Glove promo is over/post reviews here

[Zippsy]

Wait, wait. Can somebody tell me how these are going to help my diving?

Added maneuverability. Added propulsion. Greatly improved gripping power when wrestling titan triggerfish. Warmth. As reminder to avoid interlacing your fingers, sucking your thumb or other silly looking things. Emergency replacement for broken underwater condom. Improved ability to play peek-a-boo with a clown fish. Camouflage so your fingers don't look like sausages to a moray eel. This list goes on and on.

 

[Codyjp]

Added maneuverability. Added propulsion. Greatly improved gripping power when wrestling titan triggerfish. Warmth. As reminder to avoid interlacing your fingers, sucking your thumb or other silly looking things. Emergency replacement for broken underwater condom. Improved ability to play peek-a-boo with a clown fish. Camouflage so your fingers don't look like sausages to a moray eel. This list goes on and on.

Hey Rainer, I ask it once and wallah! I get a clear concise answer. Thanks for the laughs buddy!

 

[DebbyDiver]

Wait, wait. Can somebody tell me how these are going to help my diving?

Debbie, I'm fairly sure it has nothing to do with you being a woman. I'm almost certain it has everything to do with the lack of any answers being provided by those who have reviewed them. There are lots of people who only add things to their kit if it is useful.

I'm not sure who Debbie is , but I did explain a benefit.

Too bad so many people can't read. To help those unfortunate ones, I will explain once again (this is growing so tiresome). I was in deep water in the Cay Sal Banks filming sharks and rays at blue holes. As they circled around and around, it was very useful to be able to rotate 360 degrees without using fins or stirring up sand. I was able to easily manipulate my camera and I got some AMAZING video and some great still shots as well. It took a LOT less effort to rotate using the Darkfin gloves than it would have been if I was sculling with my hands.

NOW do you get it?

 

[RJP]

It took a LOT less effort to rotate using the Darkfin gloves than it would have been if I was sculling with my hands.

NOW do you get it?

Absolutely: you are saying that Darkfins are for people who can't execute a simple helicopter turn without silting up the place. (This is actually a subset of the group that I suspect is the true target audience for the product, but that no one is willing to say or admit to.)

Helicopter turns are quite easy, allowing you to turn 360 degrees in either direction with a few simple flicks of an ankle, with the added benefit of keeping both hands on your camera. I guarantee that they are much less effort than turning with your hands - with or without gloves. Ask Kevin Metz to teach you how to do them. He's the one who taught me back when he did my OW certification a few years ago. In fact he took the picture I posted earlier in this thread.

 

[DebbyDiver]

Where did you see me saying that? I did not. I can execute a simple helicopter turn without silting up the place as you say (I've been diving for 30 years and I am NAUI Instructor 7188...there's a good chance I know how to dive properly...just sayin'...) I only used the gloves for ONE dive and they were awesome, but too hot and too small (I did post that earlier, did you read it???) I was able to get awesome shots without the gloves for the other 26 dives I did last week. I don't need to have both hands on my camera, it's small and I don't have strobes.

I dive with Kev and he's a really cool guy and a great shooter.

 

[Teamcasa]

Absolutely: you are saying that Darkfins are for people who can't execute a simple helicopter turn without silting up the place. (This is actually a subset of the group that I suspect is the true target audience for the product, but that no one is willing to say or admit to.)

Helicopter turns are quite easy, allowing you to turn 360 degrees in either direction with a few simple flicks of an ankle, with the added benefit of keeping both hands on your camera. Ask Kevin Metz to teach you how to do them. He's the one who taught me back when he did my OW certification a few years ago. In fact he took the picture I posted earlier in this thread.

Just a thought (I have not tried them yet) but if these gloves allow me to perform the same turn with a simple sweep of one arm, how is that a bad thing?

 

[DebbyDiver]

Dave, it's even easier than a sweep of one arm, a small wrist motion will do it with these gloves on.

Don't you get the feeling that some people are only here to stir the pot and they really, truly do not give a hoot about these gloves? If they truly cared, they would request a sample pair and try them out. We've written about benefits but they choose to ignore what we write and continue to insult others. They are beating a dead horse.

 

[RJP]

They are beating a dead horse.

Isn't that what on-line "bulletin board" websites are for?



As for trying them, my understanding is they provide little in the way of thermal protection. Bottom temps here in NJ are in the 50's currently. Can't see how I can reasonably expect to use them. Can you confirm thickness of the gloves?

 

[Teamcasa]

Debby, Sometimes it's hard to separate genuine curiosity from arrogance. Some of the old dive paradigms just have no room for anything new. I was diving back when a similar argument was made by the anti dive computer crowd. They were convinced that only unskilled divers wanted them. After all they had their tables and timepieces and why would anyone need anything else.

RJP's questions, from a marketing perspective were right on but sometimes it was hard to determine if he really wanted an answer or an argument, but I enjoyed the responses anyway.

BTW - webbed gloves are not a new concept and I have used (a custom made pair) back in 1973. I liked them but they just did not hold up very well.

 

[Teamcasa]

And of course there are these people