OP
I didn't get to dive last weekend because of tornado damage from Friday night, a week ago. But, I am glad for the rain delay.
I got in the pool today with a set of OMS Slipstreams, Dive Rite XTs, and an unexpected contender, a pair of Hollis F1 LTs.
I wear size 10.5 or 11 shoes (US). My feet are pretty narrow (C width, I think).
The Slips were size XL, the XTs, size L, and the LTs size Regular. The Slips and XTs were sized based on trying them on at the shop beforehand, so I believe they were all the correct size for my feet. This is all based on wearing 5mm Oceanic Venture booties that are my normal wet diving footwear.
I weighed them all in the pool using my digital luggage scale. I also weighed my Atomic Blades, size Large. The F1 LTs were 1.0 # negative. All 3 of the other sets were 0.4# negative. I have checked my regular F1s (size XL) in the past. They are 2.0# negative, IIRC. I was very surprised, at the time, that the regular F1s were not more negative.
My "fin test" was basically just two things. I swam around doing frog kicks and modified frog kicks, and I tried back finning.
The Slips were my least favorite, by far. They felt like my foot was bedded in a block of Jell-o. The foot pocket just felt totally mushy and the result was that I didn't feel like I had very good control of them at all. Frog kicks seemed fine. But, they were the weakest of the 3 fins for back finning. Maybe that was because the foot pocket was so mushy feeling and I had little control. I don't know. MAYBE I needed a size smaller. I don't know. I just know that XL seemed like the right size when I tried them on, and they just felt bad in the water.
The XTs were the fins I was expecting to win my little shootout. Most everyone here seems to love them. I like Dive Rite as a brand. They feel really stiff. AND, they are available in red and black, which is my favorite color combo (and the color combo of the Atomic fins I'll be retiring). In the water, they really did feel like I just had 2 plastic planks strapped to my feet. I wore them in the quarry first thing this morning, before heading to the pool, so got a longer experience with them than any of the other fins. By the end of the pool session, I was really getting a sense that they are so stiff I was going to start getting foot cramps. I could see where a strong kicker could really get a lot of speed with them. But, I do not have Pro-quality legs and my sense is that I would never really achieve the potential that the XTs offer. For frog kicking, they definitely had plenty of power and worked well. When I started doing back kicks I learned almost right away that my back kick is not nearly as crappy as I thought it was all this time. It really was, at least in large part, due to my Atomic fins just not being very good for back finning. The XTs were very finicky and unforgiving, though. If I hit my back kick perfectly, I got very good movement backwards. But, when I was less than perfect, those long planks seemed to counteract most of my backwards motion during the loading/return stroke. If had stopped trying fins after the Slips and the XTs, I would have ordered some XTs and been happy.
But then I tried the F1 LTs. I expected to like them the least. I have not really seen any detailed, credible reviews that made me think they were a contender. And I have F1s (non-LT), that I've had for 2 years, for use with my drysuit. I have never thought the F1s were that great. But, maybe it turns out that that is just because a drysuit and steel doubles are just that much harder to move around. The LTs felt good on my feet. The XT foot pockets seemed like they fit just a little better. The LT foot pocket fit well from my instep back to my heel. But, they felt just a little bit loose, side to side, down in the toebox. That was just a very minor feeling that is only a very small difference from the XTs. In the water, they felt much more maneuverable than the XTs. Moving my feet for the loading stroke in any kick was easier (less effort required) and also less likely to have undesired effects from sloppy technique. I think the shorter, less stiff blades made them a lot more forgiving of poor technique than the XTs. I expected them to feel less powerful than the XTs, too. But, for my normal pace (going, but not trying to really go fast), it felt like I got just as much speed as I did from the XTs, but it seemed like it required less effort. It felt like, if I was a really strong kicker, I probably wouldn't get as much as speed from the LTs as from the XTs - but I'm not that strong a kicker. At least, not for more than a very few number of kick cycles.
And the best part is last. When i tried backing up with the LTs, I was simply BLOWN AWAY!! I swapped around between all 3 sets of fins, so I tried each pair two separate times in the pool. Every time I put on the LTs and started trying to back fin, I swear I was able to go faster in reverse than what I've seen some OW students able to achieve when they're trying to go forward. Comparing my best kick (techniquewise) between the XTs and the LTs, I felt like my most nearly-perfect back kick with the XTs was about as powerful as the LTs. Maybe. But, with the XTs, I could not come close to getting that kind of backwards motivation on every kick. Maybe 1 out of every 3 or 4 strokes with the XTs would I really nail it with that kind of power. With the LTs, I could get myself going backwards and just keep going, kick after kick. They were a LOT more forgiving on the back kicks.
So, if my technique were better and I actually did some kind of physical training for my legs, maybe the XTs would be a better fin for me. But, for the real me, today, these F1 LTs are The Bomb.
The only question I have left for you all is, have any of you tried the F1 LTs and the Deep6 Eddy fins? I'm curious how they compare. I don't yet know how much the LTs will cost me at my shop. From what some of you have said about the Eddy fins, I suspect they may be very comparable to the LTs. If the LTs turn out to be a lot more expensive, then I may yet order a set of the Eddys. After trying all these fins now, I kind of want to try the Eddys anyway, to see how *I* think they compare.
