This product review will pertain to the new line of water polo suits on the market, S&R Sport’s Infinity Suit. S&R Sport has been a distributor for the water polo community for many years, and now they have taken up the roll for the first time as a supplier with their own new line of water polo suits, the Infinity. I have been using this suit for two (2) months, for five (5) days per week, for one (1) hour per day. The suit is given a fresh water rinse, squeeze (not a wringing) of excess water, and stored in the mesh pocket of my bag following all of the workouts. These are my observations of this suit.
From the Company: As stated from their web-site, “S&R Sport’s Inifinity suits are made from the bullet-proof Speekline fabric. Our team has designed the most durable, yet comfortable suit on the market.” The suit tag reads that this product is made of 53% polyester and 47% PBT. It is a double layered suit with a white liner suit on the inside and the decaled shell on the outside.
Ordering: This was a suit that was “off the shelf” with no custom graphics at all, so it was readily available from the web site through their on-line ordering system using a credit card. Ordering was simple, straight forward, and with no problems. The suit arrived within a week after placing the order. Again, this was an “off the shelf” model, so there was no special order wait time for customizing. Furthermore, I was told by the company representative that custom suit designs are not done for individual suits and are only done for team orders. That being said, S&R Sport has an artist on staff to work with the team to make your suit design as elaborate as you want it. They are willing to go through several iterations with your suit design, and you, the customer, can be as strict or as loose with the artist’s input as you want. Anything from conceptual conversation to handing over artwork to them, S&R Sport will work to get you the design that you are looking for. In conversation with an S&R Representative, custom suit orders are being quoted at 4 to 5 weeks for delivery and this does include working out the artwork. So, once you have sizes and quantity, your order enters into the processing cue for fabrication. There is lag time between ordering and production and it is this time that artwork can be managed and finalized. Simply put, you don’t have to have your artwork finalized before you enter the ordering cue. When I ordered, the Beast and Demon styles were their newest designs on the line, and I am drawn toward crazy designs. Also, all of the other stock designs that they offer are S&R Sport originals. When talking with a friend who was in the market for a new suit, I pointed him to the Infinity suit, but he wasn’t interested because S&R doesn’t stock solid colored suits in their Infinity Suit line. So while S&R does offer many different suit graphics, you can’t get a solid colored suit at this time, and it is unknown as to whether they will opt to carry solid colored suits or not in the future. All in all, I was rather pleased with the ordering process and timely arrival of the product.
Fit & Construction: This is a well built suit. And while this suit is listed as a euro cut suit, the S&R representative said that this suit is actually an S&R custom design, that while it started with the standard euro cut and then went through a series of performance tests with S&R staff looking for the right feel and fit for a suit. During those tests, S&R added small amounts of suit material on several lines of the cut to give added coverage while not compromising the performance of a “water polo suit.” I was able to wear this suit directly over a standard euro cut suit, and the additional material isn’t much and is barely noticeable. There is some added material going down the bottom of the suit leg holes making a slightly wider side bar of the suit as it wraps down the rear as well as a very minimal amount through the crotch of the suit. All in all, it was a good fit and feel for the suit. The suit offers standard suit fabrication stitching while minimizing stitch lines, going around the waste, the legs, and down the middle of the side panel. Less stitch lines offers less areas for failure down the line. The material is a heavy duty, thick, polyester/PBT material which should offer a good lifecycle for the suit. The drawstring is like a braded shoelace with no core complete with aglets (thanks “Phineas and Ferb”).
Out of the Box & Performance: What a nice fit. Right out of the box, the colors of the suit were vibrant and the design was sharp. There were two loose strings on the inside of the waste and one loose sting on one of the legs for the stitching, however, after a couple months of usage, there has been no change in the condition of either of the stitch strings.
When I put it on for the first time, it was a good comfortable fit. I normally get a suit size that is about 1 size lower than my jeans size (of which I hover between two sizes, so I went one size lower than the smaller size I am). So, when it came to the fit, it was good. But when I brought it into the pool, I noticed something. There is a certain level of “grabability” with this suit at this size. The suit fits flats, with no noticeable wrinkles or folds, and the material is heavy, and it is a bit slick, so it will take some effort to grab but there is still the potential. If this is going to be your game suit, I recommend going another size smaller. Keep in mind, going with a smaller and snugger suit is typical with a lot of water polo players.
I have used this suit in several different aspects of training, including road bike riding, spinning, running, weight lifting, as well as swimming, with each training session lasting 1 hour, and utilizing several of the disciplines listed, and it has held its shape and fit with no problems throughout. Many suits using lycra and spandex, have the tendency to wear out in certain areas sooner under such conditions, however, this suit still holds true to shape, build, and material integrity.
With the suits that I have used, I have come to find that the polyester/PBT blended suits will last for a long time. That being said, I expect the suit material to last for a while, even a couple of years, so the true test for this suit will be how the stitching and seams hold up over time. The material, when handled properly can last for several years. Keeping this in mind, my post workout suit handling includes a freshwater rinse followed by squeezing the excess water from the suit, throwing it in a “suit spinner” to get rid of the rest of the water in the suit, and throwing it in the mesh pocket of my back.
Cost and Value: The Infinity suit is available for $35 plus shipping. This price puts them pretty much in line for the material that you are getting and stock designs (remember no solid colors available). So where is the value? First, it’s the material. This is a polyester/PBT blended material, which should last for a very long time. How long? Based on previous products using the poly/PBT blend material, you can expect this suit to last upwards of ten times longer than a standard lycra, spandex, or blended fabric using either of these two materials. You do the math, even with a bargain basement suit at $10, you could be spending upwards of $100 in lycra suits and having them all die before this suit hits its anticipated life cycle. Even if you are looking at the growing youth water polo player, you can still look at using this suit for a full year before possibly having to go up in size, and have your investment be a wash with the confidence in knowing that you won’t run into a mid-game suit failure. In short, this suit is worth the money in the long run, whether it be for a practice suit, competition suit, or a combination of both for the Master’s players.
Conclusion: Testing is still in the infancy stages for this suit, however, we have common players in the game. The polyester/PBT blended material that makes up both layers of the suit are a tried and proven product that is built to last. The stitching is a standard type of stitch that is common among competition suits of all types. In short, I see no reason why this suit shouldn’t last for a very long time. It’s priced right for the market. Don’t be afraid to go a little smaller on the suit size to reduce the possibility of the suit grabs during play. My recommendation is two sizes smaller than your jeans size (that is, if you wear jeans to fit and not “on the ground”). For team custom orders you can expect to have delivery times between 4 to 6 weeks, so keep that in mind both when preparing your order and working with S&R Sport on your custom suit design, and there is an additional charge for this custom artwork ($30 for the entire order). But with the artistic assistance and input you are getting, it’s worth the additional charge.
Finally, this is a suit that I feel works for ALL age groups for water polo, both for training and competition. It’s priced right and you’re going to get great life from the product. S&R Sport has entered the suit market with a true competitor with the Infinity suit product. Don’t be afraid of the new. While they haven’t recreated the wheel, they have offered a redesign that I think hits the target on many levels. Even though it’s early in the anticipated life of the suit, I see no reason to shy away from the Infinity. This is a very good product that will make a lot of water polo players happy.
Disclaimer: The Product Testing Department of Water Polo Planet is not sponsored nor a paid endorser of any products tested and/or reviewed; nor do we have any affiliation or relationship with the supplier of a product being reviewed. Our goal is to provide our readers with details they may find helpful when looking for products for their particular needs.
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