Friday, September 4, 2009

7th Product Review - QR Hydrofull







The Quintana Roo Hydrofull wetsuit is the first wetsuit, and for a time, only wetsuit with full sleeves I had swam in. I purchased the wetsuit in the fall of 2007 and the MSRP is ~$400. I have done 14 triathlons in this wetsuit and many open water and pool swims. The wetsuit fits well everywhere except around the neck and armpits, which I thought was normal having never worn a full wetsuit before. I found out it was not normal when I recently tried on a 2XU Velocity wetsuit and it fit perfectly, but was much more difficult to get on and off. I am a little disappointed in the fit of the QR, but it is acceptable. Before owning the Hydrofull I had a sleeveless QR wetsuit, the sleeveless made me appreciate a sleeved wetsuit much more. The sleeved wetsuit provides much better buoyancy and feels better in the water.
The QR is easy to get on and take off, and the break away zipper is fantastic. It is by far the best feature of the wetsuit. It works perfect and makes getting it off much faster. The break away zipper allows you to reach back with one hand, give the zipper a good solid yank upwards, and the zipper opens all the way down the back instantly. The QR wetsuit also has a feature known as a Virtual Pull Buoy (VPB). The VPB increases the buoyancy in the hips and thigh area, thereby reducing drag and fatigue.
The other issue I have had with this wetsuit is that after the third time wearing it the groin area ripped. It did not rip all the way through, just across the surface. Then recently it ripped again, near the previous rip. Again, not all the way through the suit, just across the surface. I tried to patch the original rip, but the location is bad and the patch does not hold.
When I buy another wetsuit I will definitely give QR a try, but I will also look at other wetsuits for comparison.

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