I got in the pool today with a set of OMS Slipstreams, Dive Rite XTs, and an unexpected contender, a pair of Hollis F1 LTs.
I wear size 10.5 or 11 shoes (US). My feet are pretty narrow (C width, I think).
The Slips were size XL, the XTs, size L, and the LTs size Regular. The Slips and XTs were sized based on trying them on at the shop beforehand, so I believe they were all the correct size for my feet. This is all based on wearing 5mm Oceanic Venture booties that are my normal wet diving footwear.
I weighed them all in the pool using my digital luggage scale. I also weighed my Atomic Blades, size Large. The F1 LTs were 1.0 # negative. All 3 of the other sets were 0.4# negative. I have checked my regular F1s (size XL) in the past. They are 2.0# negative, IIRC. I was very surprised, at the time, that the regular F1s were not more negative.
My "fin test" was basically just two things. I swam around doing frog kicks and modified frog kicks, and I tried back finning.
The Slips were my least favorite, by far. They felt like my foot was bedded in a block of Jell-o. The foot pocket just felt totally mushy and the result was that I didn't feel like I had very good control of them at all. Frog kicks seemed fine. But, they were the weakest of the 3 fins for back finning. Maybe that was because the foot pocket was so mushy feeling and I had little control. I don't know. MAYBE I needed a size smaller. I don't know. I just know that XL seemed like the right size when I tried them on, and they just felt bad in the water.
The XTs were the fins I was expecting to win my little shootout. Most everyone here seems to love them. I like Dive Rite as a brand. They feel really stiff. AND, they are available in red and black, which is my favorite color combo (and the color combo of the Atomic fins I'll be retiring). In the water, they really did feel like I just had 2 plastic planks strapped to my feet. I wore them in the quarry first thing this morning, before heading to the pool, so got a longer experience with them than any of the other fins. By the end of the pool session, I was really getting a sense that they are so stiff I was going to start getting foot cramps. I could see where a strong kicker could really get a lot of speed with them. But, I do not have Pro-quality legs and my sense is that I would never really achieve the potential that the XTs offer. For frog kicking, they definitely had plenty of power and worked well. When I started doing back kicks I learned almost right away that my back kick is not nearly as crappy as I thought it was all this time. It really was, at least in large part, due to my Atomic fins just not being very good for back finning. The XTs were very finicky and unforgiving, though. If I hit my back kick perfectly, I got very good movement backwards. But, when I was less than perfect, those long planks seemed to counteract most of my backwards motion during the loading/return stroke. If had stopped trying fins after the Slips and the XTs, I would have ordered some XTs and been happy.
But then I tried the F1 LTs. I expected to like them the least. I have not really seen any detailed, credible reviews that made me think they were a contender. And I have F1s (non-LT), that I've had for 2 years, for use with my drysuit. I have never thought the F1s were that great. But, maybe it turns out that that is just because a drysuit and steel doubles are just that much harder to move around. The LTs felt good on my feet. The XT foot pockets seemed like they fit just a little better. The LT foot pocket fit well from my instep back to my heel. But, they felt just a little bit loose, side to side, down in the toebox. That was just a very minor feeling that is only a very small difference from the XTs. In the water, they felt much more maneuverable than the XTs. Moving my feet for the loading stroke in any kick was easier (less effort required) and also less likely to have undesired effects from sloppy technique. I think the shorter, less stiff blades made them a lot more forgiving of poor technique than the XTs. I expected them to feel less powerful than the XTs, too. But, for my normal pace (going, but not trying to really go fast), it felt like I got just as much speed as I did from the XTs, but it seemed like it required less effort. It felt like, if I was a really strong kicker, I probably wouldn't get as much as speed from the LTs as from the XTs - but I'm not that strong a kicker. At least, not for more than a very few number of kick cycles.
And the best part is last. When i tried backing up with the LTs, I was simply BLOWN AWAY!! I swapped around between all 3 sets of fins, so I tried each pair two separate times in the pool. Every time I put on the LTs and started trying to back fin, I swear I was able to go faster in reverse than what I've seen some OW students able to achieve when they're trying to go forward. Comparing my best kick (techniquewise) between the XTs and the LTs, I felt like my most nearly-perfect back kick with the XTs was about as powerful as the LTs. Maybe. But, with the XTs, I could not come close to getting that kind of backwards motivation on every kick. Maybe 1 out of every 3 or 4 strokes with the XTs would I really nail it with that kind of power. With the LTs, I could get myself going backwards and just keep going, kick after kick. They were a LOT more forgiving on the back kicks.
So, if my technique were better and I actually did some kind of physical training for my legs, maybe the XTs would be a better fin for me. But, for the real me, today, these F1 LTs are The Bomb.
The only question I have left for you all is, have any of you tried the F1 LTs and the Deep6 Eddy fins? I'm curious how they compare. I don't yet know how much the LTs will cost me at my shop. From what some of you have said about the Eddy fins, I suspect they may be very comparable to the LTs. If the LTs turn out to be a lot more expensive, then I may yet order a set of the Eddys. After trying all these fins now, I kind of want to try the Eddys anyway, to see how *I* think they compare.
