Replacement for Mares Quattro Avanti for my wife

[geoff w]

We've had Mares Quattro Avantis for around 10 years. My wife lost one fin in the surf during our rescue diver class in early summer. We tried the Apollo Bio Fin and Atomic split fin in our pool and she said she wanted the Apollo. Now that she dove on them over a couple weeks, she doesn't like them as much as her old Mares Quattros. She can't frog kick with the Apollos and they are harder for her to maneuver. Now she wants something else. It looks like Mares has a lot of newer, more advanced fins than the Quattros now. Any recommendations for Mares fins to look at that are like the Quattros, but "better"? Most of my wife's diving is in warm, tropical water (although I did get her to dive with me in So Cal this year), she's small (5' 2"), mid-50s and in very good shape. My local dive shop only carries the Apollo and Atomic split fins these days, so no luck getting any updated recommendations from there.

Her missing fin is a Mares Quattro Avanti, women's size small, in pink. If there is any place to buy the pink ones any more, she would be ecstatic!

I made the mistake of trying the split fins in my pool at the same time. I thought the Apollos were much easier to kick, bought a pair for me as well, and love them

 

[lmorin]

I like my tomato red Mares Avanti Superchannels, particularly with springstraps.

 

[Zung]

I just bought a pair of each Super Channel and Quattro NIB for my kids for about $30 each off eBay. They appear to be a bit more expensive in the US; there're 30 items listed right now, but no pink.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

The Mares Excel+ open heeled fins come in pink. They are the replacement for the Quattro Excel.

 

[geoff w]

Thanks for the comments. Both the Superchannel and Excel+ look like improvements to the Quattro my wife lost. From the Mares web pages, it's hard to tell the relative strengths and weaknesses of each, especially compared to the Quattro. Has anyone personally tried any two or all three and can provide a subjective comparison. I've read some of the online reviews from the Scuba Diving web site, but tend to be skeptical about some of the comparisons since advertising dollars often come in to play for the reviews - it's hard to slam a product from a manufacturer who is paying you

Despite what my wife says and what I may have implied, how the fin performs is more important than whether it comes in pink or not!

 

[Zung]

How the LEGS and the fins perform together is even more important. Sadly, there's no way to find out unless you buy them and dive them.

Me I went through the original Avanti (Duo?), the Quattro, and now the Volo that come close to what I want, but I still long for the Quattro whenever the current picks up.

Keep the industry growing.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

The instructor I help uses Excel's and she seems to like them.

 

[noreastDIVER84]

I went from the Avanti Quattros to the AquaLung Slingshots. I never had any issue with my quattros, but after using the slingshots I will not go back to the quattros. When I am not in any current I can set their resistance low and they are amazingly easy to move, I keep them on their medium setting and they are great over all and can be used for a frog kick.

 

[redacted]

Here is an alternative: Mares Avanti Quattro fins size small - eBay (item 260662328534 end time Sep-14-10 09:54:47 PDT)

Seems to be plenty of new on ebay also but I thought the prices were excessive. Another ebay alternative is the older style US Diver Blades.