As usual Dan seeems to take things over the top and exagerates things....but I agree that the freedive fins are significantly better than open heel scuba fins for efficiency.
I much prefer full foot fins and they have advantages with having basically zero line trap potential, more efficient power transfer and probably fit better. However, if a diver needs to wear thick dive boots with soles, then the freedive full-foot footpocket is not going to work. Also, if you are wearing 7 mm mittens, a typical open heel, adjustable strap fin (spring or otherwise) is going to be easier to manipulate, especially if your hands are close to numb at the end of the dive and are therefore very weak.
If you are scuba diving in rough conditions, in say Maine and you might need to scramble up rocks in crashing seas, it might be advanatgeous to have fins you can pop on and off easily. Also for penetration dives in silty environments (which I avoid) I would believe that large freedive fins are not necessary and are probably a detriment.... how fast you want to swim in a silty wreck anyway?
On a small crowded boat with scuba gear, the long fins can be a pain too.
Also, in very rough water, when boat diving, a diver might easily be able to scramble up a ladder with jet fins on, while this might not be practical with freedive fins. I normally try to remove the freedive fins, before climbing a ladder, but again in rough water with thick mittens on and a ladder crashing up and down near your head, I can see where someone might choose a jetfin with a spring strap.
However, for areas where the diver can wear one (or sometimes two pairs of neoprene sock in cold water) the full foot long blades are superior when you get underwater. The question comes down to how much underwater efficiency are you willing to give up in order to have a more convenient fin on the shore, boat or ladder??
I have not put on a pair of jet fins in probably 3 years.
One of the other cool things about some brands of freedive fins, is that you can have them either in the full foot pocket, or open heel with strap. DD is correct, if you can use neoprene socks rather than booties, the power transfer is much better....a competitive runner would never cut the heels off of their $200 running shoes so some firends could wear them.....Dive shops like a one size or 2 size fits all inventory, and this is most likely a big reason for the prevalence of open heel fins in the industry.
For the use of my Dry suit, I had to have open heel foot pockets put on my DiveR freedive fins....fortunately, these fins are so superior to all other freedive fins I have tried, the only fins better than the open Heel Diver R freedive fins would be a pair of full foot DiveR freedive fins
I have done plenty of dives in 6 foot to 12 foot seas, and the freedive fins are no harder to remove than the jetfins or split fins--but will ALWAYS provide FAR MORE control in the water right up until you take them off.
The small boat sceanrio is valid for divers who do NOT use charter boats...on a small 26 foot outboard, walking around would be tough....Not that it is great in such a small boat even without fins
For this small boat scenario, I'd be doing the backward roll entry so I would not have to walk anywhere.....Since few divers on this board will be exclusively stuck with small private boats, this direction will only have relevance to a small number.
For rocky shore entries, fine, use the open heel version of the freediving fin so you can put them on just like you would Jets or splits.
The Drysuit use I put my open heel Dive R fins to make me much better able to dive efficiently than would be possible with jet fins or spplit fins..but then I don't really drift, I actually like to swim at an easy cruiding pace throighout the dive. Now in my wetsuit with the warm water, the open heel version of my DiveR fins is not hampering my efficiency in any measurable way.
DD is right about the ladder--you dont climb ladders with freedive fins on...they have to come off. My personal preference is platforms you can belly up on to, meaning the fins stay on till you are already aboard
