Split vs. Regular

[CRDiver]

A flutter kick with a split fin is the most efficient kick there is - you get the farthest distance with the smallest output of energy. A frog kick with conventional fins just can't compare - this has been rehashed dozens of times here and in print. However, frog kicks are not supposed to be used where flutter kicks are - the open water - so it's really not fair to compare the two directly. It's apples and oranges. Frog kicks are for confined areas, silty areas that must be enters slowly and carefully. Flutter kicks are not. Recreational divers don't enter confined, silty overhead environments. Hence, frog kicks are not the best choice for most rec divers.

Of course, all of this is off-topic. The original question delt with a good fin choice for someone with injured knees. Split fins provide the most thrust with the least amount of effort. Do they have downsides? Sure. Can they be delt with effectively? Yes.

 

[BIGSAGE136]

One can simply be versatile.

Ever see somebody use a knife instead of a screw driver?

 

[CALI68]

The word is STABILITY. Jets are the most stable fins ever made.

When you get used to them you'll never go back. The feeling of traction and precision is unmatched. You don't jump in the water with Jets and start flutter kicking like mad! You chill and work with them. For basic cruising a few light thrusts here and there is all you need. If and when you need to accelerate those things unload! Even Fin Guru and Split Fin Advocate Lepomis (university Professor and seriously OC Fin Fan) agrees! Look:
http://dive.scubadiving.com/members/gearreviews.php?s=534

 

[BIGSAGE136]

The word is STABILITY. Jets are the most stable fins ever made.

When you get used to them you'll never go back. The feeling of traction and precision is unmatched. You don't jump in the water with Jets and start flutter kicking like mad! You chill and work with them. For basic cruising a few light thrusts here and there is all you need. If and when you need to accelerate those things unload! Even Fin Guru and Split Fin Advocate Lepomis (university Professor and seriously OC Fin Fan) agrees! Look:
http://dive.scubadiving.com/members/gearreviews.php?s=534

So true. They also last forever which saves $$$.

 

[Jason B]

I'm going to disagree with the statement that the flutter is more efficient than the frog kick. For general cruising, I want the best gas milage I can get. That's what I "want".

The frog kick was around long before the current trend in "everyone being a cave diver". Talk about wannabe.

 

[CRDiver]

"The frog kick was around long before the current trend in 'everyone being a cave diver'. Talk about wannabe."

Yep, it's been around for years - WITHIN THE CAVE AND WRECK DIVING COMMUNITY, where it belongs. Now every Tom, Dick and Mary with a c-card is trying to be like George and JJ. I got an aquiantence who loves the frog kick. He also dives with a drysuit, Weezle Wear, doubles, and canister light in a local lake at 25 ffw in the middle of a Midwestern 90 degree summer. A proud DIR-F grad too.

Whatever trips your trigger I guess...

 

[Allison Finch]

I guess since I'm not a penetration diver and I prefer to use the frog kick (done correctly), I must be a wannabe.

I wannabe a diver who doesn't stir up the bottom.
I wannabe a diver who can adjust to changing conditions and avoid fatigue by selecting appropriate kicks.
I wannabe a diver who doesn't have to doggie paddle underwater to turn around.
I wannabe a diver who has a longer bottom time because I'm streamlined and more efficient.

Just because I'm a rec diver doesn't mean it's inappropriate for me to be skillful, even if you find it ridiculous.

Well said!!! I wannabe just like you!!! LOLOL

 

[Jason B]

The frog kick was around long before there was a cave diving community. I used to frog kick in the pool as a kid with my mask and fins on. You were maybe 2 then.

 

[Allison Finch]

"I dive turtles and jets and have a bad knee. According to your criteria, I must be a wannabee."

I don't think you're a wannabe for using Jets or Turtles... But you obviously need to work on your reading skills, since I never said anyone who uses any particular type of fin is a wannabe. In the context of this thread, by wannabe I mean someone who primarily uses a frog kick in a recreational clear open water environment. It's unnecessary and inefficient for that type of environment.

Since I've been diving longer than you've been alive, let me tell you something;

Frog kicks are very efficient everywhere. I don't know who told you frog kicks are only for tech situations, but you'll find out differently when you've been diving longer.

Yes, I've done my fair share of tech diving, but I've been frog kicking (almost exclusively) since the beginning. It's just plain efficient and comfortable.

You say very few rec divers use frog kicks correctly? Who do YOU dive with??? All my friends use frog kicks and use them very well (thank you very much). Be careful when you use supposition and state it as fact, my friend.

 

[Allison Finch]

OK...I think we're done bashing here.

It seems to be the concensus that "splits" are more efficient then non-splits. Next questions, What brand/model would you recommend and WHY?

I spent 30+ years in jet fins. I tried several splits and love some, hate others.

The appollos are too soft for me. I find them too mushy and difficult to use fine movements.

SP twin jets are better. They are stiffer than the appolos but I think that the venting is unneccessary to the design. They are still not stiff enough for me. I like precise movement (from years of caves) and require a pretty stiff fin.

SP now makes the twin speed fins. I love them. They are very stiff and they give me the precision and power I want. If they have a drawback, it is that they are very long. For beach entries, they can be harder. Luckily, I very rarely enter a dive that way.
I just barely flick these fins and get instant movement front back and sideways. See if you can borrow some to try.