So many fin options?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

New diver - looking at scoring some fins today; and am slowly figuring out the rest of my gear. One thing I didn't anticipate is so many different fin options! How does one decide?

Any advice on what I should be looking for? I have wetsuit and boots; can I use the same pair of open heel fins with and without boots? I'm a generally strong swimmer without fins, and sadly didn't take not of what fins I was using with the rental gear on my dives recently.

So - any advice would be great!

So many fin options because many different kinds of diving. Some will disagree, but fin design and stiffness can make a fin more suitable for a specific type of diving.

Cave, wreck penetration, cold water divers will generally like to frog kick and prefer a stiffer fin. Warm water, leisure divers will generally like to flutter kick and prefer a softer fin.

How a fin fits your foot and boot is also a factor. Any slop in the fit will mean a loss in power and efficiency. Depending if your boots are thick or thin soled, will have an affect on which fin fits better.

If I were to start over at the beginning again, I would delay buying my own fins. Renting, trying friends fins, demo fins.

Someone used a bicycle as an analogy. If you were to buy 1 bicycle with a single gear what type of bike would you buy and what gear would you choose ?
 
Last edited:
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

Back
Top Bottom