My first impression of the Ironman Stealth full suit when lifting it out of the box is its minimal weight. Compared to my 6-year-old, no-brand-name sleeveless wetsuit, the Stealth felt practically weightless. It turns out to weigh about 1/4 pound less, despite the additional coverage.

The Stealth is a very good looking, top-of-the-line wetsuit with all the bells and whistles.  It features “aqua-grip” forearm panels, a quick-release collar and full SCS rubber throughout - the slipperiest rubber around.  And, of course, Ironman’s proprietary VO2 back panels - all very hi-tech.

According to the sizing charts on IronmanWetsuits.com, I was either a SMT (Slim/Tall) or an M (Medium). I ended up with the SMT, which was a bit of a mistake; this size is definitely meant for people with a slim build - or at least slimmer than me! Ten minutes of struggling, pulling and twisting finally got me into the suit, feeling vaguely like 10 pounds of potatoes stuffed into an 8-pound sack.

Given the tight fit, it is a real testament to the quality and make of this wetsuit that I felt very little constriction while swimming. The arms are very flexible and the neck did not chafe at all. My flip turns were constrained a bit as I had trouble getting into a good ball for the flip.  I'm willing to bet that I would not have had this trouble in the medium size.

What I did feel was how buoyant the Stealth is, particularly through the legs. I immediately felt like I was popping along the top of the water like a June bug. As this practice session was in an indoor pool, I also quickly found that the VO2 technology released stored up heat through the back of the suit surprisingly well.

Here are the results from my comparison test between using the wetsuit and not using it.

An average of almost 15% faster is amazing for a product that does not have a propeller. While wearing this suit I can maintain my normal 8/10’s pace at 4/10’s effort - talk about not burning your candles too early!

Finally, I found that the suit was much easier to strip off than put on, even with the tight fit, which is of real benefit when trying to save those vital seconds in T1. One nice feature is that the suit even looks cool inside out, with a large embroidered "Stealth" on the inside panel. Hey, when you spend this much on a wetsuit, you want people to know what it is!

So, it seems pretty obvious that a wetsuit is a very worthwhile purchase. The big question, though, is whether a top-of-the-line wetsuit (from ANY manufacturer) is worth the $400-$500 that they cost, when you can get a very good wetsuit one level down for roughly $150 less. Kevin is in the process of reviewing the Instinct, the cheaper brother of the Ironman Stealth, and my bet is that the performance difference will be minimal.

To attempt to prove this theory, I ran the same test with my $60 sleeveless Taiwanese wetsuit. Here is the same table, with the new times and percentages added.

Effort Level	Distance (yards)	Description	No Wetsuit Time	Stealth Wetsuit	No-Name Wetsuit	None vs. Stealth	None vs. No-Name	No-Name vs. Stealth
5	250	Warm-up	4:36	3:55	4:01	15%	13%	2%
2	100	Slow. Drill Speed.	2:03	1:51	1:51	10%	10%	0%
4	100	Easy pace. Concentration on form.	1:56	1:37	1:41	16%	13%	4%
6	100	Race pace for 1+ miles.	1:45	1:31	1:33	13%	11%	2%
8	100	Race pace for 400-500 yards.	1:36	1:21	1:28	16%	8%	8%
10	100	Full 100 yard sprint.	1:18	1:12	1:15	8%	4%	4%

I noticed several differences between the suits:

• I felt more balanced in the water with the Stealth.
• Very little water got into the Stealth wetsuit, versus LOTS with the no-name-brand.
• The time differences increased as the effort level and speed increased, showing the importance of slippery rubber.
• The seal around the neck of the Stealth was easier to open and easier to find when taking it off.

Of course, there's more to owning the "best" than the pure performance. Ultimately, the question of which to buy will have to be answered individually. Whichever way you go, the Ironman line of wetsuits is hard to beat.