Nymph 3/2 Yulex steamer review.
By Dan Dobbin.
“I think I’ve pulled a hamstring”
That thought legitimately went through my head while straining to free my leg from the Nymph 3/2 Yulex steamer provided for us by Pride to review.
To be fair, we’ve had the wetsuit since early February, but with water temperatures sitting in the mid twenty’s on the Celcius scale here on the North Coast of NSW for much of Autumn there was no chance I was donning a 3/2 fleecy lined steamer until the last month or so.
Now that water and air temps started to dip however, it’s been game on in the wetty testing department.
Now if you don’t know what Yulex is, essentially it’s a brand that has developed a process using natural rubber harvested from Heaves rubber trees to created a plant-based and latex-allergy friendly wetsuit material which is an alternative to the old petrochemical based rubber traditionally used in wetsuits.
So environmentally good. Tick✅
As alluded to above, the suit itself if extremely well tailored, which makes for a fantastic all over fit that ensures no leakages of unwanted cold water enter.
The cuffs around the arms and legs sit nice and tight, working to ensure the toasty body heated water stays trapped inside while the bad chilly water stays outside. Even after getting tumbled around on some fairly turbulent wipe outs there was minimal water exchange due to these high quality seals.
This paired with the fleecy lining inside and glued and blind stitched seems both inside and out and this was one warm wetty. I found myself going to this suit even when it was still damp from the day before because of the excellent warmth factor.
The chest zip system and underlying neck and shoulder panelling are also top notch. You actually have to pull the neck lining out a little on first entry into the water to get a little water into the suit and prevent that weird suctioning you get around the reproductive organs from an excellently fitted wetty.
Up until a few years ago the big knock on Yulex based wetsuits was that they lacked the flexibility and performance of the petroleum based rubber suits. New advancements in the manufacturing process however means this is no longer the case.
The Nymph wetsuit provided almost zero freedom of movement and range of motion issues, allowing you to surf to your full potential with worrying about any restriction issues.
Aesthetically, the suit was nice and clean. The addition of little bodyboarding specific performance features like the textured grip on the bottom side of the forearms which contact the board was a clever and welcome inclusion.
I’m a traditional black wetsuit only kinda guy, and while the suit we were sent was midnight blue in colour, it has proven to be to good not to wear at every opportunity.
The Nymph 3/2 Yulex steamer ticks all the boxes in terms of warmth, comfort, flexibility and environmental friendliness.
Another great product from the crew at Pride.
