Trusted site for (fin) reviews?

[Aloha Joe]

We had one calm day during OW, and I found the Quattros to be pretty effective finning like that through the kelp. But the other OW session and my diving around Catalina was in swells/surges/tides and I had to do something different to get enough thrust. My natural reaction in that environment was short, rapid flutter kicking which is what I read the split fins are designed for, and hence this thread.

But, point taken: I need to find someone to teach me finning techniques for Scuba. I'm sure the Quattros are great fins with certain technique.

 

[tbone1004]

We had one calm day during OW, and I found the Quattros to be pretty effective finning like that through the kelp. But the other OW session and my diving around Catalina was in swells/surges/tides and I had to do something different to get enough thrust. My natural reaction in that environment was short, rapid flutter kicking which is what I read the split fins are designed for, and hence this thread.

But, point taken: I need to find someone to teach me finning techniques for Scuba. I'm sure the Quattros are great fins with certain technique.

going to short rapid kicks is what you will likely default to get through current, but going to split fins is just going to reduce your total thrust when you do that. Point proven by taping the Apollo split fins in that study.
The Quattros will do just fine with short rapid kicks but will hurt your shins a bit more, so slow the kick down so it doesn't hurt, or go to a dolphin kick which is most efficient and won't hurt your shins nearly as much for when you need it. You'll get there, but I think the split fins are an equipment solution to a skills problem at this point and are truly nothing more than a marketing gimmick

 

[rongoodman]

Try following someone within a few feet of the bottom and watch how much stuff those "short, rapid flutter kicks" stir up. Bad for the visibility, worse for the critters trying to live there.

 

[dmaziuk]

Try following someone within a few feet of the bottom and watch how much stuff those "short, rapid flutter kicks" stir up. Bad for the visibility, worse for the critters trying to live there.

Try follow someone who can kick properly, you might find the amount of damage to vis and critters is comparable to that inflicted by a passing manta ray.

My natural reaction in that environment was short, rapid flutter kicking which is what I read the split fins are designed for, and hence this thread.

Don't believe everything you read. I read that splits were designed to reduce the twisting force by allowing the inside and outside of the blade to move at different rates, that may not be true either. I am, however, fairly certain that short rapid flutter kicks is the proper way to do flutter kicks: fins, no fins, force fins, split fins.

 

[runsongas]

short rapid kicks don't work well with long blades, you want a deep steady stroke with those

 

[Sam Miller III]

AJ
Get up from your desk, work station or couch
Walk out side or better yet to a mall and observe the people...
You will notice there are big people, small people, thin people, fat people, some with big feet some with small feet, and sadly some with no feet.
There is no universal fin as there is no universal person.

You just have to experiment

Since you like to ask 1000 questions how about some home work?
Over the past 65 or so years there have been a number of fin test using a variety of subjects with a variety of sizes, experiences using the majority of fins produced in that particular era
Some that come to mind are
!) 1952 Lt Water Mazone,USN ASTI report ( He was later a Captain on Sea Lab ( research that also)
USN divers a variety of fin choices

2) 1955 Bill Barada, Water World, variety of subjects, variety of results (google Barada + diver)

3) Dr Tony Christensen, PhD UCLA the most comprehensive fin test ever performed and documented,
Once again no universal fin, but fin of choice for most was a stiff fin

I would urge you to return to you fuzzy faced instructor and consult with him (or her) about your swimming abilities and fin choices for your tender feet. Many SoCal shops will allow the use of fins for testing in their training pool

Then report back to the board with a report of 25000 words or less of the instructor's recommendation and your purchase ( and of course your testing at the Killer Dive Park) .

SDM

 

[Aloha Joe]

Your responses are not short. You don’t have to read, let alone answer, my “1000 questions.” Nor do you need to fill 2 pages of my thread with talk about southern cooking.

The technical info I’ve read on fins is borderline garbage. It sounds like it’s written by a lazy college kid who already has an opinion.

And my instructor likes split fins for Southern California diving.

Everything is a trade. Long, floppy fins for low energy consumption, short stiff fins for tight maneuvering... there are hundreds or thousands of designs and I don’t have time or money to try them all.

I’m doing my homework. Scuba seems to have a lot of topics that are particularly interesting to me since I love fluid mechanics and being in the water. And if you recall, all I asked was for a trusted review site to do my own homework - since my instructor recommended split fins and the community here seems to generally be against them.

 

[Aloha Joe]

So, how many times do I need to say, "you were right" ?

I'm an aerospace engineer and I gave an honest shot trying to understand how these split fins generate 'lift' as advertised. The explanations are pretty bad, and I believe it's because they are basically BS (ie, insignificant).

I picked up (used) Atomic Splitfins at lunch and compared them against my Mares Avanti Quattro in my front yard (which some like to call "the pacific ocean") after work. Not very scientific, but with the Atomics there was little to no wake and I made it about 1/2 way to the next lifeguard shack before I was sucking wind. With the Quattros I actually felt like I was getting rest and recovering from the Splitfins, and yet enjoyed a nice wake with lots of space between eddies, and I did about 2 lifeguard shack lengths with little effort and time. I never really got out of breath with the Quattros because I could slow my kicking rate down and still make thrust with long, slow kicks. This was mostly with flutter kicks, but I played around with some frog-like kicks and also with direction changes and the Quattro was better in every aspect.

I think my shins hurt because a) I probably try to kick too hard, b) people weren't exaggerating about the swells/surges I've been diving in, and c) the foot pocket could probably be a bit tighter.

Sorry if this wasn't enough words - I was busy learning, exercising, and enjoying life.

 

[David Wilson]

My response will be short. A fin review is only as good as its evaluation criteria. One of the best historical models of fin comparison is the US Navy Experimental Diving Unit 57-page, table-filled report "Comparative evaluation of swim fins" by W. G. Fischer, published in March 1957 and available online at http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/780665.pdf. It begins with what is scientifically measurable, including internal and external dimensions, buoyancy, hardness and stiffness, rather than leaping to subjective "approval" ratings as the decisive factor. I wish all modern fin reviews emulated this approach.

 

[stuartv]

the foot pocket could probably be a bit tighter.

Cool deal. Nothing like experiencing it for yourself. Especially if it only costs you $40. And especially especially if you can flip the splits to get your 40 bucks back.

Now, if you start looking for different fins that might fit your foot better, I humbly suggest that you at least consider the Deep6 Eddy fins. I have only tried about 6 or 8 different kinds of fins myself, but the Eddy fins have the most comfortable foot pocket of any I have tried. Also, I have let 3 other dive pros try mine (my shop owner (a tech instructor), my tech instructor, and another instructor at my shop) and they all got their own set afterwards. Literally, a 100% adoption rate among all people that have tried mine.

http://www.deep6gear.com/fins/deep-6-eddy-fin