Scubapro Go-Sport vs Go-Sport Gorilla

[jellycatsdad]

Well, turns out I’m a M in Scubapro’s universe for the Go and Seawing series. I wear a US 10.5M in Nike/On but my dive booties are a 9M, 5mm XS Scuba pair. Size chart said I was an L. I was having all sorts of weird fin issues and bicycle kicking. That was resolved when I demoed a smaller size in all the Spro fins(Go Sport, Go Sport Gorilla, Seawing Nova, Seawing Supernova, Seawing Nova Gorilla). I was able to frog kick in the Ms.

 

[Pearlman]

I am also US10.5 UK43-44 and I got me an M without a trial and it fit me perfectly. The thing I always keep in mind is my foot length in CM and compare it to any brands size chart. That way I don’t make mistakes.

 

[Pearlman]

Got my Gorillas last week but don’t expect to dive them until many months later. There’s nothing on the fins that say Gorilla and neither will I look like one when I put them on - only the barcode label on box packaging mentions it. And so I had to press and bend the center-tip of the Orangies to compare with the Whiteys just to confirm.

One thing that leaves me doubtful about the Gorillas as a fin-for-all-conditions however is that, on my last dive trip with the regular Go-Sports I had to do a sprint underwater to fight the currents and I flutter-kicked so hard and fast that both my calf muscles almost cramped! However to my quick relief I found my legs recovering from the brink. And so I actually think the slight floppiness of the original GoSport is a life-saver for such situations.

I am a person who on rare occasions wakes up grimacing and gasping hard because I cramped a calf muscle with some intense toe-curling in my sleep (magnesium supplements do not seem to help) so I am a little bit apprehensive about how intense finning with the Gorillas is going to be like. And I have had cramps on a few occasions while fighting currents too. It’s always a tense anxiety inducing moment when you are fighting hard not to be swept away and then you have to pause and fold over clutching your bent leg because of some serious cramping pain stabbing away at your muscles!

As such I have loved the originals because I forget I am wearing them the moment I put them on! They are so comfortable largely due to the design of the open foot pockets. To contrast - it took me mere seconds to try-on the Seawings on land and give up on them as an option because of the closed foot pockets. I wonder if the GoSport is the next best thing to split-fins in term of ease of effort and comfort, but I have never tried the splits so I can’t tell.

I hope the new Gorillas are going to be good for me to manage in strong currents. For the general use-case I think they should help manoeuver better with frog kicks and reversing while I am shooting videos. I was a little perturbed by the original GoSports - by what I sensed was the floppy fins lack of drive in the initial few frog kicks from a perfectly stand-still position, or the lack of feel and when reverse-kicking. Hopefully the Gorillas will improve upon it. In any case it feels good to have a collection - just like one has multiple shoe pairs sitting on the shoe rack…

 

[stuartv]

One thing that leaves me doubtful about the Gorillas as a fin-for-all-conditions however is that, on my last dive trip with the regular Go-Sports I had to do a sprint underwater to fight the currents and I flutter-kicked so hard and fast that both my calf muscles almost cramped! However to my quick relief I found my legs recovering from the brink. And so I actually think the slight floppiness of the original GoSport is a life-saver for such situations.

Or, perhaps if you had stiffer fins, you would not have had to kick hard enough to bring you to the verge of cramps.

I am a person who on rare occasions wakes up grimacing and gasping hard because I cramped a calf muscle with some intense toe-curling in my sleep (magnesium supplements do not seem to help) so I am a little bit apprehensive about how intense finning with the Gorillas is going to be like. And I have had cramps on a few occasions while fighting currents too. It’s always a tense anxiety inducing moment when you are fighting hard not to be swept away and then you have to pause and fold over clutching your bent leg because of some serious cramping pain stabbing away at your muscles!

I take potassium supplements to help prevent calf cramps. I take one tablet every day, to fight calf cramps at night. I take 2 tablets every morning on dive days.

Also, in rebreather diving, we say "don't let your workload dictate your breathing. Let your breathing dictate your workload." I don't think this is a bad idea for open circuit diving, as well.

In other words, if you are in a position where your primary goal suggests you swim against a current, but the current is so strong that you will become impaired if you actually make headway against it, then consider switching to an alternative plan. Even if that means aborting the dive. Working that hard does not just promote cramping. It also promotes CO2 retention, which increases your susceptbility to narcosis, CNS oxygen toxicity, and possibly even the bends. Getting winded, cramping so badly that you can't even really swim at all, and then running out of gas because you got narked and forgot to pay attention to your SPG (which was racing towards zero when you were really exerting yourself) does not sound like a fun time, to me. If you happen to be swimming that hard at your max depth, which could possibly mean at a ppO2 of 1.4, then the increase in susceptibility to CNS OxTox really seems like a bad idea.

