes him uniquely qualified for the task, as he is an analytical and unbiased subject.

Watch above as Mike samples 12 rubber tuxedos both in and out of frigid Central California waters, in an attempt to answer the question: who makes the warmest and most comfortable wetsuits in 2019?

Click here for the complete Best Wetsuits feature.

 

 

Billabong’s Furnace Ultra 3/2 and Furnace Comp 4/3

Click here for a complete analysis and review

billabong 32
Furnace Ultra 3/2 Warmth score: 8/10

billabong 43
Furnace Comp 4/3 comfort score: 7/10

billabong graphene
Graphene: A Nobel- Prize-winning super-fiber implemented in wetsuits by Billabong in 2019. It’s meant to be ridiculously stretchy, strong, and warm.

Feral’s 3/2 Chest-zip and 4/3 Chest-zip

Click here for a complete analysis and review. 

feral 33
Makes you wanna surf.

9F0C318
Chest-zip 3/2 warmth score: 9/10

feral 44
Chest-zip 4/3 comfort score: 8/10

O’Neill’s Psycho Tech 3/2 and Hyperfreak Comp 4/3 (COMFORT WINNER)

Click here for a full analysis and review.

oneill 33
Psycho Tech 3/2 warmth score: 8/10

oneill 44
Hyperfreak Comp 4/3 comfort score: 10/10

9F0C0170
Legacy brand.

Quiksilver’s Highline Plus 3/2 and Highline Ltd. 4/3

Click here for a full analysis and review.

quiksilver 33
Highline Plus 3/2 warmth score: 8/10

9F0C9715
Highline Ltd. 4/3 comfort score: 7/10

9F0C9128
Lined with a field of roses (sans thorns).

Rip Curl’s Flashbomb Heat Seeker 3/2 (WARMTH WINNER) and E-Bomb 4/3

Click here for a full analysis and review

ripcurl 44
E-bomb 4/3 comfort score: 9/10

ripcurl 33
Flashbomb Heat Seeker 3/2 warmth score: 9/10

9F0C702
Fins just wanna be free.

Volte’s Supreme 3/2 and Premium Hooded 4/5

Click here for a full analysis and review.

volte 33
Supreme 3/2 warmth score: 6/10

volte 44
Premium 4/5 comfort score: 8/10

9F0C9369
A wave goodbye!

Comments

Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.

Already a member? Sign In

Want to join? Sign Up

Advertisement

Most Recent

Matty McG Skydives Into CT Heat, But Jordy’s Still The Main Event

A full day of heats at J-Bay, and only one shark warning.

Jul 12, 2025

Controversial Opinion: No One Needs To Yoga In Boardshorts

12 Trunks for the traditionalist.

Jul 12, 2025

Correction: J-Bay All Foreplay, No Climax

Slim pickings on Day 1 of the Corona Cero Open J-Bay 2025.

Jul 11, 2025

What Do Hollywood, Surf Lessons, Michael Jackson And Traction Pads Have In Common?

A Stab Interview with Teva Dexter, the man behind surfing's hardest new hardware brand —…

Jul 10, 2025

Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico: Episode 3

"The tribe has spoken," Dane Reynolds pronounced, and a surfer's torch was snuffed.

Jul 10, 2025

How Josh Ku Nearly Died Trying To Cross From Ulus to G Land by Hydrofoil

“If someone finds me dead at least they can find my phone and know what…

Jul 10, 2025

Expect No Kiss, All Climax At The “World’s Most Perfect Pointbreak”

A Corona Cero Open J-Bay 2025 preview.

Jul 9, 2025

SEOTY: Liam O’Brien stars in ‘Friction of Perception’

"Hopefully I don’t come across like too much of a peanut."

Jul 8, 2025

10 Shapers To Watch In The Next 10 Years — Part One

“It’s like a drug empire, man. Cut the head off the snakes, and more will…

Jul 7, 2025

Mason Ho Joins Ritual Vision, Releases Remix Of Greatest Hits

Dion Agius riffs on the eyewear brand’s U.S. expansion, Ritualistic Tendencies, and the new stars…

Jul 7, 2025

Is It Time For A New Judging Format?

We have a modest proposal — a WSL head judge disagrees.

Jul 7, 2025

Luke Thompson Turns Last Year’s Priority Disaster Into Ballito Gold

+ earns himself a wildcard into Jbay.

Jul 7, 2025

Fiji Has Its First Professional Surfer, And He’s Unbelievable

16-year-old James Kusitino’s incomprehensible tube lounging leads to a deal with Former.

Jul 6, 2025

Laird Hamilton on The Limitations of Being a Purist, Invention vs. Ownership + Why He Never Had a Sticker Deal 

Untold stories from his How Surfers Get Paid interview.

Jul 4, 2025

When Surfer’s Eye Is Actually Cancer

Erin Campbell's brutal journey from surf camp dreams to chemo drops, cryotherapy, and surgical horror.

Jul 3, 2025

Surfing’s 2025 Q2 Report

An assessment of surfing's vital signs throughout the second quarter of 2025.

Jul 2, 2025

What Actually Happened to Occy’s Mad Max Plunger Pool In Yeppoon?

Surf Lakes’ brass talks: internet hecklers, the unplugging of the plunger, and the Tom Curren…

Jul 2, 2025

Poor Goofy Foots 

Data shows that the world is stacked against goofs — they even make 15% less money than…

Jul 1, 2025
Advertisement