Gut reactions to this fin for a new diver?

[HamTrainChickenLaser]

Wife and I are getting our open water in Mexico and these look cool and reasonable value. Obviously not sure about the quality of materials at this price point and the fact that they are not a known scuba brand. Best to stay away? I like that they have springs, but of course if they get rusty as heck after the first dive I won't be happy.

I've heard to wait to buy gear but I'm just window-shopping right now and trying to get some opinions to learn how experienced divers judge equipment. I'm sure that the type of diving that I do will be a big part of the equation here. My wild guess is that we will dive on vacation in warm water destinations, but places like Gilboa Quarry in Ohio look really really interesting to me to!!!!

 

[lexvil]

Those are probably ok, I haven’t tried them but you may be better off putting you money toward some lighter fins for travel.

 

[Still Kicking]

As a traveling diver, I think the first things you should look at buying are a computer, an appropriate wetsuit (3mm?) and (maybe) a regulator. I would buy the reg and wetsuit from a local dive store where you can try it on and get the reg serviced when needed.

If you want some light travel fins with good performance I have found Scubapro Go Sports to be great.

 

[Cthippo]

My advice on fins is dive everything you can get your hands on. See if you can swap fins with other divers whenever possible. Look for fins at the thrift stores, try them out, and pass them along of they don't work. Matching fins to divers is pretty much either luck or magic and until you know what works for you, avoid buying new.

 

[Pearlman]

Those look more suited to cold water /dry suit style diving. Warm water deserves fins like the Scubapro GoSport or the popular Mares versions …

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Another vote for Scubapro Go fins.
Those fins you linked would be good for tech but probably not so good for regular fin kicking.

 

[inquis]

They look like they would be negatively buoyant and tend to rotate your feet down. That's great for drysuit or doubles (or both), but otherwise not so much. I like the Deep6 Eddy for neutral buoyancy fins; frog and back kicks are very powerful.

 

[Badger7]

Also, maybe take a quick look at the scubapro supernovas and/or tusa switch fins. They're both slightly more expensive, but if you buy the right fins first you'll literally never have to replace them. I thought breaking fins down in half for travel was just kinda gimmicky until I tried them, but makes a surprising difference in packing efficiency. I can bring a much smaller bag when I'm not bound by fin length. It doesn't hurt that supernovas are about the best all-rounder fins for tropical diving in booties that I've tried so far.

Here's the long term issue to consider - The water is like 83 degrees in Cozumel right now, and it was 38 degrees last weekend at Gilboa. I wear a size medium neutral scubapro fin with chuck taylors in mexico. I wear a drysuit with thick wool socks in neoprene booties and altimas when diving Gilboa with a size XL fin that is negatively bouyant. As you start to pick up some of your own gear, you might find that the diving cold freshwater up here and diving warm saltwater down there doesn't really lend itself to one-size-fits-all. You can make it work, and I don't mean to scare you off, but inquis is right, neutral fins work best when diving thin wetsuits, and you're not going to be diving a thin wetsuit in gilboa or white star or in any of the great lakes, so once you lock into the sport and start to shop for some of your own gear, try stuff out first if you can, and optimize for specific diving.

 

[rongoodman]

Another vote for Scubapro Go fins.
Those fins you linked would be good for tech but probably not so good for regular fin kicking.

I suppose it depends on what you mean by "regular fin kicking". I find myself using frog kicks about 90% of the time, blg ones, little ones, backwards ones...

 

[Rob9876]

As others have said, those fins look heavy for travel to me. Traveling with full gear, I'm always pretty close to the 50 lb. limit coming back with damp gear (even if it's been drying for a day), so I'd look for something light like the Scubapro Go Sport.

Be aware that there are a few different Scubapro Go ___ (Go Travel, Go Sport, etc.) fins -- some designed to be used barefoot, some designed for use with a boot/bootie. Personally, I prefer fins that accommodate a bootie (usually wear a Mares Equator 2mm short bootie) for both foot protection on shore dives (and snorkeling) and also makes climbing boat ladders more comfortable. There are also some of these fins that have the term "Gorilla" in their product name, which might be too stiff for a new diver. Along those lines, I have a set of Oceanic/Aeris Accel travel fins that are stiff as a board, but I've adapted to them now and I really like them -- and they often can be found for cheaper prices than the Go Sport fins.