Full Foot or Open??

[Dirk Pitt]

Just about to take my PADI OW dive licence......... and looking to get some fins.

Initially I would prefer to get open heel.... as I have full foot at present for warm water snorkelling. Are open heel the best sort for all round diving UK and abroad?

Also any view on Mares Quattro?

Any info appreciated.

Dirk.:devilish:

 

[Soggy]

If you are diving in the UK, you NEED open foot...how else will you get a booty in?

 

[bwerb]

I'd have expected more from Dirk Pitt...come on...I read "Raise the Titanic" and all the other Clive Cussler books...some people call them novels but I think they are more fact than fiction I'd have thought you'd be telling us what gear to use.

Welcome to the board.

I think that warm water is the only place you will see full foot fins.

 

[Walter]

Especially in cold areas - open heel. I personally believe Jet Fins are unbeatable.

 

[juggernutt]

If you only dive in the tropics..open or closed?

And should I go for a bootie or a slipper(low cut bootie)

 

[PaulB]

If you dive only in the tropics...it depends. I use an open fin with bootie when doing things like a shore dive where I'll be walking for some ways and I don't want to hurt my feet. If it's just a boat dive or a grotto dive, I use full foot.

I'd go for a bootie. The waters there are cold and with a low cut you may have a gap at your ankels where water will get at. I know I know, I can be a warm water whimp...be nice about it ut:

 

[Santa]

THe quattro is a good fin and everybodys got them.

I find that the open heel is very tough on the ankles though (and I wear big jets comfortably).

I'd always go with open heel. So many times in the tropics you have to wade from the boat through a boat canal full of dead coral and live scorpion fish, and although a boot is hardly protection against the latter it will save you some cuts that potentially infect and ruin your holiday.

 

[pescador775]

Offshore So. California freedivers wear FF long fins with boots. I never knew that this was an issue until I started reading Scubaboard. My preference is to wear socks with FF fins but I've used boots also. I don't see that as even a point of discussion in any debate about FF fins unless the diver has large feet. In that case, it might be necessary to use an OH fin. My rec for a strap (OH) fin is Quattro, XS Powerfin or Apollo bio pro. The best FF fin is probably the Mares Plana Avanti Tre. Like all FF fins, it is naturally faster and more maneuverable than comparable OH fins. In this case, the Tre has about the same performance as the Quattro with half the effort.