Force Fin review by a die hard Jet Fin user.

[Randy43068]

wow, but as TS&M mentioned, FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!

That's an awful lot of money for a fin.

 

[pearl97t_bird]

I was reading everyones posts and I found it very interesting reading everyones reviews on this set of fins. I purchased my SD-1 fins in july and i have to say they are really nice fin. You mention that they are pricey and I will have to say this, I have found in dive gear that you pay for what you get. Quality does not come cheap, and I would have to say it is a investment in your diving equipment. the better quality gear your buy the least likely it will fail and the better it performs for you.

I recently did a research project and it involved force fins, paddle fins and split and the outcome was interesting it involved people from all sorts of diving experience. The bottom line is they like the way force fins performed. From surface swimming to diving, we rated comfort, performance and compared them to paddle fins and split fins. Everyone we spoke with liked the force fins best.

Keep in mind it is a matter of investing in your own comfort and knowing that you gear will not fail.
Thanks
Sam

 

[DA Aquamaster]

wow, but as TS&M mentioned, FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!

That's an awful lot of money for a fin.

Yes and no. On any given cave dive I jump in the water with a $1600 dry suit, either a $1200 dive or a $400 dive computer plus a $300 bottom timer, a set of doubles that cost me on average $500 (used - but I own 4 sets), two back gas regs that would sell new for $550 each, a pair of deco regs that would sell for around $300 each, deco/stage bottles that on average cost $200 each, a primary reel that costs me $125, a couple gap/jump reels that cost $85 each, a couple finger spools that cost $25 each, a $400 wing a $150 plate, and about $160 in mask and fins. Then there is $2000 worth of scooter...

That is $4800-$5600 in dive gear (not counting the scooter), so $500 versus $100 for a set of fins is pretty much just decimal dust.

So I suspect that if there was a force fin design that was optimized for cave diving and performed better than anything else around, getting cave divers farther in and out of caves with greater efficiency and gas consumption, cave divers would probably pony up the bucks for it.

 

[meesier42]

That is $4800-$5600 in dive gear (not counting the scooter), so $500 versus $100 for a set of fins is pretty much just decimal dust.

sorry, I deleted most of that for brevity, but you said it very well. My comment on it is... there are a couple of pieces of gear that most greatly effect your enjoyment underwater. They are, the comfort of your mask, the comfort and performance of your regulator, and the comfort and performance of your fins. Those 3 pieces are the parts of your kit that MUST without question fit the diver or the experience will not be all that enjoyable, and are the 3 things that new divers (OW students) complain the most about their dives because they just haven't spent the time to get those things to fit well. So in my opinion, these 3 items are the first things that a new diver should invest in, sometimes fit may come cheap (mostly w/mask), but quality rarely does. Is the price high, yes, I think its a lot of money to spend, but then again, they were well worth my investment and I already owed 2-3 pairs of Force Fins when I bought mine.

So I suspect that if there was a force fin design that was optimized for cave diving and performed better than anything else around, getting cave divers farther in and out of caves with greater efficiency and gas consumption, cave divers would probably pony up the bucks for it.

have you tried the Excellerating Force Fins? they are my favorite fins hands down, they frog kick better than any fin I have used and have all the comfort and performance of the Force Fin foot pockets and materials. Normally, I would drive down to Lake Rawlings to loan them to you for a dive or two, but I am moving Thursday. Maybe Bob will trade out the SD-1's that you have on loan right now for a pair of Excellerators preferably XXL Tan Delta ones with whiskers. If I recall the story correctly, this is a fin that was designed specifically to met the needs of Hal Watts, the father of cave diving.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

have you tried the Excellerating Force Fins? they are my favorite fins hands down, they frog kick better than any fin I have used and have all the comfort and performance of the Force Fin foot pockets and materials. Normally, I would drive down to Lake Rawlings to loan them to you for a dive or two, but I am moving Thursday. Maybe Bob will trade out the SD-1's that you have on loan right now for a pair of Excellerators preferably XXL Tan Delta ones with whiskers. If I recall the story correctly, this is a fin that was designed specifically to met the needs of Hal Watts, the father of cave diving.

I think I saw a pair of them last year at the DC Dive Show and Hoyden here on the board was interested in them, but I never caught up with her to see if she tried them or to see how she liked them.

Unfortunately I will miss the show this year as I will be in N FL cave diving that week.

