Force Fins Pro personal review

[meesier42]

its in the rubikon library, look for anything authored by D. Pendergrast

one of the ones he did proved that the Apollo Bio, when the split is taped shut, becomes one of the best out there as well.

I don't have a digital copy of one of the studies, that was done in 1993, the Navy paid for that one and has yet to sign off on its release to the public, as "it contains information that would cause significant harm to Force Fin's competitors" (not a direct quote, but as close as I can remember the FOIA response I got)

 

[BDSC]

I went to the FF home page and they have a link but when you click on it nothing is there. You would think they would keep that link current if indeed it shows a study where FF's came out on top of all other fins.

Maybe Bob will update the link. He may not know about the problem.

 

[simmonsjr]

And they have never outperformed any other fins in a scientific study. Has there ever been any fin tested in any real scientific manner? I have no idea how a test like that could be done.

Force Fin - ScubaBoard

Test of body mechanics Force Fins vs. conventional fins. As has been pointed out it does need to be run again to validate, but it is an impressive first step.

Jason

 

[Bob Evans]

BDSC, Good thing I am heading to the pool. I will hit the deep end first. Thanks for letting me know what's up on Web Site. Best Bob

 

[BDSC]

BDSC, Good thing I am heading to the pool. I will hit the deep end first. Thanks for letting me know what's up on Web Site. Best Bob

Have fun in the pool!

I was really curious about the study but when you click on the link it told me "page not found" or something like that. Maybe it's an older link and needs to be updated or something.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

My buddies and wife dive them and they seem like they kick alot more but they are easy on the Knees. I have jets and splits they make it easy to keep up with buddies/wife.

 

[Bob Evans]

BDSC, Yes, the link was down, thanks... I have clue what happened......pool was nice .Best Bob

 

[dk2943]

I was diving Atomic splits. I started out with Mares Tri's and got leg cramps. Moved to the Atomics. Real nice, no cramps, but no acceleration. Then I stumbled onto a pair of Force Fin Pros. The guy who was selling them hated them and sold them to me cheap. I felt I had nothing to lose. Took them on a cruise to Nassau. Yes, they are different, but I was able to adjust. I had no trouble keeping up with or, if I wasn't careful, moving ahead of the group I was diving with. Manuveurablity was great and so was acceleration. The next day the ship stopped in the Berry Islands. No diving but snorkling. When I was ready to come in, I simply turned on my back and did a backward bicycle kick, and off I went.

Last week I took them on a dive trip in Miami. My buddy was using Mares Quattros and I had no trouble keeping up with him.

I don't know what happened with you, but I had the complete opposite reaction. I have retired my Atomics and am thrilled to be diving the FF.

 

[simmonsjr]

LOL...brace yourself
FF lovers will likely say you were not using them properly...
Home court advantage of the King's Clothes....

Since this issue was so gracefully brought up; would you mind describing your technique while you were finning with them? As others have mentioned Force Fins do require a different kick style that a conventional fin.

 

[vixtor]

Since this issue was so gracefully brought up; would you mind describing your technique while you were finning with them? As others have mentioned Force Fins do require a different kick style that a conventional fin.

I am ready to learn from explanations and give them another try

What I have tried, briefly (the long description is in my initial post):

- flutter kick: strange feeling on the downward move (like you wear a beach slipper and its front part is turned away from your feet; ankles were tiring fast); ok upward move (against the sole), but with very little thrust. Remembering from some previous reading, I have tried a longer pause between kicks, to allow the fin to "flip".. nothing interesting was happening
- modified flutter: same feeling on the downward move, worse feeling on the upward move, when the movement was pushing my knees down, out of the horizontal trim
- frog kick: ok in terms of feeling, but underpowered - the fins were flapping to much without generating thrust
- rotating in place: beautiful, easy
- back swim: slightly better than with normal fins

None of the flutter and frog kick were generating same thrust as I other fins (and I am a very slow diver), and not enough to keep after my buddy. I had to make very fast movements in order to keep the speed. Not the fins I would like to use in strong current.

On the surface, I needed ~10 minutes for 100 meters, and I was exhausted. This is the kind of swim that normally takes 5-6 minutes in a very relaxed way, just enjoying the sun.

Hope this answers your question.

If you can explain me what I should do different in order to see the fins moving, I would love to try again. I normally prefer the frog kick (so if we can start the explanation from this kick, it would be nicer).