Eddy fins my new favorites:
I wear a 10.5 shoe and use a size 10 hard sole 5mm neoprene bootie (DGX specials). I originally ordered the Large Eddy's and determined them to be a touch too small for my size foot (pressed against the top of my foot and squished my toes) and exchanged them for a set of XL's. With the large, the foot pocket was uncomfortable and I could not figure out why people were talking about these foot pockets like they we the greatest thing to happen to scuba since the air compressor... Fast forward to my first OW dive with the XL size and I can now say "I get it". When you find the right size these things fit like a pair of trusty Chuck Taylors. For years I religiously dove Hollis F1's but hated the weight when diving wet. I thought the Hollis fins were comfy, the Deep6's blow them out of the water. These are now by far my favorite fins. When a negative version is released I will certainly be ordering a pair as well.
First OW dive:
Lady Luck wreck in pompano beach FL with BP/W, 3mm wetsuit, and HP100 with a roughly 2kt current (it was rippin...)
In order to stay on the downline finning was a must, it was almost impossible to just hang on and hand over hand down. I found that with slow and deliberate frog kicks I had plenty of thrust with a really nice resistance and feedback that was more than adequate to maintain the downline without much effort.
Once on the wreck, I found that when swimming against the current, a flutter kick was not really necessary due to the efficiency when frog kicking. I did try a flutter just to try them out and they did work fine but frog kicking is really where these fins shine.
Back-kicking, helicopters and modified frog/ flutter were both very very good. I found slower deliberate strokes were far more controllable and efficient than the more rapid technique of softer fins. The amount of finite control and feedback are probably the best I have felt in a fin. When in tight quarters, these fins provide an exact and proportionate response allowing very exact control which makes you look like a better diver than you really are.
As far as trim, with my only weight being my 6# SS BP I am perfectly trimmed with these fins. While snorkeling with just mask, snorkel, fins, and booties, my feet were quite floaty. Once in dive gear, the trim was perfect!
These feel like a quality product but do have a slightly plastic feel. That combined with the bright duck foot orange earned me a lot of questions from other divers on the boat. They asked if I got them at Walmart. I had to explain to everyone the benefits of the material and how the color was a bonus. A little side note, after the second dive my buddy and I surfaced with the boat nowhere in sight... I blew a bag and laid on my back and allowed my duckfeet to stick up out of the water (3-4 foot seas). Roughly 20 minutes later when the boat arrived the captain told me he saw my fins before he saw the bag!!!
These fins are STIFF! They will certainly take a little getting used to for divers used to a softer fin. At first my legs were getting tired, specifically my shins. I quickly figured out that if I slowed down and let the stiffness and design of the fin do the work that I could swim all day with them.
Overall I really like these fins and highly recommend them to anyone wanting a professional grade fin that is lightweight, gives great response (like road feel in a sports car), and offers very precise control in most finning techniques. The only person I would not recommend these to would be a flutter kicker, but that isn't what these are for...
I hope this is helpful for anyone who is looking at trying these fins out. Any questions are welcome.
I wear a 10.5 shoe and use a size 10 hard sole 5mm neoprene bootie (DGX specials). I originally ordered the Large Eddy's and determined them to be a touch too small for my size foot (pressed against the top of my foot and squished my toes) and exchanged them for a set of XL's. With the large, the foot pocket was uncomfortable and I could not figure out why people were talking about these foot pockets like they we the greatest thing to happen to scuba since the air compressor... Fast forward to my first OW dive with the XL size and I can now say "I get it". When you find the right size these things fit like a pair of trusty Chuck Taylors. For years I religiously dove Hollis F1's but hated the weight when diving wet. I thought the Hollis fins were comfy, the Deep6's blow them out of the water. These are now by far my favorite fins. When a negative version is released I will certainly be ordering a pair as well.
First OW dive:
Lady Luck wreck in pompano beach FL with BP/W, 3mm wetsuit, and HP100 with a roughly 2kt current (it was rippin...)
In order to stay on the downline finning was a must, it was almost impossible to just hang on and hand over hand down. I found that with slow and deliberate frog kicks I had plenty of thrust with a really nice resistance and feedback that was more than adequate to maintain the downline without much effort.
Once on the wreck, I found that when swimming against the current, a flutter kick was not really necessary due to the efficiency when frog kicking. I did try a flutter just to try them out and they did work fine but frog kicking is really where these fins shine.
Back-kicking, helicopters and modified frog/ flutter were both very very good. I found slower deliberate strokes were far more controllable and efficient than the more rapid technique of softer fins. The amount of finite control and feedback are probably the best I have felt in a fin. When in tight quarters, these fins provide an exact and proportionate response allowing very exact control which makes you look like a better diver than you really are.
As far as trim, with my only weight being my 6# SS BP I am perfectly trimmed with these fins. While snorkeling with just mask, snorkel, fins, and booties, my feet were quite floaty. Once in dive gear, the trim was perfect!
These feel like a quality product but do have a slightly plastic feel. That combined with the bright duck foot orange earned me a lot of questions from other divers on the boat. They asked if I got them at Walmart. I had to explain to everyone the benefits of the material and how the color was a bonus. A little side note, after the second dive my buddy and I surfaced with the boat nowhere in sight... I blew a bag and laid on my back and allowed my duckfeet to stick up out of the water (3-4 foot seas). Roughly 20 minutes later when the boat arrived the captain told me he saw my fins before he saw the bag!!!
These fins are STIFF! They will certainly take a little getting used to for divers used to a softer fin. At first my legs were getting tired, specifically my shins. I quickly figured out that if I slowed down and let the stiffness and design of the fin do the work that I could swim all day with them.
Overall I really like these fins and highly recommend them to anyone wanting a professional grade fin that is lightweight, gives great response (like road feel in a sports car), and offers very precise control in most finning techniques. The only person I would not recommend these to would be a flutter kicker, but that isn't what these are for...
I hope this is helpful for anyone who is looking at trying these fins out. Any questions are welcome.
