What is the context of your FIN preferences?
- Thread starter Doctor Rig
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Ayisha
Contributor
I personally didn't like jet fins. I found my perfect fins in the UTD Precision Neutral/Positive fins. They're the same size and shape as Jetfins but half the weight and with a deeper, more comfortable foot pocket. With the UTD Precision Negative fins, they're the same comfort but heavier like Jetfins.
If you're using a bicycle kick or something similar with the Jetfins, it will be difficult to get anywhere. With a frog kick, modified frog kick or flutter, they will move you around well. That foot pocket is not well designed though IMHO, with a short straight foot pocket that makes it unstable and potentially flops around, causing shin pain for some people. There are newer fins that take the same design of the fin and pair it with a deeper, more comfortable foot pocket for a better all around fin.
If you're using a bicycle kick or something similar with the Jetfins, it will be difficult to get anywhere. With a frog kick, modified frog kick or flutter, they will move you around well. That foot pocket is not well designed though IMHO, with a short straight foot pocket that makes it unstable and potentially flops around, causing shin pain for some people. There are newer fins that take the same design of the fin and pair it with a deeper, more comfortable foot pocket for a better all around fin.
As you can see in the picture my wife managed two different fins. She traded one of her fins with her friend because her friends was given her a blister so they both dove this way for two days. The funny part is my wife's fin is about 8" longer and the boat captain gave her some mermaid leggings so it was some look.
scrane
Contributor
I like Force Fins because they allow me to wiggle my toes and they cause some Scubaboard devotees to go apoplectic.
Divectionist
Contributor
CLoP
Registered
I use Tusa Solla fins and find it to be a good all around-fin: frog, flutter, sculling, etc. I tried the jet fins and found them too heavy. I tried the OMS Slipstreams and the ones that fit my boots have way too small of a blade. I tried using heftier boots so I can go a size up but it felt like my gear was wearing me and not the other way around. Overall I like my gear to be as minimal and as part of me as much as possible.
I use several fins depending on the application, My fin that I have been using since the 1980's is the Mares Plana Avanti I have replaced these fins with newer versions several times since my first pair. For most of my diving I am using an original pair of Scubapro Twin Jet Gorilla split fins (now named Twin Jet Max) and I have found that these work in most conditions including drift diving in a heavy current. For snorkeling and when I don't want to wear boots I use a pair of Cressi Free Frogs full foot fins. I have used many fins over the last 36 years of diving and found that there is no one size fits all for everyone and all conditions.
I have original Force Fins and have had them since the 1980s. They are essentially indestructible under normal conditions--they won't rot or deteriorate in sun, sea water or with age. Their kicking style is very different, due to the fact that they do not provide propulsion on the up-stroke. This is by design, as their theory is that the upstroke contributes to leg cramps and does not provide much in the way oh propulsion. But the require a very definitive down-stroke to take advantage of their very high recoil. As such, they make very good Scuba fins, and are easy to walk with on land too. They are made for a modified flutter kick, and are not good (because they fold) for a traditional frog kick. But they work very well with a modified frog kick, which when I was on swim teams in the 1960s we called a "whip kick." We would bring our heels up toward out buttocks, then whip our feet out and down with the tops of our feet providing the kick force. This enables the Force Fin blades to "bite" into the water, and provides very good propulsion forward. Oh, and the Force Fin foot pocket is the most comfortable on the market.
SeaRat
I use Power Plana's for drysuit and jet fins while wet diving, because the beefy siderails are very good for frog kicking+backkicking and I like a heavy fin on my foot while diving scuba because I only dive a twinset.
Every time I have to do a surface swim in open water I do curse these damn heavy fins, because if you're at the surface on your back, they just burn out the leg muscles so easily compared to the propulsion they give.
Luckily these type of situations don't happen often, but it does make me wonder if going for a fin like the diverite of avanti quattro isn't a better option if there is a chance there will also be surface swimming involved.
My favorite fin is actually the scubapro nordic, it's a jet fin with a flat blade without the jets, but also with the thick siderails.
We had these in our attic and I dove them a couple of times and I loved the feel compared to the normal jets. It felt like they frog kicked alot stronger. But yeah it's not like I scientifically tested it, they just felt very good. I presume they were only in production for a very short time.
Every time I have to do a surface swim in open water I do curse these damn heavy fins, because if you're at the surface on your back, they just burn out the leg muscles so easily compared to the propulsion they give.
Luckily these type of situations don't happen often, but it does make me wonder if going for a fin like the diverite of avanti quattro isn't a better option if there is a chance there will also be surface swimming involved.
My favorite fin is actually the scubapro nordic, it's a jet fin with a flat blade without the jets, but also with the thick siderails.
We had these in our attic and I dove them a couple of times and I loved the feel compared to the normal jets. It felt like they frog kicked alot stronger. But yeah it's not like I scientifically tested it, they just felt very good. I presume they were only in production for a very short time.
It's possible, although for all the talk about needing great, powerful legs for jets, you get a wide variety of body/leg types across the spectrum using them. I'm a small diver (5'2") in medium jets, and I was initially concerned about becoming leg-heavy, but good grief, I dive in a 3mm suit and my legs are so floaty it actually takes considerable effort to bring them down just to back kick. My own observation has been that not one kicking style suits all fins. My frog kick in my old Seac Propulsions was slightly different, much slower to avoid the flappy feeling of the soft fin tips. Jets are stiff so my kick is a lot quicker. It may be that you just need a little time to adjust to the way the fins feel.
Similar threads
