Orca RS1 Swimrun Wetsuit Review

Welcome to Gear Talk with our friends Annie and Brooke from Swimrun Labs. This week we have a special guest to help us with this week’s review: Marcus Barton.

In this episode we have a long-awaited wetsuit review. We were finally able to get to test the “new” Orca RS1 Swimrun Wetsuit thanks to Marcus who owned one and he and Chris shared their unfiltered thoughts after testing it.

The complete review is coming later in the show.

Gear Updates

Both Brooke and Annie were (finally) convinced by Chris to buy the Surf Ears 3.0 ear plugs and both thought that they were a game changer.

Chipper has been training in the Ark Sports VIGG leading up to Ödyssey Swimrun Austin. He’s loving it but did experience some chaffing around the neckline.

Chris recently picked up a pair of the new Adidas Terrex Speed Pro Trail running shoes through one of his hookups. They haven’t been tested yet but out of the box they are pretty minimal, appear to have excellent drainage, and grip on the soles. Full review coming soon.

Guest Gear Review

Thank you to Adam and Matthew of Team Jersey Buoys for the guest review! Adam recently tried an UTTER brand swimrun wetsuit for their Orcas race a few weeks back. He didn’t share a lot of details but thought it was a great suit.

Untethered Thoughts

Brooke has felt very untethered this past year due to COVID and training pretty much in isolation. She was in pure Swimrun bliss to be able to be at Orcas Island and feel the energy of everyone at the race. She was worried about her passion for the sport but it has been renewed and we are all happy for that!

Shout Out

We wanted to give a special shout out to our friend Adrian Cameron for sharing with us some major details about how he’s been testing shoes for Swimrun. We will be giving his special spreadsheet it’s own episode but we wanted to make sure to thank him for sharing the knowledge before we unpack his spreadsheet.

Orca RS1 Swimrun Wetsuit Review

It was great to have Marcus who has a lot of experience using Orca suits and, other than Chris, is the only one to have used/tested the suit.

The RS1 retails for $499 and it is Orca’s top-of-the-line suit. Orca website describes the RS1 as being designed using the latest innovations for this suit and claims that it was created for Swimrunners by Swimrunners. The suit comes in men’s and women’s sizes. (We were all disappointed that the women’s suits only came in 5 sizes while the men’s suits came in 9 sizes. Thanks to Swimrun Labs for pointing this out.)

The most interesting innovation of the suit is “revolutionary vest-like” construction on the upper that opens like a, uhm...vest. It makes the wetsuit very easy to put on and cab down and we were curious to see how it would hold up during a Swimrun.

Swimming Impressions

Marcus thought that the suit performed well in the water. There was some water that would get in the front from the bottom of the vest-like upper. He thought that suit was a bit on the warm side and good for cold races.

Chris thought that the suit was almost too buoyant. It worked well in cold water because the material was a bit thicker than other suits that other high-end suits use. He thought that the material in the shoulders was a bit thicker than he would have liked.

Transition Impressions

Chris and Marcus agreed that cabbing down is super easy to do solo but there was a lot of material flowing around once it was at the waist. Marcus said it was akin to wearing a cape. Cabbing up was a bit tougher to get the zipper teeth lined up while running. This could be even tougher with cold hands.

Marcus noticed that there was a potential issue when exiting the water that it was possible to create a bunching in the front of the suit and it would create a gap and suck in water while trying to stand up. Marcus’s partner Caleb mentioned that during Casco Bay a few years back that he would get sand in his suit from the water going in. (“A negative pressure syphon.” -- Anne Molsberry)

Running Impressions

Chris thought that the suit was pretty hot to run in because the back panel was pretty thick. The bottoms were pretty thick and the pockets in the front were pretty worthless. He did like where the seams were placed in the crotch area and it was super comfortable.

Marcus agreed that the legs of the RS1 are too thick and could fatigue your hips on a long race. The pockets in the front weren’t well designed and it was possible to lose gels or other stuff due to the placement.

Pull Buoy Rankings Rankings

Marcus 2.5 Pull Buoys

Marcus thought that the vest-like upper was a “neat” idea but it didn’t just didn’t seem to fit. For a high-end suit, he would have expected much more flexibility in the shoulder. He also got chaffing around the neck every time he used it.

Chris 2 Pull Buoys

Chris was very disappointed with the suit. For the price point, not worth the money. He expected more tech for the price point. The internal pockets on the front waistband were worthless. The lower half of the suit was non-smooth neoprene and didn’t feel particularly better than the Synergy entry-level suit and would have expected a thinner material. The internal pockets in the front thighs for extra buoyancy pads seemed unnecessary given how thick the bottoms were. Finally, he would rather use an entry-level Ark Sports KORP or a Synergy Swimrun Wetsuit over this suit any day of the week and on race day.

Overall Impressions

We were definitely bummed that the 3rd generation of the RS1 missed the mark. For the price point, we expected much more technology and better/thinner materials. Ultimately, the vest-like top/cab down feature, while clever, is not enough to save this suit.

That’s it for this week’s Gear Talk show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions, and/or meme ideas. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.