Method
How this guide was built
The published table has 17 brands, 163 listings, and 111 model families. There are 154 dated prices, of which 139 are USD. 79 listings have a published maximum thickness. 34 research records were merged or left out.
What went into the table
The starting point was a research extract of manufacturer product pages checked on 8 November 2026, plus Orca collection pages read the same day and the Aquaman catalog edited in August 2026. The extract was not published raw. It held old stock, demos, duplicates, open-water items, and one paddleboard.
- Demos, final-sale units, and a paddleboard were removed.
- Youth suits, a swimrun suit, open-water suits that the page does not sell as triathlon suits, and buoyancy shorts were removed from the core table.
- Pages whose address carries 2021 or 2022, and year-stamped blueseventy pages from 2023 and 2024 where a current page exists, were removed.
- deboer Fjord 4.0 and Tidal were removed because those pages say Clearance and Sold out.
- Prior Quintana Roo HYDROfive and HYDROsix women's pages were removed. HYDROfive2 and HYDROsix2 stay.
- Colorways that share a name and a price were merged. Men and women stay as separate rows. They count as one family.
- IRONMAN x ROKA is not a second manufacturer. A store page that was not opened is not a second price.
Prices
Each price keeps the seller, the source URL, the check date, the currency, the variant note, and the stock state seen in the capture. The label is Brand price when the page shows a selling price and does not print MSRP. The label is MSRP only on Quintana Roo pages that print that word beside the price. A strikethrough or a Comp. Value is not called MSRP. XTERRA Comp. Value is excluded because the brand defines it as a comparison with other merchandise.
GBP and EUR amounts are never rewritten as USD. Zone3 pages list the same numeral in both USD and GBP. Only the USD offer is used. HUUB and Dare2Tri have no verified USD price in this set.
Weekly updates: edit the amount, the check date, and the note in data/models.json or data/prices.csv, then run python3 build.py. Do not type a number that you did not read on a page.
Specifications
A maximum thickness is recorded when the page states a maximum, states a range whose highest figure is at least 3 mm, or states two or more panel figures and the highest is at least 3 mm. A lone ankle panel, a 3:5 name, or a pair of thin shoulder figures does not become the maximum. Those suits stay off the scatter chart, and the page says why.
Materials are the names that appear on the page, such as Yamamoto or SCS. Buoyancy is described in the brand's terms. This guide does not invent a shared buoyancy score. Unknown fields say Not published.
Race rules, cited
Thickness and permission to wear a wetsuit are different questions. A thin suit can still be forbidden in warm water. A published panel figure is not a measurement of the finished suit, and it is not World Aquatics approval. World Aquatics keeps an approved-swimwear list. Being at or under 5 mm does not place a model on that list. The list is at worldaquatics.com/open-water/approved-swimwear.
USA Triathlon, rules dated 2026.01.01
Section 3.2.1b: a wetsuit may not exceed 5 mm anywhere. If it is made in two pieces, the combined thickness in the overlap may not exceed 5 mm. Section 3.2.1a sends the reader to section 3.4 for when a wetsuit may be worn. Source: USA Triathlon Multisport Competition Rules.
Section 3.4.1 uses different tables for different races. Do not apply the national-championship line to every local race.
| Swim length | Prohibited | Mandatory |
|---|---|---|
| 1500 m and shorter | 20.0 C (68.0 F) and above | 15.9 C (60.6 F) and below |
| Longer than 1500 m | 22.0 C (71.6 F) and above | 15.9 C (60.6 F) and below |
| Swim length | Prohibited | Mandatory |
|---|---|---|
| All distances | 24.6 C (76.2 F) and above | 15.9 C (60.6 F) and below |
| Status | Water temperature in the table |
|---|---|
| Prohibited | 84.0 F (28.9 C) and above |
| Allowed | 78.1 to 84.0 F (25.6 to 28.8 C) |
| Permitted | 60.7 to 78.0 F (16.0 to 25.5 C) |
| Mandatory | 60.6 F (15.9 C) and below |
The footnote on that table says athletes who wear a wetsuit in a competitive non-national age-group race at or above 78.0 F are not eligible for rankings or age-group awards unless a variance is permitted. The table's permitted band ends at 78.0 F, and the footnote also uses 78.0 F. The two lines do not describe the same result at that boundary. The Celsius and Fahrenheit endpoints are printed here as in the rule. This guide does not pick a winner. The event referee does. Section 3.4 also has a cold-air adjustment table when water is at or below 22.0 C and air is at or below 15.0 C. Use the PDF for that grid rather than a secondhand copy.
World Triathlon, 2026 rules file
Section 4.11 d (i): wetsuits cannot exceed 5 mm anywhere. Overlapping pieces together may not exceed 5 mm. A tolerance of 0.3 mm is allowed. Section 4.2 governs when a wetsuit is forbidden or mandatory. The file pages used here are dated 13 December 2025. Source: World Triathlon Competition Rules 2026.
| Swim length | Forbidden | Mandatory |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1500 m | 20 C and above | 15.9 C and below |
| 1501 m and longer | 22 C and above | 15.9 C and below |
| Swim length | Forbidden | Mandatory |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1500 m | 22 C and above | 15.9 C and below |
| 1501 m and longer | 24.6 C and above | 15.9 C and below |
| Swim length | Forbidden | Mandatory |
|---|---|---|
| All distances | 24.6 C and above | 15.9 C and below |
Section 4.4 adjusts the water temperature when water is at or below 22 C and air is at or below 15 C. The full grid is in the PDF.
January 2026 USA Triathlon equipment note
The variances file says buoyancy shorts are allowed at local sanctioned races and adaptive races. They are not allowed for elite, U23, development, national age-group championships, or World Triathlon qualifiers. The shorts may not extend below the top of the knee, the topline may not sit above the hips, and the thickness may not exceed 5 mm. Source: 2026 USAT swim rules variances. Buoyancy shorts are not in the suit table.
What this site does not do
It does not test suits. It does not rank a suit from a ride in open water. It does not infer a full thickness map from a marketing ratio. It does not label a suit FINA legal or World Aquatics approved from thickness alone.