Indo Month Is Over: Billabong Xero Pro Jacket Review

 

My Indo surf trip from Bali to Sumbawa is over. Before the trip I bought myself a Billabong Xero Pro 1mm Jacket. More as a bit of protection for my over the reef tumbling accidents as for warmth but the thin neoprene top really came in handy. Water temps in Indo were unusually low, around 77F or less in some spots and all the “I’m in Indo I’m wearing a t-shirt” people in lineups were shivering. So after a month of everyday use – this is my review of the Xero Pro Top.

This is the first proper top that I owned. First thing I have noticed is the damn thing is hard to get into. Thanks to that it’s also very snug leaving no room for water to get in or stay in the jacket. A big difference from my old neoprene tops that were all loose and stretched out like tshirts. This also makes the jacket quite warm, wearing it makes a big difference. It can be used somewhere down to 72F (22C) water temperature.

Jacket is made out of stretchy Xero foam neoprene and being only 1mm thick its stretchy as hell. Like wearing just your boardshorts.

 

Since the jacket was originally meant as reef kiss protection I wanted one that won’t ride up your back when you wipeout. The Billabong Xero Pro was one of the few neoprene tops that had the waist adjustment pull cord as well as boardshorts connector. Most of the tops either have the cord or the boardshorts loop, but not both. This helps keep the jacket in place but I guess for it to stay 100% in place I need to develop a beer belly :).