The best wetsuits you can buy

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The Insider Pick:

• The title of "best wetsuit" varies widely based on what you'll be doing in the water, so we've rounded up the best wetsuits for a variety of activities based on personal testing and recommendations from surfers, divers, and watersport enthusiasts.

• The O'Neill Psycho Tech Wetsuit Line is best for most people's wetsuit needs with its water-resistant neoprene material and top-notch stitching.

Apologies for being the bearer of bad news for those who long for endless summers spent in bikinis and board shorts, but wetsuit season is nearly upon us — at least in the more northern reaches of the northern hemisphere.

The good news for surfers is that so are the waves, along with cleaner, clearer water. And while I don’t exactly want to be elbow to eyeball with half of Gotham this fall and winter, I'll admit that fall may well the best time to find yourself swimming, surfing, diving, or whatever it is you like to find yourself doing in or under the water.

I tested a number of wetsuits, consulted with diving and surfing enthusiasts, and conducted much research to come up with a guide to the best wetsuits you can buy. But first, let's break down how to choose the right wetsuit for your needs.

Open cell vs. closed cell wetsuits

Apart from temperature, what you’ll be doing in or on the water is the other major deciding factor for which wetsuit is best for you. If you’re swimming or surfing, a floaty, hydrodynamic “closed cell” or single-piece suit is probably your best bet. These are either chest- or back-zipped and come in different sleeve and leg cuts.

But if you're diving, a closed cell wetsuit allows too much water flow between it and your skin. You'll find yourself feeling stiff, and probably cold, too, and stiff and cold are never good signs for the living. An "open cell" wetsuit provides suction between the skin and suit that's nearly watertight. While these things are a pain to get in and out of (Tip: If you use a little eco-friendly dish soap and it will be much easier), they keep you much warmer and allow for much greater flexibility underwater.

Closed cell suits usually don't have zippers apart from the wrist and leg cuffs, but closed cells come in a variety of different zipper configurations. Some manufacturers are starting to develop zipperless models, which could eliminate zippers altogether — at least on more expensive suits.

Wetsuit designs vary based on zipper placement

• Back-zip suit: Back-zip wetsuits are the original design, and almost always cheaper than chest-zip or zipper-less suits. They’re fine for swimming in temperate waters on relatively warm days, but I’ve found that having cool water seep down your back on a chillier day — or in the middle of winter, for that matter — can be miserable.
• Chest-zip suit: Usually more expensive, chest-zip wetsuits tend to keep you warmer thanks to a smaller, well-protected zipper that sits on the front of the suit. This also makes them the most difficult to get in and out of, but, overall, we think they’re worth it. They tend to last longer, and some even allow for the neck piece to be replaced, which is often the first thing to wear and tear on a wetsuit.
• Zipperless: I haven’t yet tried out a zipperless wetsuit, though I’ve been hearing positive buzz about O’Neill’s Hyperfreak Comp zipless model. It would be more of a performance suit than most require, and it's hard to say whether the lack of a zipper will, in turn, stretch the suit more or keep us warmer, but we will see how they fare over time and update this guide with our findings.

Wetsuit thickness and temperature rating is key

Wetsuit thickness is measured in millimeters, and the core is most often thicker than the extremities to keep your body temperature up while allowing for more mobility in the arms and legs. This is why you’ll see two — or sometimes three — numbers, listing the core’s thickness first (e.g., 3/2, or 4/3/2).

Temperature rating corresponds with thickness, for the most part, but varies some from company to company and material to material, but here’s a basic rule of thumb:

• Mid 60s to low 70s: 2 mm
• Low 60s to high 60s: 3/2 mm
• Low 50s to low 60s: 4/3 mm, or 4/3/2 mm
• Low to high 40s: 5/4 mm, or 5/4/3 mm
• Low to mid 40s, high 30s: 6/5 mm or 6/5/4 mm
• Upper 30s and below: While a good 6/5- or 6/5/4-millimeter suit can do you well in the upper 30s, it’s tough to stand it any colder. There are 7/6- and 7/6/5-millimeter wetsuits, but they become impedingly stiff at that point. A good 6/5 or 6/5/4 with hood, boots, and gloves will take care of most of us through winter.

Sizing can be tricky and varies widely

Size charts vary from company to company, so make sure to have a look at the chart to be sure of which one will fit you best. Unless you get a custom suit, none are likely to fit you perfectly, but you should be able to get close enough.

Stitching and seams are vitally important

Not all wetsuits are created equal, and while most are made of neoprene — and come from the same factory in Taiwan, despite different brand names — it’s the stitching and seams that make all the difference.

