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Having used the Hockey Fin, the Excellerating Force Fin and now the Extra Force fin, I can say that these fins perform at an entirely different level than you would imagine if you just tried the Classic Force Fins--the one's most likely for you to have come in contact with.
The Fins I am liking the most for a tech diver, are the Excellerating Force Fins or the Extra Force...and the whisker things--as much as I don't like the funny looking modification to how the fins on my feet look----these things do what Bob Evans promised they would....Essentially, under higher kick speeds and power, they "funnel" the flow of water --they concentrate it....and the effect is much like what you might imagine would happen if the fins were 2 feet longer.....it is like there is much more surface area, and I end up with a lot more I can "push against", meaning I can push myself through the water alot faster, when I want to. And unlike my freediving fins, these are easy to walk in, and easy to avoid hitting a low ceiling with in a shipwreck penetration.....The Extra Force Fins are the biggest Force Fin blades I have seen, around double or more the size of the blade on a classic force fin..2 or more times as long, and a lot wider. I really like these, and will be using them on the next half dozen or so boat dives......I will have someone else that can shoot video, shoot me kicking them at a full tidal rip by the concrete tongues at BHB--easy visual and speed comparison....and I'll do this with the Excellerators, the Extra Force fins, my Big DiveR Freedive Fins, my Jet Fins, and some of those nasty Split fins I will borrow from Force E or Pura vida. I'll get someone else to do this as well, so it will not be seen as just a quirk with me...
*Note** the Extra Force reverse kick much better than jet fins, in fact all control seems to be better for a exploration level tech diver than would be possible with a jet fin...and I will have some of my GUE buddies try these on, and comment on their idea on the jet fin comparison.
You do know I was using Jet fins in the late 70's and 80's, as well as the pair of Fara fins I had back then....and I used jets alot on tech dives with WKPP divers in deep ocean wreck penetrations...My point is, I know well what a tech diver needs....the jets get the job done inside the wreck...so would the Extra Force Fins--maybe with considerably more precision....
Outside the wreck, if you have to work upcurrent to an anchor line, or get somewhere fast, the jet fins are low-tech.....they are fine slow, but the low-tech nature is poor on kick rebound and efficiency of the full power effort with the thrust they return....the Extra Force are amazing for this...and the DiveR Freediving fins are amazing at this....unfortunately if you have to penetrate into a low ceiling environment, the DiveR's and their enormous length, are not going to be the right tool for the dive site.
---------- Post added August 22nd, 2013 at 07:07 AM ----------
***Note*** Just thought I should add one of the big deal issues that has kept the Jet fins hanging on to the lion share of the tech market ( aside from new initiates tending to get what their role models tell them they have been using for over a decade)....
The control surface of the Jet Fin blades is large....and quite stiff.....this is quite different than the vast majority of fins used by recreational divers--kind of the opposite of Split fins......So why is this a big deal? This comes in to play for two things......if you are in a penetration dive, and need to be doing a stationary hover ( no up or down or forward or back--just motionless like you are being held still by guy wires)--this could be in a narrow passage where you are laying line from your reel, or any one of several situations where this is a critical skill to avoid silting ( which could be very dangerous in this context).....So in this scenario, the big control surface of the fin lets a tech diver be motionless, and with only the slightest of foot movements--which get exaggerated by the large and stiff blade control area, the tech diver can make tiny corrections to their hover position, and the END RESULT is their having the appearance they are motionless.....If they had floppy fins with small blades, tiny motions of the feet would not be leveraged well, and the tech diver would have to have their feet much busier keeping themself dead still while working on their line or whatever they are doing....and lots of foot work means lots more mental work --which means you are pulling concentration away from the real job at hand--and potentially having trouble remaining in a still hover, and even potentially silting or worse.
The other advantage of the large stiff control area is for the frog kick....the obvious advantage for the jet fin or hollis fins, are that they become a stiff PLATFORM your legs pull into position, then you push onto this platform, and they have enough surface area and stiffness, to actually feel like you are pushing against a solid object----so with each "frog KICK", you can "shove" yourself forward....this uses very little energy or blood O2, and is very efficient for slow speed swimming...big kick and a glide....heart rate stays very low......the tech diver, in a penetration, will often need to dive belly to the bottom( within a few inches of the silty bottom), and they can not silt as they swim...so they have 2 kick strokes they can use--the main one, the Frog Kick, and the Modified Flutter ( where your knees are bent close to 90 degrees, and you flutter kick like a paddle wheel boat in the Mississippi ...The stiff and large control surface is awesome for both....and many tech divers feel their lives depend on this, so they take this advantage with the Jet fins very seriously....I imagine this is exactly what Wayne was thinking about, and why he and most others with big background in this kind of gear choice and environmental need, would most likely consider ONLY the Jets or the Hollis fins...the only ones known by the vast majority of advanced diver, to be able to function like this. And again, these people know that Splits would be the opposite, and the worst way to go for these critical needs....
The thing with the Extra Force Fin, is that it has a huge and stiff control area, and it is shaped to allow even more control than the low tech shaping of the jets or hollis fins....when I say shaping, think of hydrodynamics and flow...and how water can be concentrated over the fin blade as the fin is pushed at various speeds( power levels) through the kick cycle.
Evans made the Extra Force into something nothing like any other fin.....it's control surface is so much larger than the original Force fins, that it really can't be considered as having much in common with them....While the original/classic did have some of the smart hydrodynamic shaping of the blades, as small as they are, this was not created for the needs of the tech diver, but rather for non-penetration oriented recreational divers .
Even a "fin-junky" like me, someone that owns more than a dozen pairs of what have been billed as the BEST fins for speed and efficiency, as well as having the control fins like my Hollis fins or Jets....Even I had not been in contact with the Extra Force Fins until very recently....and these fins were mind blowing to me in what they could accomplish for me and for other divers with exploration or adventure in mind. So I would ask you keep an open mind on this specific type of fin.....You need to demo them to really know....it worked for me...Apparently it convinced John Chatteron to consider it THE FIN for his tech diving....it has worked for the small number of tech divers that somehow got exposed to a higher tech fin...a fin that goes against DEMA and the hype of the prostituted Dive Magazines in print....I am saying demo this fin, and see if it does not blow away the jets or Hollis fins....and for the OP, the foot pocket solves your problem #1, and the muscle specificity of what you use in the kick cycle with Extra Force, uses the big muscles in your leg best suited for doing work--also unlike jets....
The fins NEEDS to be demo-ed. Find someone! I am in Palm Beach, and anyone that knows me, knows I will always lend out my composite Freediving fins, or my new Extra Force fins, to a SB diver that needs to demo
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