 

[meesier42]

Hoyden, if that is who I think it is, I don't think she tried the Excellerators, I think she found a similar pair of Extra's but I am not sure. I was one of the people working with Bob and Susanne talking to her about the fins. Lets see what Bob says when he gets up later today.

 

[Bob Evans]

Good Morning, Los Banos pool was a nice 80 degrees. Leaving our home this morning the Pleiades were shinning against the dark sky. Back in 1996, my friend Captain Billy Deans asked me to make a frog kicking fin for his Tek Diving Operations. He was using the Pro model, but with the extra equipment and weight we felt a bigger fin blade was necessary. Before that, Billy really never endorsed a product. When he offered to be in a testimonial ad, that said it all. Another big supporter of the Excellerating Force Fin is Kevin Gurr and John Chatterton. For years Hal Watts has used a OPS Force Fin with a blade design similar to one now made by another company. The only twist is that my blades can be changed with a quick wrist twist. Foils for your Launch Pad System This way you can change power out put and turn the blade for op tum angle for the frog kick.

 

[Randy43068]

Yes and no. On any given cave dive I jump in the water with a $1600 dry suit, either a $1200 dive or a $400 dive computer plus a $300 bottom timer, a set of doubles that cost me on average $500 (used - but I own 4 sets), two back gas regs that would sell new for $550 each, a pair of deco regs that would sell for around $300 each, deco/stage bottles that on average cost $200 each, a primary reel that costs me $125, a couple gap/jump reels that cost $85 each, a couple finger spools that cost $25 each, a $400 wing a $150 plate, and about $160 in mask and fins. Then there is $2000 worth of scooter...

That is $4800-$5600 in dive gear (not counting the scooter), so $500 versus $100 for a set of fins is pretty much just decimal dust.

So I suspect that if there was a force fin design that was optimized for cave diving and performed better than anything else around, getting cave divers farther in and out of caves with greater efficiency and gas consumption, cave divers would probably pony up the bucks for it.

If your analogy holds water, then we wouldn't bitch if mask de-fog cost seventy five dollars.

There is NO correlation to quality and the retail price of any dive equipment. You don't' always get what you pay for.

Five hundred dollars for a pair of fins is totally nuts and outrageous, and especially for a fin that, as rated, isn't as good as a hundred or in my case, twenty five dollar pair of Jet fins.

Believe me I and I'll bet most of divers think five hundred dollars is more than just a decimal place especially for a pair of fins.


These puppies would have to make coffee for me and a host of other things before I'd shell out five hundo for them. Five hundred may not be a lot of money to you, but it is to me.

 

[Randy43068]

I was reading everyones posts and I found it very interesting reading everyones reviews on this set of fins. I purchased my SD-1 fins in july and i have to say they are really nice fin. You mention that they are pricey and I will have to say this, I have found in dive gear that you pay for what you get. Not always. In general, maybe. Quality does not come cheap, and I would have to say it is a investment in your diving equipment. the better quality gear your buy the least likely it will fail and the better it performs for you.

I recently did a research project and it involved force fins, paddle fins and split and the outcome was interesting it involved people from all sorts of diving experience. The bottom line is they like the way force fins performed. From surface swimming to diving, we rated comfort, performance and compared them to paddle fins and split fins. Everyone we spoke with liked the force fins best.

Keep in mind it is a matter of investing in your own comfort and knowing that you gear will not fail. This has no bearing on price of dive equipment whatsoever.
Thanks
Sam

Details on this "research" project? If you had a bunch of divers try these fins against other ones and report back something subjective as "Yeah, I like them better", or "I swim faster with them." then it's not good research.

I've yet to see a real study on SCUBA fin performance. To do it one would need some sort of mechanical device to simulate a leg with foot attached and actually measure how much water was moved, or how much force was generated from a given input. Having people make subjective decisions on how the fin felt and compared to other fins isn't truly a good scientific measure one can use to compare fins.

 

[Bob Evans]

Randy, I agree with you, $500.00 is a lot for fins. My Dad just had some plumbers fix his leaking valves on his sink. The new Valves (no lead mandate) cost $700.00 and their time of two hours added up to about $900.00. I was thinking that I should have joined the plumbers union. Most fins (90%) cost about $7.50 to manufacture and that includes the packaging. Then they retail with a 400% profit margin. The SD-1 is a very expensive fin and takes time to build. Some time if your in Santa Barbara I like to show you want goes into making high performance fins. I sure you might be surprised, and wonder if I should have become a plumber cleaning up people's Shi...