Here it comes...Split-fins or Full fins?

[shellbackdiver1]

I have splits and love em. They have served me well and will continue to use them in the future....I hope. Never have had a leg cramp, been in some serious current and maintained headway with small flutter kicks next to big buffy burly young man using SP jets.

I also have a pair of light weight full foot paddle fins I use for traveling. They serve there purpose. Light weight, good enough for boat dives. Im spending a bunch of money to travel and then have to fight current...NOT. I drift with them. Fine tune my position for the perfect shot...its never happened but some day it will.

Finally, for the first time I am mentioning the word DIR. Gearing up for this I have started to look at and test full paddle fins. So far I have tried Tusa, Mares and SP Jets. I like the Jets cause they seem to help my bouyancy. Performance wise though they are the same as Tusa and Mares. Im not picky and a fraction of second over 50 meters is not that big of deal.

 

[BabyDuck]

i used to have splits. sold them after 4 months of diving & got jets...

anyway, my thought for the thread is - notice how the scuba mag diving lab doesn't test jets? doesn't test other older models? doesn't test for what i care about in a fin, but just speed speed speed? like someone said, they test who advertises with them. i got the new one yesterday with computer comparisons - where's the cochrane? where's the vr3? those were the ones i wanted to read about... yep, one and a half years of diving & i've outgrown this magazine...

 

[Jamdiver]

i used to have splits. sold them after 4 months of diving & got jets...

anyway, my thought for the thread is - notice how the scuba mag diving lab doesn't test jets? doesn't test other older models? doesn't test for what i care about in a fin, but just speed speed speed? like someone said, they test who advertises with them. i got the new one yesterday with computer comparisons - where's the cochrane? where's the vr3? those were the ones i wanted to read about... yep, one and a half years of diving & i've outgrown this magazine...

I agree with you totally Babyduck......
When I first started diving, it was one of my favourite magazines, I loved the glossy ads, the articles on destinations, gear reviews etc.....

Now I find that it doesn't meet my interests 100%.......
Lol I have an old issue of Advanced Diver magazine that I keep re-reading .

 

[jeraldjcook]

anyway, my thought for the thread is - notice how the scuba mag diving lab doesn't test jets? doesn't test other older models? doesn't test for what i care about in a fin, but just speed speed speed? like someone said, they test who advertises with them. i got the new one yesterday with computer comparisons - where's the cochrane? where's the vr3? those were the ones i wanted to read about... yep, one and a half years of diving & i've outgrown this magazine...

I completely agree, but I think there are valid reasons for why they test the products they do. What "average" recreational diver is going to use a VR3 or a Cochrane? Most LDS don't stock them anyway (Scubatoys isn't your average LDS). They test the products that are going to have the most appeal to the greatest number of readers. And, of course, marketing and money will always play a part. If customers don't continue to buy the newest, latest, and greatest fins (whether they are an improvement or not) there wouldn't be any manufactures left.

 

[longimanus]

After being very faithful to my old Tusa paddle fins, I decided to give a try to split fins a couple of years ago, mainly because of media hype. Got the SPro Twin Speed (not the Twin jets), took the 2 pairs for comparison. I knew splits were not meant for frog kicks, so used the twins with regular kick. But I couldn't feel a big difference. If anything, I was more uncomfortable having had to change from my usual frog kick. Also, they seemed more buoyant than my old Tusas. I haven't used the twins since then. But then, I borrowed some SPro Twin Jet (black, neg buoyant) from a friend for a divemaster pool stamina exercise where we had to swim as fast as possible. The twin jets were MUCH faster and easier than my beloved Tusas for this particular exercise.

As many people rightly pointed out, you really want to get fins that fit:
- your diving style, mainly your kick
- the environment you dive in (overhead, sandy bottom over which you prefer to frog kick)
- the situation (the divemaster stamina exercise for instance).

Turns out unfortunately that one can hardly bring more than one pair for a diving trip. I'm still tempted to get some new fins once in a while, but I end up being faithful to my old, non-fancy, never let me down $29 paddle Tusas...

 

[PerroneFord]

The splits would be more attractive to me if they didn't cost $150-$200... Sorry, but that's 3 months of diving to me.

 

[FastAttack]

Just remember one thing, we can all advise you on a fin , but ultimately a fin that might work for someone might not work for you.
Another thing I do want to point out is that you don't need to buy expensive fins just yet.
get comfortable diving then worry about which fin to get later

-----
Skip this if you don't want to read my story on how I choose my current fins
-----

I've had my share of Paddle Fins:

1) Aqualung Caravelles ( nice fins to "cruise" but sluggish and slow used them for my first 10 dives)
2) SP Jet Fins ( cramped the hell out of me)
3) Mares Quattro ( tried it twice went back to the caravelle, had pain in my knee)
4) Mares Avanti ( The faster I kicked, the slower I went lol)

Split fins:

Apollo Bio Fins XT with C-Spring (my current fins , which I love to death)

Why did I do this random switch?

well for one, I've had 2 knee surgeries, and I was looking for a fin that would give me least amount of strain on my knees.

the 2 top performing paddle fins were essentially either cramped the hell out of me or it actually made my knee hurt, so I started looking into splits.

After researching, I ended up finding out that a fellow SB member had multiple knee surgeries, and that he went through several fins until he used the Apollo Bio Fins.

I researched a tad bit more and found out that several magazines had posted reviews of the "competitor split fins" and somehow ended up back here , reading more about how great the fins are, and so forth.
Then I looked at apollo's website, saw the cool videos , and the statements they made ( which I was skeptical )

long story short, I bought the apollos and went with the ones with the Spring strap on them, and opted out for a stiffer model , the XT.( I wanted to feel the fin, and do some frog kicks here and there)

anyhow 45 dives later, I still have them.
I love them , my air consumption did go down as advertised (100 mins vs 115 mins on a beach dive) and I can do everything that a person with paddle fins can do ( frog kicks, going in reverse, flutter,etc.)

-----
Splits vs Paddle , the age old question, which seems to be debated a lot here.. You might ask me which one is better:
I'll simply say "whatever makes you comfortable."

have fun on your adventure

 

[RonFrank]

Hey Perrone,

I'd call ScubaToys. If you are serious about purchasing a pair, I BET they would be willing to send you some with the agremment you could send them back if not satisfied. I can't speak for them, but they do things like this on a frequent basis.