Jet fin challenge.

[FIXXERVI6]

I too was trying to be "open minded" about fins, so I bought a brand new set of SeaDive Z's for Cozumel, I hated them, but stuck with them for several weeks even when I came back to the local ponds, strapped on doubles and a wetsuit (dual bladder wing) and was cruising ok in them but had to kick a lot (fog only).

Got the drysuit out and went back to my black tigers (very stiff fin) and OMG I was like a freakin rocket through the water, after being used to kickin my @** off with the softer fins I strapped on my stiff ones and I was blazing trails, I was going a lot faster and easier in a drysuit and doubles then I was in cozumel in a single aluminum 80.

My jetfins are in the mail on their way to me now, soft fins in my opinion are useless if your the type of diver that moves around a lot, but not fast and mainly does frog kick, soft fins just have no thrust compared to the stiff ones for that type of diving, to me its like horse power versus torque, stiff + frog = kick and glide, super control soft + flutter = fast straight line, crappy control, gotta kick constantly, anyway that was my experience.

I'm foaming at the mouth waiting for my new jet fins.

 

[DrDuktayp]

I enjoyed reading this thread.

I have three pairs of fins that I use regularly-- Gray SP Twin Jets in Size XL, SP Jet Fin size XL, and my XL Turtles. Like scubakevdm mentioned long ago... each has an area that it excels in. I wear the Turtles the most as they allow me to wear larger rock boots with fluffy socks to keep my feet warm.

Someone also compared the fins to automobiles. I could agree with that, the Jets are quick and menuverable like a sports car on a twisting canyon road. The Twin Jets could be the 'Freeway Flyer'.

I'm keeping both styles of fins. I do have a set of SP SeaWings that I am willing to part with -grin-

DrDuktayp

 

[ch0ppersrule]

I used to dive with twin jets, but when you are in a current they kinda suck. I now use the jetfins and love them. I have no plans on going back to the twin jets. Jetfins are smaller and I can control my movement more with them. I also love the spring heels. 1000X easier to get on and off. It took me a while to switch fins, but I am so glad I did. I know people that swear by their split fins and refuse to use blades. To each their own and use whatever you are comfy diving in.

 

[wunat]

Can't help it and went out and ordered a pair of Jet Fin and spring straps.

I have been using Aqualung Super Rocket for a while and really enjoy using hard rubber fins since leg power isn't really a problem for me (though does get some minor cramp once in a while). Switched back to my old Mares Avanti-X3 sometimes (usually when doing confine water assistance), may be it could only be some psychological reason, they don't feel powerful.

Anyway, can't wait to try on the Jet. Most noted that the Aqualung Rockets are inferior to the SP Jet and some disagrees. Anyway, not I will be able to test them myself.

 

[yukoneer]

I wonder if there was a challenge as he mentioned, about diving with the long freediving fins

 

[DennisW]

Very good report Kev. Someone said that the Rocket fins were the same as the jets. Not so. They aren't even close. They are a very poor copy at that. I will keep my jets. For the diving I do, they are perfect.

 

[Santa]

I hope this isn't hijacking (if so just ignore the entry) but how about Jets vs mares avanti quattro, then?

I'm getting a supplementary set of fins (i've got some atomic splits that do my frog kicks no good at all) and somehow got the impression that jets would be good for northern coldwater stuff and maybe the mares would be better suited for tropical conditions.

But It's all just based on what I've seen people wear, and horsing around with the mares a bit, so pros and cons vs conditions anyone? (I don't use a drysuit)

 

[ScubaDadMiami]

I hope this isn't hijacking (if so just ignore the entry) but how about Jets vs mares avanti quattro, then?

I'm getting a supplementary set of fins (i've got some atomic splits that do my frog kicks no good at all) and somehow got the impression that jets would be good for northern coldwater stuff and maybe the mares would be better suited for tropical conditions.

But It's all just based on what I've seen people wear, and horsing around with the mares a bit, so pros and cons vs conditions anyone? (I don't use a drysuit)

I made the switch from the Quattros to the Jets. I had the original Plana Avantis, then I went to the Quattros. While I still have warm affection for the Avantis and Quattros (I still have them around someplace), I am sticking with the Jets. Nothing else frog kicks like them.

 

[erichK]

I used to dive with twin jets, but when you are in a current they kinda suck. I now use the jetfins and love them. I have no plans on going back to the twin jets. Jetfins are smaller and I can control my movement more with them. I also love the spring heels. 1000X easier to get on and off. It took me a while to switch fins, but I am so glad I did. I know people that swear by their split fins and refuse to use blades. To each their own and use whatever you are comfy diving in.

Do yourself the favour of trying later generation *stiff* split fins sometime. Twinjets, with the *partial* exception of the stiffer, black version, are really the ultimate leisure-diving fins, exspecially in their colorful yellow version. The footpocket are soft and pliable (great for big feet and drysuit boots) and these fins are very easy on the legs, though the original straps are nothing special. When I got back into diving a few years ago, the LDS owner talked my teen daughter and I into buying two pairs. They were great in the the fantastic warm water diving south of Cuba [say what you will about Fidel, he HAS protected his reefs!]. However, when we used them on a liveaboard trip up the straits between BC and Vancouver Island, I had the same experience you did: they did "suck" when in a drysuit, with steel tanks, camera, lights, etc, in real current. I especially cursed them on one occasion when I had to swim directly against the current in Johnson Strait. )Well I didn't really have to, but thought I did...the guy doing the briefing had got his directions backward, and corrected himself a second after I left the room 8-/.)

To our surprise, however, most of the other divers, all of them more, and most much more experienced that us, were also wearing split fins, but longer, stiffer ones. Last year, I got us Apollo Biofin pro Xt's, and I can assure that these massive grey natural rubber splits--and likely other brands of similar design--can really kick ***. Even the first pool try was a revelation. In my teens, I swam competitively and could really move, but I'd never sliced through the water as i was doing...forty years later!

We're keeping our cushy Twinjets for the cushy stuff, though I may replace the straps on the Twinjets with coil steel ones like those that the Apollos, we'd never want to trade in the foot pockets or the general comfort. Unless we really need the thrust. And then we go to big, stiff, modern split-fin Apollos.

 

[Scubakevdm]

I think achey feet means theres a problem that needs solving. For better or worse I dive with atomic split fins these days and if nothing else they're easy on my feet and ankles. Smooth enough.

Recently I bought a new pair of boots, though (oceanics). THey had a rounded sole that followed the curve of my foot, and wider tips than my old ones.

All of a sudden my dives were all pain and I contribute that to bad support due to the wide tips in the rather slender foot pockets of the atomics - and the curvature of the boot.

Could be your boots are wrong for the pocket - or as someone mentioned you've got the wrong size fin.

Sincerely
Santa

I just read through this thread again, and would like to address part of it before hyperlinking it into a current jet fin thread. First... the foot pain I felt in the beginning when I switched to the jets continued and eventually became quite debilitating. I feel strongly that this was caused by a combination of the "levering" I was feeling caused by the shallow foot pocket and the very soft soles of the booties I was wearing with the jets. I switched to a stiffer soled boot, but the pain did not go away. I am not a doctor, but I judged it to be a case of plantar fasciitis and treated it as such and made about a two week recovery. I have had no unusual foot pain since the boot switch.