Honesty is the best policy. They even smell bad while burning.
Are Force Fins really that bad?
- Thread starter raypau38
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Ebay Ray. There are folks who love them... or at least think they will.
However if you have tried them and like them then go for it. They do look like they would be good for walking on shore with your fins on and short enough you could wear them on a boat too.
However if you have tried them and like them then go for it. They do look like they would be good for walking on shore with your fins on and short enough you could wear them on a boat too.
I think you guys are being a little unfair on force fins so I want to correct a couple of things.
Firstly a different Technique dosn't mean a bad technique. Yes a diferent Technique is needed & if you used that same technique on ordinary fins it would be inaffective & visa versa. But saying bad technique is just being narrow minded.
Secondly the power delivery you get from Force Fins is quite deceptive. You don't feel like you going fast until you look around for your buddy & realise he's struggling to play catch up.
Thirdly the're very small for the power which is great for storage, Wrecks, carting about & yes you can walk forwards in them without too much difficulty
The pros are: the're effective, small, easy on the legs & very powerfull.
the Cons are: the're Expensive, Look silly, there size chart is way off & you'll always meet narrow minded people who will mock them because they follow the crowd.
Force Fins won't suit everybody & You'll come across prejudice on a regular basis but If they work for you then ignore the criticism because they are radical & very effective fins. Personally I feel comfortable with most fins & adjust my technique to suit the tools, I own a pair of Force Fins & I love them. I reckon You could do a set distance quicker with some other split Fins but you'd be more knackerd for it. I also think you need to give them time to really learn how to get the most out of them but having said that I'm sure some people will never get on with them.
Hope that helps
Firstly a different Technique dosn't mean a bad technique. Yes a diferent Technique is needed & if you used that same technique on ordinary fins it would be inaffective & visa versa. But saying bad technique is just being narrow minded.
Secondly the power delivery you get from Force Fins is quite deceptive. You don't feel like you going fast until you look around for your buddy & realise he's struggling to play catch up.
Thirdly the're very small for the power which is great for storage, Wrecks, carting about & yes you can walk forwards in them without too much difficulty
The pros are: the're effective, small, easy on the legs & very powerfull.
the Cons are: the're Expensive, Look silly, there size chart is way off & you'll always meet narrow minded people who will mock them because they follow the crowd.
Force Fins won't suit everybody & You'll come across prejudice on a regular basis but If they work for you then ignore the criticism because they are radical & very effective fins. Personally I feel comfortable with most fins & adjust my technique to suit the tools, I own a pair of Force Fins & I love them. I reckon You could do a set distance quicker with some other split Fins but you'd be more knackerd for it. I also think you need to give them time to really learn how to get the most out of them but having said that I'm sure some people will never get on with them.
Hope that helps
Some people never learn to kick properly. They bicycle. Force fins were designed to make up for this poor technique. It's much better to correct the technique than to try to conpensate with equipment. Stig, enjoy your force fins, but it is poor technique.
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Stig:
Yea right. Maybe if your buddy has a broken leg
WW
Stig:
Plenty of people would vouch that I am a tad leery of following crowds at the best of times and take particular offense (not really but it writes well) to that statement.
I tried the stupid things for a LONG time. A lot longer than the sunny Cozumel test weekend that got the writeup in Rodale's that a lot of people base their purchases on. I still say they suck and I will pass along that opinion to anyone who will listen to save them the purchase of a pair of these completely ridiculous things. I even tried to defend them for a while but only because I felt I had to because, like you said, they look completely stupid and cost a lot. Guess what my defense for a while was...."Yah but you can walk around in them!"...SO WHAT!
Until today, to a man, I have never heard anything but embarrassment and regret at being suckered into a pair of these things. Your defense of them surprises me and I wonder if you are associated with the company in any way or are you a new purchaser doing what I did above.
Lesson learned. Never buy fins off TV at 3 am.
