Fins and manoeuvrability

[Freewillow]

sorry....DiveR see them on this site... There has been an error processing your request Best used with Riffe open heel Silent .

 

[jadairiii]

I have used plenty of different fins since my early beginnings in the 1970's. From Waterlung 707's to Sporasubs (not the new company, the original sporasubs fins) and everything in between including split fins (I was forced to use at Disney). If scuba, recreational, tec or cave, SP jets (XXL). I have found them to be the "best" compromise for performance, power, robustness and price.

Free diving (for what I do) my old Sporasub plastic blades work. Again, price, performance and robustness of the fin fit my needs, I can take them off, toss them in the car or boat and don't cry if someone dumps gear on them or walks on them. Spent 5 hours in the water with them in early September without a cramp and they took me everywhere I needed to go. They can get me to my working limit (60' and shallower) and let me swim long distances. I am sure CF or Fiberglass fins would be nice, but I do believe the Law of Diminishing Returns would come into play fast.

As for Force fins, my only experience with them is a pair of FF Pro's I own. I was fortunate to find a pair at a Marine Flea market to $10. After using them, I would not pay more than $10 for them (seeing them listed at $290 is shocking). You cant free dive with them at all. As for scuba fin, I found you can only go straight (inefficiently) with a scissor kick, no frog, no backward. IMHO, the Pro's suck. I will admit having fun with them dolphin kicking in a pool or in the surf, they make me laugh. But as a actual diving fin I would rather use my Speedo pool fins before I would dive with the Pro's.

 

[danvolker]

Wierd...error processing on request?? http://www.spearfishing.com.au/brands/diver

http://www.spearfishing.com.au/brands/diver

---------- Post added September 29th, 2015 at 10:49 AM ----------

I have used plenty of different fins since my early beginnings in the 1970's. From Waterlung 707's to Sporasubs (not the new company, the original sporasubs fins) and everything in between including split fins (I was forced to use at Disney). If scuba, recreational, tec or cave, SP jets (XXL). I have found them to be the "best" compromise for performance, power, robustness and price.

Free diving (for what I do) my old Sporasub plastic blades work. Again, price, performance and robustness of the fin fit my needs, I can take them off, toss them in the car or boat and don't cry if someone dumps gear on them or walks on them. Spent 5 hours in the water with them in early September without a cramp and they took me everywhere I needed to go. They can get me to my working limit (60' and shallower) and let me swim long distances. I am sure CF or Fiberglass fins would be nice, but I do believe the Law of Diminishing Returns would come into play fast.

As for Force fins, my only experience with them is a pair of FF Pro's I own. I was fortunate to find a pair at a Marine Flea market to $10. After using them, I would not pay more than $10 for them (seeing them listed at $290 is shocking). You cant free dive with them at all. As for scuba fin, I found you can only go straight (inefficiently) with a scissor kick, no frog, no backward. IMHO, the Pro's suck. I will admit having fun with them dolphin kicking in a pool or in the surf, they make me laugh. But as a actual diving fin I would rather use my Speedo pool fins before I would dive with the Pro's.

If you dive with us in Boynton, you wont have to guess..you can try the carbon and composites...and the Excellerating FF

 

[lowviz]

....some freedive fins frog kick so well it blows your mind...like the DiveR's...some, like the Mustang C4 carbons, with rails on the edge of the blades, are designed to track for flutter kick, and don't make the sliding motion for frog kick particularly easy/effective. ...

I'm considering the Mako Competition Fiberglass fins. 80 cm, medium stiffness. Competition Fiberglass Fins Green Camo | MAKO Spearguns

My primary concern is that a frog kick is absolutely imperative where I want to dive these. Inches above nasty silt. What would you guess as to how they frog kick? Any other suggestions or things to look for?

Thanks in advance.

BTW, my intent is to build a minimalist "fun rig" so that I can either drift above the bottom while frog kicking or go exploring with whatever kick works best.

 

[danvolker]

I'm considering the Mako Competition Fiberglass fins. 80 cm, medium stiffness. Competition Fiberglass Fins Green Camo | MAKO Spearguns

My primary concern is that a frog kick is absolutely imperative where I want to dive these. Inches above nasty silt. What would you guess as to how they frog kick? Any other suggestions or things to look for?

Thanks in advance.

I think Dumpster Diver uses Makos....if he sees this, i would hope he will chime in...if not you could PM him....or, ask the guy from Mako that is in this thread.
As long as they dont have the kind of rails that "some" freedivers like--to artificially track their flutter kick for them...personally I see that like a purge valve on a snorkel.:-(

 

[dmaziuk]

If if you are looking for a fin for technical diving, there would be three FF models to consider.

In your dreams. In the actual catalog there's only one. ("Rip curl" blade might be flat enough, probably isn't.) And since my fin size is 2 smaller than my shoe size, and excles "whiskers not included" start at size L, there's between zero and no FF models for me to consider.

 

[TN Traveler]

In your dreams. In the actual catalog there's only one. ("Rip curl" blade might be flat enough, probably isn't.) And since my fin size is 2 smaller than my shoe size, and excles "whiskers not included" start at size L, there's between zero and no FF models for me to consider.

I am am probably wasting my time responding since you have no interest in diving Force Fins.

Force Fins sizing is different than other fins. For example, my wife wears a woman's size 8 (men's 7). She dives a par of L Excellerators. With 2 Comfort Inserts she dives them barefoot; with 1 comfort insert she uses a light soled bootie (Thank you Dan for turning us on to NRS - she loves them); without inserts, she wears a heavy soled boot. Now if your foot is smaller than that, I believe that you can get Extra FFs in ML and M. As I said before, more styles should be available in the next 6 - 8 months.

 

[lowviz]

... BTW, my intent is to build a minimalist "fun rig" so that I can either drift above the bottom while frog kicking or go exploring with whatever kick works best.

I dive for fun and (for me) it is fun to experiment.

Is about time for me to lighten up a bit from all my serious work on trim and buoyancy in sidemount and backmount doubles and goof a bit. A minimalist rig and freediver fins sounds like it would make a maddeningly interesting combination.

A couple of very recent PM's saved me a lot of money that I would have spent just to see if I can come up with something that approximates a frog kick using freedive fins. I can get the "experience" for far less of an investment. So, following the most expert of advice, I'm going to sink a whopping $70 into this adventure: Freedive Hunter Freediving Fins | MAKO Spearguns.

See, now THERE is real customer support, I'm not even a customer yet and they are saving me money that THEY would have made. :shocked2: Thanks!!!!

Kudos.

 

[gkrane]

I have a couple Mako guns and accessories and have always enjoyed dealing with them as a company.

 

[Rusty Roo]

Ah, but there's a problem with the idea... and the manufacturers might know this.

Sneaky marketing insider information: Demos are often a bad idea, particularly for premium-priced products, and in many cases hurt sales and brand perception. You see, people who have spent $400 on fins are FAR more likely to "feel" $400 worth of difference than people who haven't yet opened their wallet.

Right now you've got a situation where the only people that can speak of the virtue of such fins are those that are financially - and emotionally - invested in them. They will disproportionately skew more positive than negative because of a psychological self-preservation mechanism. (This is not just about $400 fins, but about anything with a high potential for buyers remorse.) If demo pairs of $400 fins were widely available, for every one owner's voice touting them as being great... there would be a thousand voices saying "I tried them and couldn't tell what the big deal was."

From a marketing communications standpoint it's far better to have one person telling the other thousand "I use them and they are great... and you can't question their greatness because you've never tried them."

I think there are a couple of people in here who very emotionally attached to their force fins.

hence why they haven't responded to this..........