So many fin options?

[ronscuba]

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 ?