Growing up near the Rip Curl outlet at Trestles, I have been around Rip Curl wetsuits for a long time. You can find pretty good deals there, so there were always a lot of Rip Curl wetsuits amongst my family and friends.
My dad and I have been using 4/3 Quiksilver Cell wetsuits for years and love them. But this past year when my dad was looking to get a new 4/3 wetsuit, I found him a really good deal for a Rip Curl Fireskin wetsuit. He purchased it and told me that he loved it and I have to try it out.
I started borrowing his Rip Curl wetsuit all the time and got a lot of use out of it. The Rip Curl Core Fireskin wetsuit kept me very warm. When I paddled out with it for the first time, I felt like I didn’t even get wet for the first hour of the session. Hardly any water got into the suit at all. I used his Rip Curl wetsuit throughout the winter and it continued to keep me very warm as it aged. It’s now been used a lot and is showing a little bit of wear. It’s not as comfortable as it used to be and can be a little itchy inside. If I surf for a long time I start to get armpit rashes, which never used to be a problem. But it is worth it for the price.
You can pick up a 4/3 Rip Curl Core Fireskin for around $240 brand new. The better models of Rip Curl wetsuits will cost you around $400 for a 4/3, but the Rip Curl Core Fireskin will keep you just as warm. The 4/3 Quiksilver Cells’ also cost around $400, so my dad was pretty happy to end up with a nice new wetsuit for way less. If you want to get a really warm 4/3 wetsuit for a good price, then the Rip Curl Core Fireskin is probably one of your better choices out there.
