This suit is one of the older arena suits released shortly after Rio, its hard to find the pool version these days, but the openwater version is still widely on sale. This review has been written by Aisling O’Connell.

I’ve been competing most of my life and tried many different suits although I find this to be one of my favourites. As a person who swims a lot of long distance freestyle this suit is perfect for me partially because I’m not a fan of tight suits as it hurts my shoulders before I’ve even gotten into the water. I have had two R-evo suits, my first one lasted about 3.5 years with being properly taken care of and my previous one lasted about 6 months. The suit has been unfortunately discontinued by arena but is available to buy from smaller businesses that sell swim gear (which is how I got my current one). The suit is made from 78% polyamid and 22% elastane and uses tape instead of stitching to have the pieces come together.
Do I recommend this suit?

I would recommend it to people starting to do competitions more and more frequently or as a suit for events that aren’t your best. This suit is an intermediate level suit so I wouldn’t suggest using this as your best one but more as a backup or one to start competitive swimming with. For sprinters I don’t think this suit is for you because it’s not tight and I don’t think it has as much water resistance as say a core fx. For long distance swimmers I recommend it because I think it’s reasonable price wise for the amount you will be swimming but I also think it’s a reasonable replacement instead of using an air2. Although if you are able to withstand suits that are tighter you should absolutely go for a tighter suit, this is because the main reason for me liking this suit is because it isn’t tight. Although my only problem with the suit is how it broke. Even though the first suit managed to last me quite a long time, the second one broke so quickly which makes me sceptical on how durable it is. To be fair, it was used at least 5-8 times a month whereas in the previous was used a lot less. Both suits I had broke in the same spot, which made it unwearable. The tape began to peel off and caused a huge hole (due to the tape being the only thing holding the suit together).
Putting it on and racing in it

The suit takes around 2-4 minutes putting on and feels great on. The fabric on the legs do feel a bit thin but the torso has an extra layer of fabric on the inside. Racing in it I know it isn’t the most water resistant suit, although it is very light so there’s not a lot of fabric for water to be absorbed in. I have never had problems with bubbles in the suit while racing which is great. I’ve swam nearly every event in this suit and I can say it works for all events if you needed it to.

I will definitely purchase this suit in the future and see myself wearing this for years to come. I’d like to see Arena make another suit that is similar to this one but with the new and more advanced suits I doubt they will.
- Aisling

It helps to warm a little bit? I am looking for a swimsuit that warms just a little bit.
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No it would not help at all for warmth. These suits are made for racing, so the goal is only to reduce resistance and increase compression.
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