WETSUITS/MASK AND FINS WHAT BRANDS TO LOOK AT

[Fly One]

Looking for help on what brand of wetsuits and mask and fins to look at. I am in the process of getting my open water certification, doing the pool work now. I would like to have my wetsuit and masking and fins before i go and do the open water part. Most of the time i will be in the Caribbean and some west coast of Mexico. I am not sure what thickness to look at or what material. Any help would be great... Thank you .

 

[Marie13]

Mask doesn't matter as fit is what is important. Fit trumps all. Doesn't matter if a mask is cheap, if it doesn't fit, it's worthless. Anything a dive shop sells would be fine as long as it fits.

For wetsuits, I love my Bare.

 

[boulderjohn]

First of all, I agree with what Marie13 said about masks. For the rest, brand is not as important as are other aspects. There are a number of brands that are just fine in terms of quality.

With fins, it is a difficult choice for a new diver. The styles vary dramatically, and different people will give you very different advice, and they will be sincere in what they say. In some cases, they will not be sincere. I worked for shop that adopted a sales technique of pushing every potential customer to the exact same brands and models of equipment because by increasing the volume of certain models, they could get discounts that increased the profit margin. Many models of fin are very expensive, and if you sink your money into a pair, you want it to be a model you will like. A good pair of fins can last you for many, many years, perhaps your diving lifetime, so there is no sense buying one pair now and another next year besue you made a mistake.

Here are some general thoughts on fins:

• Split fins are very popular with basic divers. They are easy kicking and produce decent thrust with less effort. They are efficient with the flutter kick and do not do as well with more advanced kicking methods.
• Softer, more flexible fins are popular with divers with weaker leg strength because they are easy to kick, but they do not give you much thrust. If you dive with a pair of soft split fins, you almost feel like you are not wearing a fin when you kick, but you will go forward.
• Stiff blade fins are popular with more advanced divers and in fact are pretty much the only fins the most advanced divers use. They require more leg strength--if you are used to softer fins, the first time you use them, it will feel like you have sheets of plywood on your feet. They will give you immediate thrust, though, and--much more importantly--they work well with advanced kicking techniques. If you reach the point where you are diving in cramped quarters and want to be able to maneuver through it just using your fins to steer, that is the only kind you want to have. If the fins have wide sidewalls, that is a plus--in advanced kicks, you sometimes use them as a propelling surface.
• Fins come in different weights, especially the stiff blade fins. Sometimes you want that weight. Sometimes you don't. I personally use two different models of fins that look pretty similar and choose the ones I want for a particular dive based on the weight. I always take the light ones on dive trips where I am flying and every pound of luggage counts.

 

[boulderjohn]

As for wetsuits, the first thing you want to do is choose the thickness you want. Different people have different tolerances for cold, and you of course don't yet know yours. For the diving you describe, 3mm is a usually good choice for most people. It is what I would use in those locations.

The next thing to think about is a combination of fit and stretchiness. Some wetsuits are just plain tough to get into or out of, even if they fit you properly. This thread will give you plenty of examples of what can happen when a wetsuit does not fit well and does not have the amount of stretch you need to facilitate getting in and out. I tie the two together because I feel they are related. A good wetsuit fits well, with as little open space between you and the suit as possible. A suit made of a good quality stretchy material will fit your body better.

 

[oly5050user]

Talk to your instructor. This is what you are paying for,their experience and advise. Talk to store staff, again , it is their expertise you are buying with the gear you choose. Cannot get that if you go online to purchase.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Brand is not as important as fit as others have stated. For wetsuits, I like Aqua Lung's Aqua Flex line the best; They are most forgiving and stretchy so fit a lot of different body shapes as most of our dive group has this and we all vary in height and weight, male and female, etc. Start with a 3mm for that water. I'm a whimp when it comes to cold so my 5mm is my workhorse. I like stiff, non-split fins that are open heel with the use of boots but everyone's preferences are different.

 

[driftwood]

Regarding fins, the first choice you have to make is full foot vs open heel. Well over 90% of the divers I know and see chose open heel fins.

If you go down that road, get your booties first and when trying them on they should feel like any well fitting athletic shoe. While it may seem unlikely, you might have to walk some distance in them. I know that I have over the years. For my tastes, the harder the sole the better.

When you have good fitting booties, start looking at fins. Your foot, the booties and fins work as one unit and should be well matched. For me, some Scubapro fins are a tight fit top to bottom and Atomic fin pockets tend to be too wide allowing the fin to shift from side to side. We have different feet, will wear different booties and probably dive with different fins. It's all about what fits you. I wouldn't be afraid of shopping at different dive shops in your area looking for the "perfect fit".

Two things I really wish I had bought for my open water course are a neoprene strap for your mask and if you still have an extra $40-50 bucks, spring straps for the fins. Lot of time spent in OWC putting on and taking off both your mask and fins.

 

[Landau]

For open heel fins one feature to look for is spring or bungee straps. Makes getting them on and off especially in the water way easier. Many fins have these standard.

 

[Fly One]

Thank you all for the help. Great advice to get me started. Thanks again.

 

[ibj40]

I'll second the support of the Bare line of wetsuits. Been diving for over 30 years and my immediate prior wetsuit was a Bare Velocity 3mm; my current one is a Bare Velocity 5mm; and all my diving is tropical.