• Overlock stitching: This is the most basic stitching, and it will let water flow through your suit like Victoria Falls. Okay, not really, but I save these cheap suits for spring and summer, or when it’s not exactly board-short temperature, but a constant flush is actually refreshing.
• Flat stitching: This is probably a little fancier than the stitching they taught you in Home Economics class. By no means is it watertight, but it lies flatter and holds up better than basic overlock stitching.
• Blindstitching: Blindstitched suits have even narrower stitching than flat-stitched ones, and the seams are usually glued, which does a pretty good job of preventing water seepage.
• Sealed, taped, glued: This is a definitive step up, and usually what you'll find with blindstitched suits. Once you get into blindstitching, you start to notice that very little water seeps through your suit, and you stay relatively dry inside. The best of these suits are also sealed and taped both inside and out, but the full combination is where suits start to get above the $500 price tag, which isn’t crucial for most. Still, if you plan to be surfing in sub 55-degree Fahrenheit temps, we highly recommend forking over the extra dough.

Here are our top picks for the best wetsuits you can buy:

• Best wetsuit overall: O'Neill Psycho Tech Wetsuit Line
• Best wetsuit on a budget: VISSLA 7 Seas and Rip Curl's Dawn patrol Line
• Best non-neoprene wetsuit: Patagonia wetsuits for men and women
• Best wetsuit for paddle sports: O'Neill O'Riginal Wetsuit Line 
• How to choose a diving wetsuit
• How to take care of your wetsuit

Read on in the slides below to check out our top picks.

The best wetsuit for most scenarios

Why you'll love it: The O'Neill Psycho Tech is made with water-resistant neoprene to keep it from retaining water, and its top-notch stitching makes it almost watertight.

O'Neill's Psycho Tech is the kind of cozy, stretchy, almost watertight suit that becomes oh-so-precious to cold-water surfers when winter storms roll through and leaky seams threaten to end surf sessions early.

If there's one company I'd put all my good faith in keeping me from the wrath of hypothermia, it's the late, lauded laureate and godfather of the modern wetsuit, Jack O'Neill.

O'Neill puts a lot of money into research and design, and while the US military doesn't exactly endorse or use any one wetsuit, they've frequently sent personnel out in O'Neill suits. That alone may or may not speak volumes to you, but the US military is not known to be one to skimp on matters of national security.

This wetsuit is flexible, and I've found it to hold up in temperatures considerably lower than their rating. My old Psycho II model from 2009, which saw heavy service through 2010 and has seen service in most of the years since, is still, shockingly, in pretty darn good shape. The new Psychos are miles ahead, but there aren't enough problems or even one single tear in my suit that warrant my tossing it out just yet.

Cleanline Surf, the Pacific Northwest's coldwater surf aficionados, called the Psycho Tech "the pinnacle of wetsuit technology and performance" just this spring (2018). The site went on to taut it for being lightweight, warm, durable, and flexible, and I don't disagree. Also, the "TechnoButter" neoprene rejects water so well that it stays light even when wet, and it dries much faster than most suits.

A happy customer from Backcountry who claims to have put the Psycho Tech"through the wringer" calls it "super duper stretchy and soft," and even better than the previous Psycho Tech model.

Sure, you can arguably find more technical and ecologically-responsible wetsuit manufacturers like Matuse, and you can order custom suits from what I'd venture to call boutique outlets like Axxe and Imperial Motions, but they're much, much more expensive, and won't necessarily last longer. They will, however, almost certainly fit better, if after a few tweaks.

Pros: Warm, almost watertight stitching, lightweight, quick-drying

Cons: A little pricey

Buy the O'Neill Psycho Tech with F.U.Z.E. chest zipper at Backcountry for $264.12 and up (depending on thickness)

The best budget wetsuit

Why you'll love it: VISSLA's 7 Seas is economical but doesn't cut any corners to deliver a functional wetsuit at a fair price. Rip Curl's Dawn Patrol suits for women are equally great and affordable.

I tried VISSLA’s 7 Seas model in New York this late spring and was hot in the 3/2-millimeter full suit. That’s a good sign. I also caught up with an old friend on Montauk who’s in his third season with the same model, which is as much as most people ask of even a luxury suit. That was good enough for me.

It fit me exceptionally well, which is a shock because I’m six feet tall, generally stay shy of 160 pounds, and almost no company designs standard suits sized for stick-figured string beans like me.

