Full foot DIVING Fins - Recommendation

[Hillmorton Scubie]

I would like your recommendations and experience for a pair of Full foot diving (not snorkelling) fins.
Here are my details and requirements.
I am not a new diver and so already own fins. I want a new pair of "full footers" solely for warm water dive trips. I want them to be durable and strong rather than cheap and flimsy. They need to be tough enough to handle currents when required. (Cozumel).
Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[scubafanatic]

Apollo Full Foot Bio Fins

 

[BDSC]

Mares Avanti Superchannel Full Foot Fin discounts on sale Mares

These are excellent fins and are highly rated by other divers. These are the ones I use when going to all of the Caribbean destinations except Bonaire. Great price as well.

 

[danvolker]

I would like your recommendations and experience for a pair of Full foot diving (not snorkelling) fins.
Here are my details and requirements.
I am not a new diver and so already own fins. I want a new pair of "full footers" solely for warm water dive trips. I want them to be durable and strong rather than cheap and flimsy. They need to be tough enough to handle currents when required. (Cozumel).
Thank you for your thoughts.

Freedving fins are actually far superior to virtually all scuba fins for warm water scuba diving ( bot not for cave or deep wreck penetratin where low overhead and silt issues are a concern).
they will allow you to handle much bigger currents with far less effort, and on typical dives, you will have better bottom time due to lower heart rate used to achieve the propulsion speed you desire.

Here is a link for an online store with a good model of freedive fin ( all freedive fins are NOT equal..these are good and relatively easy for a well coordinated scuba diver to use well)... Cressi Sub Gara 3000 Fullfoot @ Divers-Supply.com

and here is a link with several reviews. Cressi Gara 3000 LD Fins, Grey Reviews | 56 reviews | Buzzillions.com

Regards,
DanV

 

[cmburch]

I have the Apollo Bio fin Uni. Great fins. Sized large for use with lightweight booties. Out of production, so no longer available.

Mares has good long lasting fins with plastic blades. Can't beat the price. I have the old Plana Avanti 2 channel.

I would suggest trying out Waterways Captain Nemo with neoprene socks. #2 Stiffness. If there are shops in your area.

Carbon is the way to go if freediving. Nothing comes close in comparison. But not as durable as plastic and fiberglass blades.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Freedving fins are actually far superior to virtually all scuba fins for warm water scuba diving ( bot not for cave or deep wreck penetratin where low overhead and silt issues are a concern).
they will allow you to handle much bigger currents with far less effort, and on typical dives, you will have better bottom time due to lower heart rate used to achieve the propulsion speed you desire.

Dan, I agree with 99% of your opinions with regards to diving with freedive fins, for us.

For experienced freedivers "they will allow you to handle much bigger currents with far less effort, and on typical dives, you will have better bottom time due to lower heart rate used to achieve the propulsion speed you desire."

For the typical recreational diver they will require practice and even after practice may never give the results you speak of.

 

[Rescue Diver68]

I love my Mares Avanti Super Channel fullfoot fins, especially in Cozumel.

 

[Fishpie]

The Mares line-up of HP, Tre, Superchannel and ff Quattro are about the best non freediving fins.
The first 3 in the list are very similar and probably don't justify their price difference.

 

[diverdoug1]

The Cressi line of full foot fins a well made. Very nice for warm water travel. NO STINKIN BOOTIES!! I use the Gara 2000LD freediving fins (I wish they still made this fin, mine are 15 years old, and would like to replace them). I like the freediving fins to help me push my housed camera through the water. If you don't want to go with freediving fins, Cressi makes non-freediving full foot fins. I have noticed that a really good fit is paramount for comfort. I can kick all day in my Gara's without any irritation. I bought a shorter pair of Cressi's of the same size (but I guess are slightly different) that give me irritation pretty quickly. Before you take your full foot fins on a trip, I would suqqest vigorous testing to make sure they don't give you irritation with prolonged use. Some divers use a dive sock with the full foot fins, but then you are back to 2 extra pieces of gear, that can stink.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I use the Gara 2000LD freediving fins (I wish they still made this fin, mine are 15 years old, and would like to replace them). I like the freediving fins to help me push my housed camera through the water.

...

I can kick all day in my Gara's without any irritation.

I feel the same way about my Gara 2000's. Not sure how they compare to 2000LD's but I started with the 2nd gen Rondine Gara's in '90 (bought a used rental pair from Snorkel Bob's on Kauai for $75) and shortly after having to chose my Nikonos V over the kayak and fins in a North Shore big wave incident (winter '01-'02) inherited a pair of 2000's.

For years I only used them for snorkeling and free diving, and mostly used open heel Mares for diving (Volo's x2, X3's x2, ff HP's). A couple years ago I got tired of booties and started using the 2000's when working off the boat. Even guiding in caverns and lava tubes nearly every dive they were sooooo much better I now use them for every dive.

Here is an interesting Cressi history page;

1988
Rondine Gara fins - The nylon blade of the now legendary Rondine Gara was replaced by a polypropylene blade; this material provided a far superior elastic response. The already fantastic performance was increased even further.

...

1995
Gara 2000 - The new Gara 2000 replaced the former Rondine Gara. A brand new, patented injection system of three different materials made it possible to obtain ultralight high performance fins. Another Cressi record that is still unbeaten today.

A couple months ago a combination of recently dislocated finger and grabbing fins in a rush on a choppy boat ride caused one of my 2000's to "jump" overboard. I used the Captains full foot Quattro's and my old open heel X3's for a month before buying replacement 2000's (eBay), and another month waiting for the slow boat from Florida.

I am soooo happy that this weekend I will be back in Gara 2000's. Even though the full foot Quattro's are the "scuba" fins I recommend most, they are seriously heavy and slow compared to Gara 2000's!

:banana:

Cressi Sub 'Gara 2000' swim scuba dive fins. Size 10-11 - eBay (item 250708091636 end time Oct-14-10 19:00:57 PDT)

Had to wait a few days to mostly agree with Dan; for me the answer is full foot free dive fins for nearly every dive/snorkel. The reason I waited is because I did not want competition on the above linked auction!

Yoo Hoo; Cressie Gara 2000's for $72 shipped! I don't even have to take new photos.