x2 for Island Longboards. It is good to have the opportunity to try on several suits. I finally found a suit that fits me well there...ST...I didn't know there was such a size for us scrawny people. The new super stretch neoprene is an excellent improvement over previous rubber: much easier on and off and warmer due to less flushing.

My experience:

Npx assassin: so awesome I immediately bought another, lasted3+ years heavy use, sold and probably still decent summer suit. #2 awesome fit but holed easily, leaked almost immediately, fell apart as all seams failed #3 went for the
Npx Zealot, (on warranty return i got a whopping 20 off from silent sports, yay) much better and also super to get on/off, in between the two for wearing, the hood seal sucked right away and eventually peeled off completely, hard to not keep buying it cuz it fits and feels so great

Promotion: heavy suit that had soft material, every snag ended in a hole; took it for repairs 1yr into it which were reluctantly done but got 2 more years, some zipper issues car coming off, warm and decent suit, tried on newer ones and their sizing was way smaller, Apparently suits made offshore tend to be at least one size smaller as they try to save material, done with them

Hotline semi dry: almost died trying the front zip, size XL is actually a M or the sucka shrunk in the box, returned

Surf and Pyro OR were well made suits, didn't seal well for pyro, lost 20lbs putting surf on and another 10 taking it off, I hear it has improved, drysuit not my thing, cannot swim in either

Ion suits a bitch to get on, put it back right off

Island longboard excel new suit fit jellyfish so sloppy it leaked via zipper like a sieve, ok summer suit

Years ago suits seemed to last a lot longer. Newer suits fit better and appear to be warmer but fall apart more easily. Also if you get it on sale it's probably been on the rack for three years and it's worth nothing.

Tried the Patagonia wool lined suits, horrible to get into but so warm u can probably paddle in the arctic for a few days, way too hot for me

Guess I'll go back to Npx and hope it ain't a close out hope that helps, probably not I suppose

KUS wrote:My experience:


...Tried the Patagonia wool lined suits, horrible to get into but so warm u can probably paddle in the arctic for a few days, way too hot for me...

I sprung for an R4 Pattagucci last season and interestingly find it the easiest suit to don or doff I've owned (first time I've had the chance to write "don" and "doff" - sweet!). The fit and flexibility is comparable to other high end suits, they are more eco friendly (they don't force-feed the suits to baby dolphins or something) but best of all they are SUPER TOASTY like Kus says. Too warm in fact if it isn't Dec-Mar. An R3 would be better suited to the rest of the year. The O'neil suits tend to fit me best (lanky dad-bod), but the 5.5mm Psycho Freak I owned was like trying to get out of somesort of rear naked MMA choke hold. It always killed my stoke getting out of it. Love the O'neil mutants though.

Another wetsuit idea, not as warm, but plenty form fitting:
http://www.kitesista.com/none-of-these- ... bodypaint/

Not sure about a "dad bod" edition though. <shudder>