The seams are held together by double blind-stitching and taped three times over, which somewhere around five years ago was unthinkable for a suit under $200. Matter-of-factly, this suit is designed in much the same way one of my nicer suits from about 10 years ago was, only that one cost me about twice as much. The suit's also backed by respective 1-year warranties for both the neoprene and the stitching.

Surf-centric site The Inertia reviewed and lauded the VISSLA 7 Seas, concluding that it’d be hard to find a better mix of sex appeal,” — they’re a zealous bunch, but I'll editorialize here and second that it is a pretty handsome-looking suit — “comfort and utility, so long as the suit is warm enough for where you’re surfing.”

Although the neoprene retains water and gets heavy, the suit is remarkably stretchy — maybe stretchier than Patagonia’s Yulex suits — and the wrist gaskets that are located a few inches above the cuff really kept water from getting up my sleeves and slowing my paddling. Further, taking water up the sleeves in fall or winter is shockingly chilling.

I also liked the fuzzy lining, which is akin to Patagonia’s, but, again, this suit is less than half the price (at the time of this publishing). While Patagonia’s suits are nice, and I love mine, I don’t see any need to step up unless you really feel like spending the extra money or you're going to be surfing in exceptionally cold waters where you'll probably want the best technology you can get.

Unfortunately, VISSLA is not manufacturing wetsuits for women yet — the sister company is underway — so we'll have to steer you elsewhere for now. Rip Curl's Dawn Patrol suits are extremely flexible, thoroughly stitched, taped, and glued, and very reasonably priced.

Rip Curl's Dawn Patrol suit has been a bestseller for several years and being blindstitched, glued, and taped for under $200 certainly hasn't hurt its reputation. It also comes in both men's and women's designs, but, I must make a full disclosure: I've never owned one, though I've envied them from close and afar over the years. 

Pros: Price tag, sleeve gaskets, stitching and gluing, 1-year warranty

Cons: Neoprene retains water and gets a little heavy

Buy the VISSLA 7 Seas from Backcountry for $139.96-$199.95

Buy Rip Curl's Dawn Patrol suit in a 3/2-mm Chest-Zip model for $159.96

Shop Rip Curl's Dawn Patrol Line on Backcountry

The best non-neoprene wetsuit

Why you'll love it: There are other non-neoprene suits emerging on the market, but my Patagonia suits have lasted through a lot, and it will take a lot for another suit to knock them off their throne.

Patagonia's first round of suits got a pass from me because, while the lambswool-lined inside was plush, I noticed that after a few sessions, my friends' nice new suits were really starting to reek. As much as I like the idea of a natural liner to reduce the amount of neoprene used, the smell was enough to rattle my eco-conscious inner hippie and keep me away from these suits.

The next round of suits was made by a biochemical company called Yulex, which makes neoprene from the guayule plant, a hardy shrub native to the Southwestern United States that's used to make rubber that is both renewable and almost chemical-free. It also has a fuzzy synthetic liner that works wonders and makes me feel like I'm warmer. It also makes the inside of the suit feel silky smooth.

Patagonia has now introduced yet another generation with new patterning intended for "improved fit and increased mobility." Yulex's brand of rubber has gotten a reputation among wetsuit users as being stiff compared with neoprene, which is generally not a good thing for the water enthusiast. The company is now using water-based glue, eliminating the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that have been used for decades. The new suit also includes solution-dyed fabrics that reduce water consumption and CO2 emissions by 86% and 96% respectively.

Of course, as goes with the Patagonia story, everything is Fair Trade Certified, and you'll also get Patagonia's Ironclad Guarantee, so if you're not thrilled with your new suit, you can send it back.

This new round of suits just came out at the time of this writing, and there aren't any customer reviews yet. I'm also still waiting to try the suit, and while I'd still stand by the last generation, I'll put my good faith in Patagonia's favor until I get my chance this fall — we'll update on findings when I do.

What might excite me most about this suit is that, although Patagonia hasn't made the leap to zipperless suits, the corrosion-resistant zipper on this suit is now actually replaceable, so if it wears out before the wetsuit does, you can extend its life a little longer. This is great news, because oftentimes the collar or zipper area is the first thing to wear out on a wetsuit.

Learn more about Patagonia and Yulex's bio-rubber here.

Pros: Long-lasting (as long as if not longer than most neoprene suits), neoprene-free, almost petroleum-free, very warm, so you can often get away with a thinner suit

Cons: Not cheap, maybe a little stiffer than neoprene suits

Shop Patagonia's new men's wetsuit line at Patagonia

Shop Patagonia's new women's wetsuit line at Patagonia