Warm water fins for frog kicking?

[bdshort]

My standard dive rig is a drysuit with SS plate, 30# wing, and XL jet fins. With a HP100 tank and a 16# belt, things trim out quite nicely. I'm setting up a warm water rig, which will be the same 30# wing with the new OxyCheq Ultra Lite Travel Plate. With a 3mm wetsuit, I'm worried that the jets may make me heavy at the feet, so I'm wondering if I should look for some newer lightweight fins (which will be better for travel anyway). The kick I've been using 90% of the time is the frog kick, so I'd like to find some good lightweight fins that will work well for frog kicks.

 

[ZzzKing]

I use a pair of large jets. Don't know if they fit you though. To balance them out you could put a pound or two of weight on you upper camband.

I just bought a pair of fullfoot CA snorkel fins for $19 on sale at the lds. They are stiffer than most snorkel fins but still more floppy than my jets. Nevertheless, they do well with frog kicks, helicopters, back kicks, etc. They lightened my travel luggage by several pounds. They do fine pushing me around with my ultralight plate and 18# wing with light exposure protection.

 

[jefffalcone]

OMS slipstreams are basically the same design as jets but neutrally bouyant. I use them and love them.

 

[Teamcasa]

I fully realize the Jets hold a special place for many here on ScubaBoard but for me, mine are in the closet resting comfortably after years of service.
Warm water dives for me involve air travel. That equates to weight and a reduced amount of stuff I can bring. So when I travel (by air) I take my Cressi Reactions (retro fitted with springs) or my Omega Flip fins. Both kick very well in a number of styles.

I use the flips fins when shore diving here and the Cressi’s for boat diving. (SoCal cold water and drysuit.)

 

[Bubbletrubble]

When I bought my drysuit a couple years ago, I had to buy fins with a larger foot pocket to accommodate the rockboots. Since then, I have been very happy with my Turtle fins retrofitted with XS Scuba spring straps. Large foot pocket and negatively buoyant. Great for frog kicks. Unfortunately, with the spring straps + cavernous foot pocket, when I dive wet, my smaller wetsuit booties really don't fit well. I wanted to get a lightweight alternative fin that would ideally have a fin pocket that works with both my drysuit and wetsuit boots. The solution to my problems was the APS Mantaray fins (a.k.a. Deep Outdoors Six Gill fins). The XL size has a foot pocket just large enough for my Bare Trek drysuit boots. The adjustable strap makes it easy to switch between my drysuit and wetsuit boots. The fins come in various colors with various buoyancy characteristics: slightly positive (blue), neutral-to-positive (white), and slightly negative (black). I won't say that the fins are super-fast or super-powerful, but they are quite maneuverable. Very good for the frog kick. Still, I don't think I buy into the company's dual-channel marketing mumbo-jumbo. IMO, the best thing about them is that the blade is lightweight and shorter than other conventional fins, so they pack up quite nicely in carry-on luggage (if you don't want to put them inside larger, checked luggage). Check 'em out if you can. The owner of the company lives in the San Diego area and will let local divers test-dive them for free. Nice guy.

 

[John_B]

OMS slipstreams are basically the same design as jets but neutrally bouyant. I use them and love them.

I found the Slipstreams to be too stiff (more like boards than fins). Still they are very good for the frog kick and they are definitely lighter and more neutral than Jetfins. Not so hot for the flutter or modified flutter kick in my experience. YMMV, depending mostly on how much flutter kicking you do.

OTOH, if you need a pound or two more weight toward your head, a regular backplate would work wonders vs. a fabric "backplate" or travel backplate plus a trim weight on the tank band. :shrug:

Personally I'm trying the Hollis fins next...

 

[battles2a5]

+1 on the Slipstreams. I dive them wet (XL) and dry (XXL). They are stiff but have tons of pop, more than jets IMO. I think they do the modified flutter just fine. I don't flutter unless for short distances against a strong current/flow.

If you don't want a paddle fin, check out the Mares Avanti Quattro. Very versatile fin and will do all the kicks that a paddle will.

 

[danvolker]

My ocean fins have always been freediving fins ( Omer or new Cressi Pro are good choices now), and carbon fiber Omer fins are amazing in the energy they "give back" to you on each kick.
I have unbelievable ease and speed from a frog kick with my fins..they would stink in the silty environment of a cave, but have never been an issue in penetrating shipwrecks....I am more into big ledges or natural structure than I am with wrecks, so again, the freediving fins destroy jets for speed/distance/heartrate-breathing rate issues...so far the only equivalent to my freedive fins has been Gavin scooters ( well, I could keep up for 30 minutes or so .
Dan V

 

[Mark Michaud SELAUSAR]

Buy a pair of 5mm zip up booties and use the xl jets. Acadenmy Sports and outdoors has them for $20.00. Your feet will not overheat and they will pick up the extra bouyancy you need. Been doing this for years. I have 2 pair of fins...both xl jets. Mark

 

[bdshort]

Hmm, I like that suggestions, and was planning on getting some new booties anyway. I was going to test the Jets in the pool anyway before I committed to buying anything new.