Stab Magazine | These Are The World's Best Wetsuits
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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!

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