To split or not to split that is the question...?

[flots am]

. . .

 

[TotDoc]

I would bypass the splits, personally. They are very comfy for flutter kicking, but I found that the more diving I did, the less flutter kicking I did. The frog kick is much more efficient for diving, and gives you a lot more control over your position. Once I moved into frog kicks, the next thing I worked on was back kicking. That was near impossible in splits. I know there are a lot of people who dive split fins and swear by them, but I'm afraid a fair number of those people don't know what they are missing out on by reducing their ability to do more efficient and just plain better kicks. And yes, I know it's possible to frog kick in splits, but to me it always felt sloppy, so I was less inclined to do it before I changed into blade fins. Just my 0.02

 

[nimoh]

I would bypass the splits, personally. They are very comfy for flutter kicking, but I found that the more diving I did, the less flutter kicking I did. The frog kick is much more efficient for diving, and gives you a lot more control over your position. Once I moved into frog kicks, the next thing I worked on was back kicking. That was near impossible in splits. I know there are a lot of people who dive split fins and swear by them, but I'm afraid a fair number of those people don't know what they are missing out on by reducing their ability to do more efficient and just plain better kicks. And yes, I know it's possible to frog kick in splits, but to me it always felt sloppy, so I was less inclined to do it before I changed into blade fins. Just my 0.02

most people I know that use splits, use their hands for moving backwards. It works, but IMO moving backwards is much easier with a couple of back kicks.

 

[McGlencoe]

I used to snorkel quite a bit as a kid using my dad's Scubapro jet fin. When I started out scuba this past spring, the LDS gave me splits and though they were way easier to flutter kick with, I really missed to power of the jet fins. By about dive number seven, I moved on to an old set of Idi power fins and was glad I did as I got caught in a mild current that would've sucked with the splits.

Now diving with a set of F1s and absolutely love them. They took about 3 dives to get completely used to, but now I would not go back to splits for anything!

 

[Tigerman]

I found that when I started diving with a drysuit I could really tell that my split fins didn't give me much power in the water. The extra drag of the drysuit was enough to make the split fins completely worthless. I switched to a paddle-type fin and I'm much happier with them. Lots more power and I have the ability to back-fin and frog-kick more effectively.
...

Odd, I just came back from a dive now where the bottomn was mainly a thick layer of silt, the water temp was in the low 50s so I wore my 4mm crushed neoprene suit, a big steel tank and I was lugging a big wrench around - big enough to drop 5kg of lead infact and following the water intake pipe out from the shore the vis was short enough for me to be barely above the bottomn and I moved out and back in perfectly fine without a trace of silt being kicked up. And I did it in a weigh integrated BCD vest and split fins. What the hell is up with that? Thats not supposed to work, is it? And by god, I could frogkick as well

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

I tried some experiments with splits in the pool and here is what I found:

1. Kicking forcefully does not equal to additional thrust (like paddle). Just like I could control how fast I am going by adjusting the power of each kick, with splits it was not possible. Hence all these comments of splits not being precise. I agree 100%
2. Range of motion also does not equal additional thrust.
3. You have to get a certain rhythm going (with a certain range of motion). It takes a while to get moving but after that it takes a LITTLE less effort to get from point A to point B.
4. Stopping your kicks wont cause you to stop immediately.

In short, they are like an engine of a motor boat. Once then engine turns on it take sometime for the boat to move and when the engine stops running it takes a while for the boat to stop. The thrust advantage they theoretically promise is extremely limited compared to Paddles (barely noticeable) but the loss of control they gave was enormous. The whole experience felt like being in the water with extremely bad and very floppy paddle fins. I could be kicking frantically to move and be staying in one place and then start moving slowly when ...

 

[Tigerman]

You dont stop immediately with paddle fins either, you have kinetic energy that need to dissipate before you stop... (unless you take active action to slow yourself down/stop)

 

[Carlos Danger]

Over the years I have grown to prefer paddles for many of the same reasons stated. However, I feel that a lot of it really has to do with the individual design and how it pairs with your own personal biomechanics. I've used very good splits and very bad splits, same for paddles. If something works well for you, then I don't see that it really matters if it's a split or a paddle.

 

[tracydr]

Odd, I just came back from a dive now where the bottomn was mainly a thick layer of silt, the water temp was in the low 50s so I wore my 4mm crushed neoprene suit, a big steel tank and I was lugging a big wrench around - big enough to drop 5kg of lead infact and following the water intake pipe out from the shore the vis was short enough for me to be barely above the bottomn and I moved out and back in perfectly fine without a trace of silt being kicked up. And I did it in a weigh integrated BCD vest and split fins. What the hell is up with that? Thats not supposed to work, is it? And by god, I could frogkick as well

Maybe if you were 5'1" and older,you might see the difference. I had no power with my split fins when diving my trilam drysuit. I could do it but felt that if I needed to kick hard in current ( say to get back to the boat or shore) that I would have problems. My new paddle fins are just so much better.
But, lots if people like their split fins. That's fine, different fins for different folks.

 

[keller34]

I had a pair of splits...for a short(3days) time. I went back to my Jets and have 4 pair of them...I also have a pair of Forcefins but still take my Jets every time I am near water. I can stop easy, back kick, turn, and more just about 10 inches from the bottom without stirring up the bottom. Granted I just bought a new Stealth 2 and that helped with trim and Buoyancy control a ton but I could not have done that with my splits....each their own but I will never touch another pair of splits.

My son was all about split fins this and split fins that....until he tried my Jets