Split fin hate?

[NW Dive Dawg]

I guess I am in the mixed opinion group...... Depends on the split fin. On a trip to Bora this past November I brought my good ol'e 20 year old Apollo Bio splits and was just fine with them until one of the molded "hubs" where the straps connect sheared off when I went to don my fins for the 2nd dive of the day. They had some cheap Aqualung rental blades and I used those and immediately noticed a big difference on the positive side. More propulsion for the same effort and more importantly....more overall "horsepower" if I really wanted or needed it. Basically, the Apollo splits worked just fine in easy conditions.....but if I really wanted or needed to get up and go......I found that I could actually "outkick" my splits to a point where they just would not give me any more. Not so with the blades. I tossed the splits and now my go to fins for warm water are full foot Mares Quatro Plus Avanti's with spring straps.

But....... for drysuit diving up here in the PAC NW........ I also tried the Avanti's and didn't really like-em. I then tried some XL Scubapro Split Jets and love-em. It might be because the foot pockets on the XL Jets are HUGE and my big ass feet and drysuit boots fit way up into the pocket.

Anyway...for me...it's the Avanti's for warm water and the SP Split Jets for cold water drysuit diving...

 

[Joneill]

I just tried some Scubapro Go Sport fins that @lexvil gave me and I am in LUUUUV!
Best fins I ever used for regular from the hip standard flutter kicking.

I used a pair of loaner Go Sport fins on my Raja Ampat liveaboard trip after a strap on my Avanti Quattro + fins broke (and I didn’t have spare strips - I do now!). They were OK and did the job, but they were not as good as the Mares or my Atomic splits - not as powerful as either of those fins, esp in the stronger currents.

 

[overthinking_diver]

Take a wild guess who started the rhetoric against split fins, then the rest just piled on because it was fun.

Are we thinking the same thing????

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.

Can someone tell us so we all know what you mean?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I used a pair of loaner Go Sport fins on my Raja Ampat liveaboard trip after a strap on my Avanti Quattro + fins broke (and I didn’t have spare strips - I do now!). They were OK and did the job, but they were not as good as the Mares or my Atomic splits - not as powerful as either of those fins, esp in the stronger currents.

I had a pair of quattro’s when I first started.
I liked them fine, but the one thing I didn’t like was the dead spot when the fin is changing direction. They have a floppy panel at the end of the fin designed to scoop or channel water. When scissor kicking and the fin comes to the end of the stroke
and you begin back the other way that flexible panel flops and there is a few inches of movement that doesn’t do anything. You have to move beyond that point to begin to get traction again, but by then your legs have gone outside of the slipstream and you have caused yourself drag.
So they worked ok when I started because I didn’t know any better, but when I got a little more fin savvy I realized their shortcomings. For a while I used long fins and the power and speed using freediving fins is phenomenal but you have to have leg strength.
Then I opened a can of worms and got into Jet fins because that was the end all fin according to all the “pro’s” on the internet. I tried for 20 years to like them but never fully succeeded. Maybe I was just too lazy to try anything else, plus I don’t travel, so there wasn’t a lot of motivation. They’re great for modified feet up feet flipping with ankles and more feet flipping heli turns and weird gyrating motions to back up, but not so much for regular from the hip scissor kicks like I went back to. Now trying these Go Sports I’m pretty damn happy.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Can someone tell us so we all know what you mean?

You’ll need to figure it out.
We’re not allowed to actually say anything because that’s bashing and I don’t want get in trouble for saying stuff.

 

[overthinking_diver]

Haha, so to summarize this thread:

OP: When did split fin hate start?
Responses: We all know the answer but we won't tell you

 

[gmerick]

My fins - Atomic open heel splits, and Deep 6 Eddys. I watched a video of me going over a soft bottom. The split fins shot out a jet of water that raised a small silt cloud about 6 feet behind me every kick even though I was using the modified frog kick. I've also seen too many (probably new, probably still learning) divers in split fins dragging tips, and raising clouds. I'll use the splits in current, because I can maintain forward motion without cramping. For most other uses, the Eddys do me just fine. For me, the splits are simply harder to use well.

 

[Gone for diving]

Who scissor kicks all the time? I actually hate it when diving,
Frog kick is so much more relaxing,
If it really strong then scissor kick is more powerful.
But to relax, modified fludder/frog kick works well,

 

[BoltSnap]

Can someone tell us so we all know what you mean?

Nope, naah, no

Haha, so to summarize this thread:

OP: When did split fin hate start?
Responses: We all know the answer but we won't tell you

Yep, yeah, yes. You got that right.

 

[BoltSnap]

You’ll need to figure it out.
We’re not allowed to actually say anything because that’s bashing and I don’t want get in trouble for saying stuff.

They overcame SB circa 2014. SB changed dramatically since then. Too much militancy not allowing for any other points of view since. Many good folks left SB since. I have been reading old posts in 2008 - 2013 era recently and I can see the change in attitude and people. They made SB feel like the military and they were the MP's. They remind me of military takeovers in my part of the world.