The first thing you notice about this suit when you put it on is that the zipper is upside-down. Almost all other wetsuit companies employ a "closed" zipper, which is like the one you have on your pants. The zipper on your jacket—where you place one side of the zipper into the other side before you can zip—is what you’ll find on the Pulsar.

The open part is at the top of the back, right behind your neck. My thought was, "This product review might be over in a hurry. If I’m not able to attach this zipper myself, without anyone’s help, I’m just going to tell people not to buy this suit." You can’t assume there will always be someone around to help you zip up your suit.

Happily, though, I didn’t find it hard to manage the zipper. It was a slight bit tricky at first, but not overly so. Still, it’s not going to be as easy to get zipped up in the Pulsar as it is in a conventional suit. Well, you don’t zip up in a Pulsar. You zip down.

Which has its advantages. For one thing, your zipper won’t come down during a race. Also, the pull cord can’t flap around your shoulders because its top is at your low back and therefore hangs down to your thighs. It’s very easy to find the zipper flap with this arrangement, and unzipping the suit is a snap.

The suit is made out of Yamamoto rubber throughout, with superstretch panels everywhere you’d need to have stretch. The arm termination is just 2mm-thick rubber coming to an end. There’s no overlap of the rubber finished with a zig-zag stitch, like what we did at Quintana Roo. It’s a trade-off: You get a tiny bit more water up your sleeve in the Aquaman, perhaps, but the latter will slide over your wrists easier.

The fit was reminiscent of a QR Hydrophobic, which is to say it fit nicely. Perhaps a bit roomier in the thighs than a QR. The neck on the Pulsar was good: no chafing, not too high up. That’s been one of the nicer elements of the more recent suits—the realization that the neck doesn’t need to go all the way up, or past, the adam’s apple to keep water out.

In fact, one of the "tests" of a good-fitting suit is whether my chest is dry when I peel the suit off. Yes, wetsuits are technically supposed to let water in so you have a layer of water between you and the suit. But let’s face it, the more water in the suit, the more water you’re dragging around with you. The Pulsar? My torso was dry as a bone when I exited the water.

This suit sells for $380 in the U.S. This French company—our fiercest competitor in Europe in my QR days—is not afraid to charge. But their suit is a good one, and worthy of serious consideration. You won’t find it at many shops, at least not so far. I hear that Nytro is selling the heck out of them and has ordered up big, so you can get these suits there. Otherwise, you might have to get the suit mail-order direct from Aquaman USA.