With last season’s Vanquish winning the prestigious BEST ON TEST award with a 92% rating from 220 Triathlon, Zone3 knew it was going to be hard to make a wetsuit any better. However…thanks to some cutting edge design and innovative thinking, Zone3 is very pleased to say that they feel the new Vanquish has no doubt become the leanest, meanest, fastest and best wetsuit for men..
Zone3 is pleased to announce that since writing this product description the largest triathlon magazine in the USA, TriathleteTM, has reviewed the new version of the Vanquish and has classified it with the BEST IN CLASS award for 2016 which is a groundbreaking achievement and shows the quality of this product.
The response from the top coaches and elite athletes who have tested the wetsuit has been overwhelming with many of them agreeing that the Vanquish takes performance and comfort to new levels and is incredibly fast. Zone3 founder, James Lock, has been creating wetsuits since he started the concepts for the brand in 2006 and proudly proclaims that this is the best wetsuit he has ever designed.
Over the last six years the Vanquish has made a name for itself with its extreme flexibility, maximum buoyancy and overall comfort. It’s become not only the choice of the elite athletes but also some of the most experienced, regardless of swim ability. Ironman distance athletes love the suit for its high levels of comfort and flexibility around the shoulders and Sprint/Olympic distance athletes for its speed and mega-buoyancy.
So much thought, design and testing has gone into this product that Zone3 feel that they have to tell you about every detail so it will be easier to feel the benefits when you start swimming with it.
 Design points and Materials:
The Zone3 wetsuit is designed to make sure the shoulder, arms, upper back and lats are as flexible as possible and then this is combined with some of the world’s most buoyant materials around the quads, hips and glutes. This is how it’s been achieved:
- Our highly praised ultra thin one-piece shoulder panel has now been extended from the middle of the chest to the centre of the back. You can see a flat-plan drawing of this panel to show you how much unrestricted flexibility the suit offers around the arms and shoulders. The extension of this area combined with the lack of seams make the suit extremely comfortable, allows for improved chest expansion and enables a higher elbow position in the water. As soon as you put this suit on you can feel the difference. The focus on ensuring maximum flexibility means you can increase your distance per stroke, conserve energy and minimize the risk of shoulder injuries. This panel is only 1.5mm thick and made with Yamamoto’s premium #40 SCS which is one of the lightest and highest stretch materials available.
- We have extended the area of this same high stretch fabric across the shoulder blades and from under the forearm down to the hip. This is the 2mm #39 Gunmetal SCS used under the arms you can see in our product photos. This material is very soft and is also highly flexible but at the same times helps to maintain the structure of the suit over an extended period of time. The panel design really helps to maximise the propulsion you can achieve with each stroke and ensures a fluid roll with each arm pull.
- New chest panel design continues the focused hip and core buoyancy up through the torso to the centre of the chest with 5mm Yamamoto Aerodome. This acts like a roll-bar to help promote the essential torso rotation between each stroke, aids in course sighting during the swim navigation and keeps up core body warmth.
The hip and core areas are made up from a combination of three different materials, each with a thickness of 5mm which is the maximum allowed under ITU rules. These panels are:
- NRB construction side panels designed to work in unison with the front leg panels. NBR is a super buoyant material which is commonly used in life jackets. This material is sandwiched between two layers of neoprene to ensure maximum lift in the water.
- Aerodome materials used on the front legs from the hips to the knees to help support the core leg muscles. This material is designed with air bubbles built between the fabric layers producing up to 30% more buoyancy than conventional neoprene.
- 39 cell SCS neoprene used on the glutes, again with a 5mm thickness.
The Vanquish is something Zone3 is very, very excited about. Zone3 put everything they know and love into the design and have leveraged physics to make it the fastest men’s tri suit possible. It makes use of some of the world’s highest performance materials and combines these with a thoroughly researched panel design to ensure maximum flexibility and balanced buoyancy.
If you have the opportunity to try this suit then we hope you like it as much as we do and hope that it can help you reach your goal whether that be getting ahead of the competition or simply enjoying your swimming more than ever.
Features:
- New ultra thin laser cut neck panel: Comfort is further maximized with our innovative new 1mm molded collar which is so soft and light you’ll be questioning whether you even have your wetsuit on! It allows a tighter fit on the body without feeling any discomfort around the neck. As soon as you try this unique design you may never want to wear any other wetsuit again.
- Sensory Catch Panel: Aeroforce fabric is used on the forearms to give an improved feeling and catch in the water. Rather than a traditional rubber fabric, the Vanquish uses a double layer of high performance, water repellent Lycra-based fabric. This firstly reduces arm fatigue, as there is not as much buoyancy resistance during the catch phases of the stroke, but also allows the swimmer to improve their efficiency in the water. No water can enter the suit but you will feel the coolness of the water on the forearm panel which helps to align your hand and forearm during the stroke to give more propulsion and also a more natural feeling swim. Ref#3
- Innovative Silk-Fit inner lining used on the body and legs to make the suit feel extremely comfortable next to the skin and also make putting the suit on easier than ever before.
- Aqua dynamic ‘SCS’ Nano coating applied to the neoprene meaning that there is almost no drag through the water.
- Our trademark Pro Speed CuffsTM on the arms and the legs for rapid removal after the swim to ensure the quickest transitions, saving you vital time on any course.
- Downwards YKK zipper making the suit easy to put on and take off but also with an upwards breakaway zip design available.
- Combining our recognized red cuffs with stylish graphite neoprene on the arms and gold and gunmetal tones for an exclusive look. A suit with the looks to live up to its legendary performance.