Jet Fin Mystery

[berty]

Went diving at the local quarry last weekend. Everyone in my group dives Jets with spring straps. One of the guys notices that my buddy’s XL Jets don’t look quite right. I also dive XLs. We compare the two. Unbelievably, the fins are noticeably different. At the tips, his fins are almost twice as thick as my fins! If you grab the fin near the foot pocket and gently flick the fin, there is a clear difference in how the blade snaps. Aside from the thickness of the blade, everything else about the fins are identical.

Is this a normal difference in manufacturing? I didn’t swim with the thicker fins to compare them, but I imagine that there should be a performance difference noticeable to those experienced with Jets. I did a quick search to see if Scubapro changed anything with the Jets recently, but came up empty.

My buddy and I bought the Jets from Leisure Pro(I know, I know), but I can’t imagine that they are still selling counterfeit stuff.

 

[Derek S]

Depends on whom you talk to.... (about LP that is...)

 

[Tanked Monkey]

I wonder which set is counterfeit? Your flexy ones, or my stiffy ones.

Mike

 

[DiveMaven]

One would think that there wouldn't be a difference in the fin thickness if they came from the same manufacturing plant. The plant would probably use injection molds, which would have a very specific amount of rubber that is being shot into each mold. In addition, you'd think that quality control off the line would easily pick out such an obvious difference if there was a mistake.

 

[Tanked Monkey]

Oh yeah, by the way, there's different markings in the foot pockets of the 2 different fins. Mine (the stiffer ones) say:
X-LARGE
2

And Berty's say:
X-LARGE
1

Food for thought.

 

[DivesWithTurtles]

One would think that there wouldn't be a difference in the fin thickness if they came from the same manufacturing plant. The plant would probably use injection molds, which would have a very specific amount of rubber that is being shot into each mold. In addition, you'd think that quality control off the line would easily pick out such an obvious difference if there was a mistake.

Actually, Jets are not injection molded. They are made from solid hunks of rubber by big strong ex-blacksmiths with hammers and anvils.

 

[ABQdiver]

Actually, Jets are not injection molded. They are made from solid hunks of rubber by big strong ex-blacksmiths with hammers and anvils.

With rubber mallets, no doubt!!

 

[kidspot]

There have been numerous reports of differences in footpocket sizes and thicknesses, so it makes sense that those same differences may extend to the entire fin ...

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I numbers on the fins most likely denote different molds. Jet fins also use two different rubber compounds,a stiffer one in the fin and most of the foot pocket and a softer stretchier compound near the heel end of the foot pocket starting at about the point where the arch of your foot would be. The location of where the change in rubber types occurs varies quite a bit in different fins so some variance in the thickness of the fin tip does not surprise me nor alarm me.