GearHead
Contributor
Well, I finished buying Jetfins with Spring Straps for my wife and I thought I'd share what we learned, so here it is:
For Women's size 8 feet, the XL jets are surprisingly the right size, and that's with a couple of pairs of socks, and soft-soled rubber drysuit boots.
When she tried on my XL Jets with just socks, her foot was in the pocket as far as it would go (limited by the top of her foot/ankle), there was little more than an inch of her heel sticking out at the back of the fin. There was a definite, but slight gap on either side of her foot.
In comparison, the foot pocket on the Large size Jetfin she tried at FifthD is ridiculously small, and the fin is maybe 3/4 the length of the XL. Based on my conversation with the staff at FifthD, the Large would only be appropriate for someone with size 4.5 feet or smaller.
Regarding the Spring Straps, I believe what we ended up with were the Medium size, 11" springs. I'm not sure how they measure the straps, but they seem to measure 11". I installed them myself in about 30 minutes with no issues.
When I finished and Tammy tried the fins on with her drysuit, her foot slid in there and then wasn't going anywhere. In fact she finds it challenging to stretch the spring enough to don and doff. There's plenty of tension to hold in a size 7/8 foot. A little silicone spray made all the difference for donning/doffing and now she's set with fins that will probably serve her well for the next 25 years.
Rick
For Women's size 8 feet, the XL jets are surprisingly the right size, and that's with a couple of pairs of socks, and soft-soled rubber drysuit boots.
When she tried on my XL Jets with just socks, her foot was in the pocket as far as it would go (limited by the top of her foot/ankle), there was little more than an inch of her heel sticking out at the back of the fin. There was a definite, but slight gap on either side of her foot.
In comparison, the foot pocket on the Large size Jetfin she tried at FifthD is ridiculously small, and the fin is maybe 3/4 the length of the XL. Based on my conversation with the staff at FifthD, the Large would only be appropriate for someone with size 4.5 feet or smaller.
Regarding the Spring Straps, I believe what we ended up with were the Medium size, 11" springs. I'm not sure how they measure the straps, but they seem to measure 11". I installed them myself in about 30 minutes with no issues.
When I finished and Tammy tried the fins on with her drysuit, her foot slid in there and then wasn't going anywhere. In fact she finds it challenging to stretch the spring enough to don and doff. There's plenty of tension to hold in a size 7/8 foot. A little silicone spray made all the difference for donning/doffing and now she's set with fins that will probably serve her well for the next 25 years.
Rick
