The benefit to many of a license deal is the ability to leverage the strength of the license. The downside is the cost of the license, and in the case of this company the abject lack of any building of its own brand. With the Timex Ironman watch, two brands are being built. With the Ironman wetsuit only one brand is built. The eventual (and still) owner of Ironman wetsuits – Tim Moxey – made the very hard decision to cut the umbilical with Ironman and forge ahead with his own brand, and this he did in 2005. That brand name he chose was blueseventy, emblematic of the medium in which this brand's products are used, and the fact that 70 percent of the world is covered by it.

This is still a New Zealand-based company but it's truly international, with offices in the U.S. and in the U.K. In my opinion it does not enjoy the overall corporate revenues of companies like Aqua Sphere, TYR and Speedo for the same reason Catlike and Louis Garneau helmets do not enjoy road bike helmet sales of Giro: Because they eschew, or cannot find robust placement in, the mass market channel. But if you look at blueseventy's products – it's wetsuits, swim skins, goggles – one can make a case for this brand as a straight-up competitor to most full service swim companies.

Its goggles, like the $18 Nero and the $12 Element, are among my favorites. Find me another $12 goggle this good. Its swim skins are and have been industry leading, and blueseventy might be a reason, more than any other, for the pullback in the legality of the more aggressive of these suits in FINA competition – blueseventy made the "mistake" of creating suits that were just too fast for their own good.

This leads us to its wetsuits, and the blueseventy Helix may have its equals but not its betters. I have not found a faster wetsuit, nor a suit that has more of a high performance feel when you're swimming in it. I do not know and I have not asked but I cannot imagine ROKA did not look at the Helix closely before choosing its own design features. Each of these companies – ROKA and blueseventy – uses a similar strategy in the arms of its fullsuits, and I think it's notable the change in nomenclature and explanation by companies like these. Blueseventy touts its AQUA FEEL forearms, made with, "a permeable NeroTX fabric allowing the swimmer to feel the water through the suit. An increased awareness for the position of the arm in the water encourages better technique, greater power and reduces the risk of injury."

I think that over a period of a decade or more it's just become difficult for wetsuit companies to continue to state that pulling or catch panels actually do pull more water than wetsuits made without them. But it's also become difficult for these companies to just leave the arm alone, for fear of being out-featured by a competitor. So these companies are focusing on forearms that are more proprioceptive. Do you need proprioception? Speaking for myself – and maybe I'm just not good enough at swimming to appreciate the feature – I can't feel myself making any kind of technical adjustment due to these panels. I can't measure the benefit in my swim times. Nevertheless, this is the angle blueseventy, Zone3 and ROKA are taking, three of the five wetsuit companies overviewed in the last month.

That said – me? – I'm more interested in the basic features of the suit, stuff like, does it fit? Does the neckline and wrist resist water entry? Is the neck comfortable – does it choke or chafe me? Is it comfortable in the shoulders and elbows. Are my movements hindered? Is my body floated in the right places, but not floated in areas that make me fight the suit in order to swim efficiently and with economy of motion? Does the suit hug me in the midsection, which I like, but can I exit the suit quickly, or will I fight while trying to get the suit down over my hips? Does the suit resist tearing in the high-stress areas, most notably in the wrist, the calf and in the lower back? The answer is yes, or thumbs up, times all those questions. But that's to be expected of a wetsuit company that's been at the top of the heap for 20 years.