Price: €369
Flex/Comfort: 8.5/10
Warmth: 8.5/10
Overall: 8/10

Tested: 22/04/14, Seignosse, France
Air: 14
Water: 15
Dry (pre 1st surf) weight: 920g
Also: Felt like I might do the world’s best cutback like Joel in this suit… (I didn’t).
And: I liked the smell of this one best.
Tested by: PE

In brief: A thoroughly decent piece of rubber, as it would want to be, for nearly four hundred fucken sheets.

Brand Overview

One of the very biggest names in surfing, Billabong have been in the wetsuit game since the 90’s. For some reason, I’ve always tended to associate them as more of a boardshort brand than wetsuit, more Burleigh than Bells so to speak. Still, between the likes of Dorian, Sancho and (until he got clipped) Twiggy among other tall wave lords, in recent years, the seals and seams on their steamers have been tested by some of the fiercest water in the universe.

The Test

One major design difference between the Xero Furnace wetsuit and all others was an anti-flush internal collar, this being the only wetsuit in this test to have one. The idea being that should your neck/shoulder seal be breached, you won’t get cold water inside your suit (they are pretty standard on winter suits). The entry looked kinda fussy as I took it off the hanger, but was easy as to actually use, comfy and pretty darn flush-proof. The inside of the wetsuit is lined with ‘Drymax furnace lining’, or if you prefer, ‘the furry shit’. The furry shit gives kind of a nice psychological boost on a chilly day (as it was when I tested it), as you’re putting it on, and then physiological one when you’re wearing it.

In terms of a wetsuit’s structural integrity, seams are the area which might ultimately be its ahem, undoing…(sorry couldn’t help it!). All the Xero Furnace’s seams are taped inside and sealed out, so that’s kinda where the extra dollar goes. As for cut, the neck is lower at the front, almost a v, which felt great. I even measured it, there’s a full 15mm less at the front, 35mm at the Adam’s Apple compared with 50mm at the side. I can’t say this enough, less neck is more awesome. No one’s neck has ever been cold in the surf, ever.

Sure the Xero Furnace is a 2 mil, but it’s a supercharged 2 mil. 2 mil seems like it might be this year’s 3 mil, no? ‘Are you in your 3/2?’ ‘No, 2/2…’ just feels better. Even if your 2/2 might actually be 3mil thick, whatever. It was warm on a cold day, super flexy with top notch specs in pretty much every department, and very very warm for a ‘2 mil’. Which brings us to the inevitable… is the Billabong Xero Furnace better than an Xcel? (Seeing as they own Xcel anyway…)

In reply, I’d probably have to say no. No, it isn’t.

In Summary

Overall the Xero Furnace is a jolly decent bit of rubber, if maybe a touch pricey for the Average Joe. I don’t know if it’s just a perception/misconception or based on any truth/empirical observations, but some opinions I canvassed tended to think of Bong (and Quik) as not lasting as long as they might… warm and flexy and awesome at the start, less so a hundred surfs later…

Billabong Wetsuits