Climax Wetsuit by Peak

The Suit

We tested the 4/3mm Climax back zip suit. The material used for the suit is what Peak calls alphastretch which allows for improved stretch at the extremities. The suit is also taped at the seams on the outside of the suit along the chest and arms. The inside chest area material is lined with thermofoam which is designed to retain warmth. Finally, the suit has an inner neck collar designed to further seal the body from any water seeping through the neck.

Fitting - Going Out

Putting on the suit is easy, as the material slides easily over the skin. The suit does run a little tight at the shoulders for those with broad shoulders. Once you get the suit around your shoulders you'll have to reach back and pull the inner neck collar over your head. Unfortunately the neck collar gets rolled up on your back when you put the suit on and becomes a pain to get a hold off (same design as the bat wing on the F-Bomb by Ripcurl). Fortunately, the zipper leash is attached to neck collar. So you can get a hold of your leash and pull out the rolled up collar. You can also use the leash to pull up the neck collar in the same manner you'd pull up the leash on a traditional wetsuit. To zip up the back you'll have to reach behind your head and pull up on the loop.

Once zipped up the suit is tight around the wrists and ankles. However the suit does have some spacing around the neck if you have broad shoulders.

Removing

The material of the suit sticks to the skin which makes taking off more challenging. Luckily, the stretch of the suit does help in the removal process. The looped zipper leash is also shorter in length than most other suit leashes. That means you'll have to really stretch your shoulder to get a hold of it (but you should be flexible enough, right?).

In the Water

The Climax is water tight and stays water tight throughout the session. There was never a point where I felt water seeping through the material or the seams of the suit. The suit material is also very warm. In 55-45F, only your hands and feet get cold/numb. The rest of your body retains its warmth. The inner chest lining also does a great job at keeping the core warm. Unfortunately, water seeps in through the neck when you duck dive. But the inner collar stops the water from reaching your core. The other downside is the seam on the inner collar. It rubs against your neck, which after 2 hours starts to irritate the skin.

The Climax also has plenty of stretch and it's relatively lightweight. Thus qualifying the Climax as a top of line suit, that is, unless you like resistance training with your surfing. The stretch is on par with other top suits on the market. With the Climax, you won't have to sacrifice warmth for performance.

I cannot attest to the durability of the Climax since I've only tested it for a couple months. But the short, 6 month warranty on the suit isn't very encouraging. However, I can say that after 2 months of weekly use, I haven't seen any sort of material or seam degradation.

The Climax by Peak is a great wetsuit with warmth and performance. So why chose this one over the other top wetsuits? The price. The Climax is almost half the price of other top suits on the market. Peak is an Australian company so US surfers will have to ship their suits across the Pacific. Luckily, with the current exchange rate, even with the shipping cost the Climax is a steal.