Question Truefins

[scubadada]

Has anyone tried Truefins? I saw ad in Diver and went to the website for a little research

Truefin

www.truefin.com

 

[-JD-]

More on theory, little if any reports from what I recall, but ... relevant threads for your reading pleasure:

New TrueFin fins.... Any comments ?

Just saw a posting about a new Fin.. truefin.us has, what appears to be, a very travelable set of fins that break down into a very small package (for travel). Basically, a rubber fin with a set of removable (and tunable) side rails that stiffen the fin. Only down side (other than price) that...

scubaboard.com

Info - What is the "best" fin?

I have been intrigued by the Force Fin Blog post linked in A surprise ... and elsewhere. It claims to prove that Force Fins were more efficient than other fins, based on tests run by the “University of Buffalo,” and sponsored by the “US Department of Naval Research.” It presents the following...

scubaboard.com

 

[astr0b0y]

i really want to try these, they look like a very well engineered design. The price is a huge stopper for me in Aus though. Can buy a respectable computer for less here.

 

[johndiver999]

If they really have a noticeably better product, they ought to run some tests with divers from this forum.

I could see swimming measured courses in shallow water with maybe a 6 cuft pony and a digital spg and watch. Seems you could show better efficiency without too much cost, assuming it is really significant.

 

[-JD-]

If they really have a noticeably better product, they ought to run some tests with divers from this forum.

I could see swimming measured courses in shallow water with maybe a 6 cuft pony and a digital spg and watch. Seems you could show better efficiency without too much cost, assuming it is really significant.

They have done instrumented head to head mechanical testing.
How well that translates to fallible bio-divers would be interesting to see.

 

[buddhasummer]

Not loving the plastic buckles.

 

[OTF]

Interesting. Thanks for posting. I need to dig deeper into this one. Jury is still out.

Usually I am EXTREMELY skeptical of fin design gimmicks.

I don't quite "get" the spine design yet, but these guys might be the real deal. They seem to have invested a large amount of time and money into proper R&D, and are sharing information about it, even publishing a paper. The fins are made in USA not Asia. They actually share a ton of straightforward information here on their "technical" website Truefin Technical which I am in the process of digesting. Nice to see something real instead of the usual nonsensical marketing technobabble buzzwords used to sell most fins.

The price tag is high. Very high if your alternative is buying some 30 year old jet fins on ebay. However, if these people and their research are legit then it's well worth it to support a small business trying something new and doing real science to develop a better fin which is a costly endeavor worth rewarding.

 

[Truefin]

Greetings divers. I monitor this board, and didn't see this thread. I would be happy to answer any questions. Around six engineers developed this fin over several years. We did a lot of actual scuba diving tests but wanted hard numbers that only an instrumented machine could produce. A lot of time was spent determining the best geometry of the spines to produce thrust and efficiency, then FEA and bench break tests, as well as high speed 100 cpm machine long stroke flutter kicking was performed to optimize the strength. 3D printing was great to do the early geometry testing.. Spines are Nylon 6 with 30% glass,, bone hardness. We don't expect proble3ms with spines breaking, but they have a lifetime guarantee. The endurance machine flutter kicked 1M cycles at 40 cpm without breaking. We'll be doing more machine tests.. If we ever had to we would go to carbon fiber filled nylon spines, but I don't think that is necessary. Carbon fiber filled material creates accelerated wear on the injection mold tooling. The overmolded fin is Monprene from Technor Apex,, tough stuff, 72A Shore,,, the fin chassis is polypropylene. Worked to get a comfortable foot pocket. Currently only have Large, men's size 9-13. Medium is next up. Will also be molding the Green geometry an optional black color soon because of mil requests.. Some have painted the Green black, but the paint wears off. As I said, I monitor this board, but give me time to respond because I don't have a lot of time here.


Regards,
Joe Maresh
/Oregon

 

[buddhasummer]

I think changing the plastic buckles to perhaps the aluminium ones used by Tusa a few years ago would be better as it increases robustness. I've seen many plastic buckle break after taking a knock, plastic buckles kind of negate the strength of the spring straps. For me plastic buckles would be a deal breaker.

Good luck, I do hope you find success.

 

[happy-diver]

I have dived with that style of plastic buckle, from various manufacturers, in ocean conditions not condusive to life

ever since those buckles were invented

and have not lost broken popped cracked opened busted damaged any of them incuding the staps ever anywhere

Any other story is only hyperpoppycock


KISS, refrain from driving over your fins!