Don't let your workload dictate your breathing. Let your breathing dictate your workload. If you have to seriously huff and puff, then slow down or stop and re-think what you're doing.

As such I have loved the originals because I forget I am wearing them the moment I put them on! They are so comfortable largely due to the design of the open foot pockets. To contrast - it took me mere seconds to try-on the Seawings on land and give up on them as an option because of the closed foot pockets. I wonder if the GoSport is the next best thing to split-fins in term of ease of effort and comfort, but I have never tried the splits so I can’t tell.

I hope the new Gorillas are going to be good for me to manage in strong currents. For the general use-case I think they should help manoeuver better with frog kicks and reversing while I am shooting videos. I was a little perturbed by the original GoSports - by what I sensed was the floppy fins lack of drive in the initial few frog kicks from a perfectly stand-still position, or the lack of feel and when reverse-kicking. Hopefully the Gorillas will improve upon it. In any case it feels good to have a collection - just like one has multiple shoe pairs sitting on the shoe rack…

When I tried the Go Sport fins, they felt awesome so me - until I changed from meandering along to putting a little oomph into them to catch up to my buddies. Say, going from Speed 1 of 3 to Speed 2 of 3.

The blades were bending to practically a 90 degree angle. In other words, I wasn't kicking anywhere near my hardest and yet I don't think kicking harder would have really made me go any faster.

I suspect you will like the Gorillas and your fears of cramping from being too stiff will prove to be unfounded. Good luck with them and enjoy!

 

[Pearlman]

Quick Question - any downsides to hanging the fins using the heel strap the entire year or will they cause a gradual weakening of sorts? I don’t have wall hooks right now that can use the holes at the tip of the fins…

 

[BoltSnap]

Quick Question - any downsides to hanging the fins using the heel strap the entire year or will they cause a gradual weakening of sorts? I don’t have wall hooks right now that can use the holes at the tip of the fins…

I do that no issues at all. I switched to the holes at the tip of the fins few days ago just because they hang more compactly. All other fins hang from their heel strap.

 

[Dr.fish]

Hi! Just checking in to see if anyone else has comments or updates on SP Go sport vs Go sport gorillas. I need new fins but don't have a store near me (or one that has these in stock).

I'm a casual rec diver, a couple of vacations/year. About 170lb and run so in pretty good shape. Just wondering if people are liking the extra blade stiffness and if there is a decrease in foot / ankle comfort.

Thanks!

 

[Nemrod]

Hi! Just checking in to see if anyone else has comments or updates on SP Go sport vs Go sport gorillas. I need new fins but don't have a store near me (or one that has these in stock).

I'm a casual rec diver, a couple of vacations/year. About 170lb and run so in pretty good shape. Just wondering if people are liking the extra blade stiffness and if there is a decrease in foot / ankle comfort.

Thanks!

If you are okay with only black or orange then get the Gorrillas. The little bit of extra stiffness is noticeable but not huge. I am about your size, 5-10 or so and about 170 (okay, still got some winter fat so maybe 175). I use a size large. A dive buddy has a size medium orange Gorilla and it does appear to be slightly more stiff in comparison to the standard medium Go-Sport. If you want blue, yellow, pink, white or whatever then just get the standard fin. I cannot imagine you would find them inadequate where the Gorilla would be, just not that much difference. Again, noticeable, especially when I need to accelerate rapidly from a stop. I also think the Gorillas back up just a little better but the standard reverses nicely also. Is the difference worth the price Delta, maybe not you, but I have so much money invested in dive gear what is a few more dollars here or there to get what I want. And I wanted Gorillas so got them and sold my standard Go-Sports quickly for a decent and fair price.

 

[Endler's]

Picked up orange Gorilla fins at LDS today. Do Go Sports come with the inserts to keep the foot pocket from collapsing during storage?

(They gave me cardboard box, but was empty.)

 

[happy-diver]

When the fins dudes were initially experimenting with fins of plastic, with rubber pockets
combinations of rubber and plastics and the flexibility of rubbers and plastics individually

where the top of the rubberish pocket would collapse, and the sole would concave out of
sympathy those shape keepers sort of worked or held off for a bit some of the deforming
but now with good blends like monprene, they hold shape forever, unless they are stored
under a cows bum like they do at the dive shop

So I have found