Quiksilver says that the moment you step into its Cell wetsuit, you’ll discover that it has removed, reduced and eliminated all unnecessary materials and seams; and that what you end up with is the warmest and most flexible wetsuit found in any line-up. So how does it do in our test?

To begin with I was a bit wary of donning a silver wetsuit. This is partly because it is pretty conspicuous and partly because I’m riding an Al Merrick ­– Kelly Slater wannabe anyone?!

But the suit looks good and fits snugly so I broke it out for test number one on a particularly chilly Sydney morning. Don’t you just love the way hardly any water seeps into a new suit?

The Cell felt super light and warm, especially in comparison with the older Rip Curl I had been using. At first I found the neck strap a bit weird. It kept popping open but I later realised I had it a bit tight, so keep things nice and loose ok?

Features

• Liquid flex seal
• One panel thermo flex body, underarm and gusset
• Vapour stretch chest and back; articulated hyperstretch arms
• Gbs (glued and blind-stitched)
• Hydroshield zip water barrier
• Hydrowrap adjustable neck closure
• Short back zip
• Glideskin neck seal
• Iinterloc wrist and ankle seals
• Cyberspace fuse kneepads 

The good?

• Lightweight.
• Rather than having 10 panels, the Cell only has six.
• Warm.
• Vapour stretch skin reduces heat loss.
• Love the hyperstretch flex.

 What’s not so good?

• The knee pads always slip inwards. Maybe it’s just me but that’s really annoying.
• Slight flush down the back on duck dives. 

What we reckon

Overall, I am stoked with the suit. It is flexible, has never given me a rash of any kind and still retains that ‘new wetsuit’ feel three months after the day we began.

Rating

****

The author tries it out

Factfile

What               Quiksilver Cell CL:SIX

Specs              3/2

Features         Thermoflex and hyperstretch technology

Model tested  Medium/Silver

RRP                $400 approx.