Which Split Fin To Buy???

[SparticleBrane]

very expensive paddle fins

I'm curious--how can you say that paddle fins are "very expensive", especially compared to your Atomic splits?
Atomic splits: retail is $199, or $140 at Leisurepro
Jets: retail is $102, or $65 at Leisurepro
Turtles: retail is $110, or $88 at Leisurepro
Rockets: retail is $90, or $63 at Leisurepro
...

Calling paddle fins "very expensive", especially when compared to Atomic splits, seems a bit misleading to me...guess you have to pay for that fancy hole running down the middle of the fine somehow.

To the OP: forget splits and get yourself a pair of Jets, then learn how to frog kick. Everyone will thank you when you don't kick up clouds of silt...like all the split-fin divers...

 

[3-Ring Octopus]

There it is..the anti-split non-argument over silting. Bring your boards and I'll bring my splits and we'll see who kicks up the most silt... Silting is far more about BOUYANCY CONTROL than it is about fins anyday. Also..feel free to frog kick into a ripping outgoing tide and see how far it gets you... (Frogkicks/alternate kicks aren't the be-all, end-all of diving...in fact..they're pretty much garbage in any sort of current...where a splitfin excels by providing far greater thrust with less effort...).

Cheers,
Austin

 

[SparticleBrane]

There it is..the anti-split non-argument over silting. Bring your boards and I'll bring my splits and we'll see who kicks up the most silt..

Well...since I always stay horizontal, don't touch the bottom, and frog kick...and you apparently flutter...I'd say you lose.

(Frogkicks/alternate kicks aren't the be-all, end-all of diving...in fact..they're pretty much garbage in any sort of current...where a splitfin excels by providing far greater thrust with less effort...)

So that's why all the cave divers flutter in high-flow caves...:11:
Maybe you need to work on your frog-kicking technique...I've never had an issue with it in current.

Kicking up silt, while it is impacted by your buoyancy, is more impacted by flutter kicking. Mainly since the force of your kicking goes down instead of back. Ever looked at the trail most people make? They're fine, 2ft off the bottom and not touching it, but then there's that trail they make...yuck.

 

[djanni]

Well...since I always stay horizontal, don't touch the bottom, and frog kick...and you apparently flutter...I'd say you lose.


So that's why all the cave divers flutter in high-flow caves...:11:
Maybe you need to work on your frog-kicking technique...I've never had an issue with it in current.

Kicking up silt, while it is impacted by your buoyancy, is more impacted by flutter kicking. Mainly since the force of your kicking goes down instead of back. Ever looked at the trail most people make? They're fine, 2ft off the bottom and not touching it, but then there's that trail they make...yuck.

Maybe I'm just lucky but I don't think I've ever dived a site where there was enough silt to matter.

Inside caves, inside wrecks and from what I've heard, diving the PNW there's probably enough silt to matter.

If I dived those places I might (emphasis on might) change my gear but for now... all hail the fabulous SPLIT FIN!!!

 

[3-Ring Octopus]

Because water flowing through a diveable cave is comparable to a 10' exchange rushing out of the mouth of a jetty....call me when THAT happens. And if it is...you certainly won't be able to tell if it's the fins silting or the current in that kind of confined space...


I'm also not confined by the GUE/DIR mantra of stay horizontal. While I spend much of my time that way (GASP...a PADI trained diver who knows how to trim himself out AND gas management...wow..), I'm also free to swim on my side, back, stand on my head, or incline myself vertically to stare up at the moon in good vis on night dives...all without feeling bad or silting. And I know I don't silt in my splits...TSandM and I got into a discussion about this last week before I spent three days up diving the Sound. At both Alki (at depth...90-100') and Edmonds I was able to manuever within 2' of the bottom without leaving any silt trail at all. Not a grain... Hmmm...imagine that...split fins AREN'T the culprit for silt...maybe it's just bad divers? (God knows we saw a couple of those wearing board fins at Edmonds...bottom-crawling along the rope lines...we simply took deep breaths, cruised over them while waving, and exhaled to drop back down after passing them and their silt trail.. )

And again...it's a non-argument. When used correctly, splits aren't the silting culprit..bad divers are. Most newer splits have angled foot pockets to direct thrust (20 degrees on the Atomics I believe) BEHIND the diver, not below...the same can't be said for a lot of boards. Not to mention..the whole point of the Nature's Wing design is to translate downward force to forward thrust...physics demands that the thrust generated at the split is directed behind it. If the diver is properly trimmed and/or swimming a sufficient distance from the bottom, then all the force goes where it should. If they aren't, regardless of fin type, then they're going to silt.

Cheers,
Austin

 

[Tigerman]

Just to make it more messy.. I use IST Talaria splitfins if you want another option

And no.. I havent gotten complaints that I stir up silt.. I HAVE however gotten compliments that I DONT

 

[Lone Frogman]

Here's the only fin you will ener need!

And if it ever splits buy some more.

 

[RJP]

Here's the only fin you will ener need!

"When you're a Jet, you're a Jet."

 

[WeekendDiver]

I have three sets of fins - OMS, cressis and scubapro twin jets. It's all about the right tool for the job - when I dive dry I wear my OMSs - the splits don't have enough power and the cressis flop around too much. In no current tropical diving splits are just fine - very little resistance and I don't need any power. The cressis are somewhere inbetween though I find myself using them less and less....

 

[djanni]

Read TESTDRIVE in Sport Divers' April issue.

It's an article that will make your Jet Fin hearts flutter.