I'll admit the timing of this post is highly suspect. In my last blog, I basically went off half-cocked about the new FS3 system and the havoc it may wreak on this coming championship season. You may not believe me about the sequence of events that followed. Later that day, I got a letter, dated January 12th. It was from blueseventy, offering me an advance trial of their new racing suit, the Nero XII. They offered to send me one, and although they didn't say it, I'm sure they hoped I would write about it in my blog. That's my first disclosure.
My second disclosure is that I am predisposed to like a blueseventy product. I loved the Nero racing suit (yes, the full body, now banned one) from 2008-2009. I was given one during my time at floswimming and I still wear it. I loved it for a lot of reasons- it was significantly faster than the LZR bodysuit and a lot easier to lay your hands on than a Jaked or Arena.
With that out of the way, let me cut to the chase: this suit kicks ass. With men's suits now reduced to textile jammers, there is a lot less room for variation from suit to suit. The two most important factors to me in a jammer these days are fit and compression. The Nero XII excels in both.
The first thing I noticed after putting the Nero XII on was how comfortable it felt. This is a family blog, I know, but just how good the fit was needs to be discussed. Every jammer I have ever swum in gave me the feeling that my crotch was being bisected. This suit doesn't feel that way, and made me question why jammers haven't always taken this into consideration.
Another aspect of jammer construction that has annoyed me in the past has been how tight they are around your knee. As a breaststroker, I felt like my range of motion was sometimes limited by the jammer grabbing at the back of my knee. The Nero XII was snug but didn't feel like it was inhibiting me at all. Again, I wondered why this wasn't always a consideration.
In terms of compression, I didn't measure my thighs before and after or anything but I definitely felt "compressed". Actually, the suit made me a little-self conscious because despite being comfortable to put on and not feeling too tight, wherever the suit ended I had considerable "muffin-topping".
I put the suit on as well as a dome cap and some racing goggles and set about warming up and doing some sprints. I train myself and don't have anyone to time me- but I was pleased with my results judging roughly from a digital pace clock.
Blueseventy didn't pay me anything to write this- just gave me a free suit. I'm going to race test the suit on one of my swimmers this weekend, so check the comment section for an update later!
Hey, blueseventy - I will write a positive blog comment if you send me one. Thx.
ReplyDeleteCHRIS YOU ARE A FREAKING SELL OUT!!
ReplyDeleteJust kidding. I got one too and you just beat me to the write up. Smart marketing in my opinion to send stuff to bloggers since we can't keep from blabbing about stuff.
I too am just floored with just how awesome this suit is. I am not sure what could be done to make a jammer any better. I guess maybe add the ability to pull it up to my belly button like the FS3... but then my muffin tops would be higher up. Not sure that would really help my self-confidence heading into a race.
One thing I have noticed about BlueSeventy products universally is the fit. There are a few girls on my team who have tried every suit out there and for a few of them BlueSeventy was the only one that didn't catch water at the neck line.
So, Chris... now that we have same gear: Isn't it time we got together to race a 100 breast?
hmmm ive come to the time where i need to buy a new suit for my championship meet this season and ive hit quite the conundrum. as of now i see three options: fs3, lzr, nero xii. but its really only 2 because im not about to pay a small fortune for "the system"... the lzr has worked for me very well in the past so im leaning towards it heavily. however after this write up about the nero i could be swayed. the lzr has always been very uncomfortable on the downstairs if you know what i mean. it often feels like it was made for a woman... if the nero is as good as youre saying it is i might switch. the one problem is that the nero is 100 dollars more expensive because i get a team discount on lzrs. thoughts?
ReplyDeleteI managed to get a good dialogue with a lady called Shay in the US office - shay@blueseventy.com
ReplyDeleteYou may get lucky there
what is "you may get lucky there" referring to?
ReplyDelete"you may get lucky there" as in getting a NeroXII for free?
ReplyDeleteCan't Wait to get this!! Bought one today after Conference I dropped 5 seconds in my hundred free!! imagine what this could do for me at state!!!
ReplyDeleteWhats your time?
DeleteIs there any feedback on the womens Nero xii?
DeleteI am looking at getting my 13 year old a second pair of blue seventy togs first pair didn't appear to last very long even thought we rinsed them after every race. maybe the Nero xii but for the average parent they are very expensive
ReplyDeleteBrought my son a second pair of blue seventys he used them at Div II in invercargill and he swum like super man 6 golds 4 silvers and 1 bronze 11 medals out of a possible 13 he said the togs where great wanted to get the more expensive one but couldnt afford them.(Nero xii)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review. I was one of those looking at jammers a long time ago but long track after a few years. Now I found one at a local store selling in my size and your review helped me make a decision ;-)
ReplyDelete