Sizing advice please ...

[Carpster61]

I was doing my dry suit referal tonight in the pool before my final open water dives next weekend. The instructor had some fins in his car when I told him I needed some. They are brand new Mares Quattro Excels. They are size REGULAR ... When I wore them with the drysuit my toes could be felt squashed at the ends for the whole dive. I told the instructor this and he said I will have something else on as well as the dry suit and I should just adjust the strap more and they ARE a good fit for my feet. When I just put my normal feet in them, when my toes touch the end the rubber doesn't even reach the start of where the top of my foot starts to curve up.
I am a size 11 (UK) .... 46 (European) ... I have just seen a MARES sizing chart and for the size REGULAR the UK Mens sizes stop at size 8 ... !!! Size XL starts at 8.5 (43) and ends at size 12 (47) ... Logic of course tells me that I am therefore a size XL.
I have researched a bit tonight and I have read reviews of the fin and one guy said he was an American size 11.5 and the REGULAR fitted fine with 5mm booties.
Could people please give me their opinions, who wear Mares fins and have feet bigger than size 8. What Mares sizing do you wear please with booties.

Thankyou ...

 

[spectrum]

The heft of boots varies a lot, fin size tables are pretty worthless for this exercise. It they were to small find some that are bigger.

Pete

 

[Carpster61]

Hi Pete, the point I was trying to get across is that I don't know if they are small or not. They feel small but my instructor of 30 years plus experience tells me that with a bootie on and adjusting the straps they will fit. One of the other instructors fitted and adjusted them for me when I put the drysuit on and I spent the whole pool dive with my toes bunched up against the end.
To put it another way, are there any people here who are size 11 (UK) 46 (Euro) who use Mares strap fins and if so are you 'small' , 'reg' , or ' Extra large ' ... ??? Thanx.

 

[CT Sean]

I wear a 6.5mm US size 11 Aqualung boot (which runs small - actual shoe size is a 10-10.5) and the REGULAR size Mares Superchannel fits near perfect. they also fit very well with my older "entry level" Mares 5mm boots (US 10). I don't know if the sizing is different in UK but here, a regular is listed as US 9 - 11, euro 43 - 45

Regardless of all that though, if yours don't fit then they don't fit.