DarkFrog
Guest
Walter:
I've never seen them in use, but the videos on the manufacturer's web page show what looks (to me) like a slightly modified flutter. Everyone's calling it a bicycle kick and I'm picturing what children do when they first learn to doggy paddle or a rotary kick or the like, but I'm not seeing either... Can someone who uses them explain the kick?
caveseeker7
Contributor
Fins, like most other dive equipment, are personal preference.
I wouldn't buy them unless I can try them, same as a suit or BCD.
Masks you usually can't try beforehand. I bought 5 or 6 over the years till I found the right one. Doesn't make the discarded ones bad, they just didn't work for me. I'm sure they work fine on someone else's face.
Same with fins. I know plenty of people who love splits, usually Atomic or Apollo. Others hate them. A few with Force Fins, the swear by them and wouldn't go back to Jets (where most of them came from) or other fins.
In the greater L.A. area is at least one dive shop that rents both Force Fin Pros and Scubapro Jet Fins (in Thousand Oaks). There are another shop or two that stock both, though I don't know if they rent them (own pool, so a pool tryout should be possible).
Try them out. If they work for you, they work for you. Simple as that.
As for the kick, use what is most efficient with your fin, or what you need to use in the environ you're diving (overhead/silt -> frog kick -> no splits ... ).
Different gear needs different techniques. Doesn't necessarily mean that the technique is wrong.
I wouldn't buy them unless I can try them, same as a suit or BCD.
Masks you usually can't try beforehand. I bought 5 or 6 over the years till I found the right one. Doesn't make the discarded ones bad, they just didn't work for me. I'm sure they work fine on someone else's face.
Same with fins. I know plenty of people who love splits, usually Atomic or Apollo. Others hate them. A few with Force Fins, the swear by them and wouldn't go back to Jets (where most of them came from) or other fins.
In the greater L.A. area is at least one dive shop that rents both Force Fin Pros and Scubapro Jet Fins (in Thousand Oaks). There are another shop or two that stock both, though I don't know if they rent them (own pool, so a pool tryout should be possible).
Try them out. If they work for you, they work for you. Simple as that.
As for the kick, use what is most efficient with your fin, or what you need to use in the environ you're diving (overhead/silt -> frog kick -> no splits ... ).
Different gear needs different techniques. Doesn't necessarily mean that the technique is wrong.
The shop that I work for is a Force dealer, the first time I walked in the shop, even before I worked there, I saw them, and my first thought was not those funny looking worthless things. I had seen them differnt places and LMAO everytime I had seen them. I have had most split fins on the market and I have like the Atomic's the best. I get in the water and try all the ones that the store carries, Dive, Pro, Foil, Excelarating(however), and a few of the test pair that were there. I was very impress after I got all the dirty thoughts out of my head.
If anyone is in the West Texas area, I will be more than happy to let you hop in one of our pools and try them out.
If anyone is in the West Texas area, I will be more than happy to let you hop in one of our pools and try them out.
I've dove force fins. Tried a buddies set for a 8 or 10 dives. You can move pretty well in them with a very short fast flutter. I think the main issue is the purpose of a fin. I generally do deep wrecks or drift dive the reef. Propulsion in either situation is not the purpose of fin selection, control is. Hence my view that jetfins are the only fins. Now if I did beach dives and had to cover alot of ground I would probably go with a more propulsion type fin, quatros 2000hf's. I found that alternate kicks were next to impossible for me on the force fins, so control was difficult. So here IMHO is the problem with force fins. They are in general (I believe) to be a propolsion type fin. They offer (Me) little control. So if their purpose is propulsion why not go with HF's or quatros. I would be willing to take the pepsi challenge with someone in forces going up current with either my HF's or quatros. The cost is about 1/4 and IMHO propulsion is alot better.
For the record a have a couple friends who dive them, but I have not had one experience where they were outrunning me, on bad drops a few times in a good current I was able to swim to the wreck and they were not. For the price of "FF's" you could buy a set of jets, quatros, and HF's.
For the record a have a couple friends who dive them, but I have not had one experience where they were outrunning me, on bad drops a few times in a good current I was able to swim to the wreck and they were not. For the price of "FF's" you could buy a set of jets, quatros, and HF's.
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