large_diver
Contributor
I was swimming laps in the pool yesterday and brought along my recently retired Mares Quattros to get some finning laps in at the end of my workout.
As I reached the end of my third lap with the fins on, I felt my right fin slipping off. I paused to reach down and rebuckle the fin (I have the older style buckles bought back in 2000 WITHOUT the little red locking mechanism on them) -- I noticed that the buckle had come off the fin. Thinking that it had simply come detached (and was still attached to the end of the dangling strap), I swam to the end of the lane and brought the fin out of the water.
Bad news -- the buckle was nowhere to be found. I found it at the bottom of the deep end of the pool (of course), and brought the fin and buckle back to the shallow end to re-attach. While doing this, I noticed that the small plastic pin in the buckle that you loop the strap around was also missing (also found at the bottom of the deep end).
This further confirms my decision to stop using these fins due to the following that I have experienced multiple times (except for the buckle failure) first hand:
(1) Buckles popping open while diving (likely solved with new locking system)
(2) Buckles are easily entangled in any type of line
(3) Buckles are not very durable, and given how easy it was to pop the pin back in that I lost, I expect that this pin is a frequent failure point.
The fins themselves are fine...I would just recommend replacing the buckle/strap system with spring straps.
As I reached the end of my third lap with the fins on, I felt my right fin slipping off. I paused to reach down and rebuckle the fin (I have the older style buckles bought back in 2000 WITHOUT the little red locking mechanism on them) -- I noticed that the buckle had come off the fin. Thinking that it had simply come detached (and was still attached to the end of the dangling strap), I swam to the end of the lane and brought the fin out of the water.
Bad news -- the buckle was nowhere to be found. I found it at the bottom of the deep end of the pool (of course), and brought the fin and buckle back to the shallow end to re-attach. While doing this, I noticed that the small plastic pin in the buckle that you loop the strap around was also missing (also found at the bottom of the deep end).
This further confirms my decision to stop using these fins due to the following that I have experienced multiple times (except for the buckle failure) first hand:
(1) Buckles popping open while diving (likely solved with new locking system)
(2) Buckles are easily entangled in any type of line
(3) Buckles are not very durable, and given how easy it was to pop the pin back in that I lost, I expect that this pin is a frequent failure point.
The fins themselves are fine...I would just recommend replacing the buckle/strap system with spring straps.
