OP
Texasguy
Contributor
Well, thing is, I love my gorilla fins. That is why it hurts. I bought them when I started scuba diving and I never looked back. Therefore, I never bought another set of fins, and now I have to borrow from my dive buddy while these fins are being shipped back and forth. So, I am concerned it might happen again.
I did just come from T&C liveaboard and I felt that one of the fins is weaker than the other right the first dive here, at home, that is when I found cracks on both fins, one, as you see, has almost propagated through. I felt bad because it broke but I also felt great that the crack did not present itself fully on a liveaboard. Boy, that would have had sucked eggs.
I think that these fins don't like giant stride entries. That is the only thing I was doing different on a liveaboard, 27 giant strides. At home I have mostly shore entries. I called subapro but they assured me that giant strides should be no problem, I am not 100% convinced.
But I like gorillas. I have, I think, rather powerful legs and I love stiff fins, allows me to make tiny adjustments with less fin movement. Surely it translates to requires more muscle power, it might not be for everyone, but works for me. Say, I tried other people's fins, they always seemed "mushy" after gorillas. It is like having mushy breaks on a car, you push but nothing happens, as if your leg goes through the motions but that movement does little of what you expect to happen. On the other hand, gorillas are like sport's car gas pedal or breaks, very touchy. Small movement and you get a major response. Though, you wouldn't want to wear them with untrained legs, I am sure such a person would get muscle cramps, that is why they have the softer version, the non-gorilla kind.
Plus, they look beautiful. I actually love the design. In terms of looks I don't think there is a fin that can hold its own with novas.
One thing that took me aback, there is NO WAY to tell a difference between gorillas and regular novas by just looking at them. There is no stamp on the fins that says it is a gorilla. I went to a store and they had all kinds of novas, gorillas and not (though not my size), and there was no way to determine what fin was what. Only a small tag that was hanging on the fin would say gorilla, if you are to take it off, I'd say, impossible to tell a difference.
Well, I took my fins to a local dealer so they would ship them to scuba pro. I actually had to prove that these were gorillas, there was like 5 mins of arguing because these fins don't have anything to differentiate them. Seriously, is there a way? Before, from that I remember there was a grey "S" on gorillas but on white novas it is also a grey "S" and they are not gorillas. It is a mess!!!
Anyone knows how to tell a difference? I cannot, sales people in 2 stores I visited cannot. I am very, very, very, afraid that in return I will get regular novas, not gorilla, and I will never be able to prove that...
I did just come from T&C liveaboard and I felt that one of the fins is weaker than the other right the first dive here, at home, that is when I found cracks on both fins, one, as you see, has almost propagated through. I felt bad because it broke but I also felt great that the crack did not present itself fully on a liveaboard. Boy, that would have had sucked eggs.
I think that these fins don't like giant stride entries. That is the only thing I was doing different on a liveaboard, 27 giant strides. At home I have mostly shore entries. I called subapro but they assured me that giant strides should be no problem, I am not 100% convinced.
But I like gorillas. I have, I think, rather powerful legs and I love stiff fins, allows me to make tiny adjustments with less fin movement. Surely it translates to requires more muscle power, it might not be for everyone, but works for me. Say, I tried other people's fins, they always seemed "mushy" after gorillas. It is like having mushy breaks on a car, you push but nothing happens, as if your leg goes through the motions but that movement does little of what you expect to happen. On the other hand, gorillas are like sport's car gas pedal or breaks, very touchy. Small movement and you get a major response. Though, you wouldn't want to wear them with untrained legs, I am sure such a person would get muscle cramps, that is why they have the softer version, the non-gorilla kind.
Plus, they look beautiful. I actually love the design. In terms of looks I don't think there is a fin that can hold its own with novas.
One thing that took me aback, there is NO WAY to tell a difference between gorillas and regular novas by just looking at them. There is no stamp on the fins that says it is a gorilla. I went to a store and they had all kinds of novas, gorillas and not (though not my size), and there was no way to determine what fin was what. Only a small tag that was hanging on the fin would say gorilla, if you are to take it off, I'd say, impossible to tell a difference.
Well, I took my fins to a local dealer so they would ship them to scuba pro. I actually had to prove that these were gorillas, there was like 5 mins of arguing because these fins don't have anything to differentiate them. Seriously, is there a way? Before, from that I remember there was a grey "S" on gorillas but on white novas it is also a grey "S" and they are not gorillas. It is a mess!!!
Anyone knows how to tell a difference? I cannot, sales people in 2 stores I visited cannot. I am very, very, very, afraid that in return I will get regular novas, not gorilla, and I will never be able to prove that...
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