Help!! Open Heel Fins - Snug Fit With Booties Or Room For Drysuit?

[peterbj7]

Yes, get two pairs of fins. My dry suit fins are larger than the ones I use for diving wet, because when I'm loaded up with the dry suit and dive gear I can't bend enough to pull tight fins on or off. I'd rather have fins a bit too big than too small and with some fins that doesn't matter, but with some they have to be exactly the right size or they're agony. Scubapro Jetfins are a case in point.

 

[Hank658]

Oh, I had a woman who owns a dive op in Belize look at me, with my X-shorts, my BP/W/long hose, and my tennis shoes, and say, "I've seen many things after 20 years in the dive business, but I've never seen ANYTHING like you!"

And I bet if there were any OW students or newly certified divers on board they went back to their Instructors and stated that they had just seen a real, live space alien dive with them!!

 

[Blair Mott]

I use one pair of XXL Excellerating Force Fins Excellerating Force Fin: Force Fin
with a Drysuit and then I put a sizing insert Comfort Instep: Force Fin in the Foot pocket when I dive in a wetsuit. I use just one pair of fins for both set ups. I have even put two inserts into team member's fins that have very small feet. It is just one option and the inserts can be used on any Force Fin model.

 

[peterbj7]

OP already has a pair of fins (excellent model) that work when (s)he's diving wet, so all (s)he needs is to get something a bit bigger for dry use.

I'm a big fan of Mares fins, and I'm on my nth pair of the two-slotted ones (I call them Duos, but I know that's not their name). I find that model flexible enough for recreational diving, yet stiff enough for when I'm carrying a CCR and two extra tanks.

I believe the Cressi Frog is also a good conventional fin, though I've never used it. I like Cressi gear in general for its quality and integrity of construction.

In general I prefer conventionally-shaped fins and really don't like split fins, though I have several different models and do try them from time-to-time. I think there's a reason most fins have evolved to be the same shape.

I do hear good reports of Force Fins and if I were buying now I might try them, though when I tried them years ago I found them a bit wide so they fouled each other.

The one fin I find I can't get on with is the one that many extreme tech divers choose, which is the Scubapro Jetfin (the heavy black rubber one). The footbed is too short for me and the fin creases my instep, making them extremely uncomfortable.