Fin choice, etc.

Hey fellas and ladies!

So, I start my thesis soon. Cutting a long story short, I own split fins amongst a few other things. I know I will progress in diving and underwater because of my profession (MSc to PhD next year) - is it worth me upgrading to Hollis bat dive fins ASAP because of this?

I love UW photography and whilst my skills may not perhaps be worthy of a back kick currently, the [obvious] current plan is to be to do so.

Aside from this, my apologies on behalf of the New Zealand people for poor govermental decisions regarding the environment (Wait, what kinda mint?) I can't tell you how sad I am.

Cheers

Adam

Adam,

there is a long tread regarding fins and what beople belive they are the right ons here:
http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10568&page=6&hl=fins&do=findComment&comment=297990

As i wrote already in the tread above, it is my personal belive deriving from my experience wit several types of fins that:
- split fins dont work good for hovering and7or micro adjustments as they need some kicks to gain power
- long fins are generally better but will most likely destroy marinelife as they get banged to the bottom/rocks/reef
- rubber fins like the Bat/Turtle/jet fins are heavy (in your luggage and underwater, they can drag your legs down if you have heavy legs)

- if you use a drysuit with rubber fins, their weight is not a issue as you can modify your buoyancy introducing mor or less air in your legs

- Turtle and jet fins fins are very stiff and can lead to knee pain (at least for me)

- I personally use Mares Superchannel, Mares Avanti Quattrol+ and Jet fins for photographing

- i belive that shorter but wider fins are the best solution, for example: Dive Rite XP, Tusa Imprex, Zeagle Talon,

Chris

+1 on Mares Avanti Quattros. Great fins, used them for years. I switched to Scubapro Seawings 2 years ago and I love them. Good for flutter/hovering, very easy on the legs. The Mares would possibly beat them in a race, but the Seawings require less effort.

I only do warm water diving, so these are good choices for me. If you are wearing a lot of weight and thick exposure suits, I would think Jet fins would be the ticket.

After Avanti Quattros, Jet Fins and split fins I stopped looking when I bought Force Fins...

... the only fins that don't suit reef photography are the long free-divers fins that guides find strangely appealing. They are definitely for "stand-off" diving!

This really is a personal preference thing.

I have split fins and use them for my warm water diving and don't have any trouble hovering, backing up, scull kick or flutter kicking my way along.

It's all what you are use to. More important I think is getting a fin that will help your buoyancy balance/trim.

Like said above jet fins are heavy and will drag your feet down which is why I use these for my drysuit, best ever for drysuit diving IMHO.

While there are lots of opinions about fins, and what is "best" for a specific task, I recently had the opportunity to play around with a bunch of different fins. We were doing a team pool training exercise, and one member had just gotten some new fins. He and I traded fins because I wanted to try his out since they were a new model. That led to a round-robin of us all trading fins and testing them out. At the end of the day, I realized that after about three kicks, I couldn't really tell what fins I had on. That is, I seemed to subconsciously adapt to whatever fins I had on, and they all worked just fine. My take home was that a lot of this is simply personal preference, and experience with whatever you have been using. While there are clearly real differences between fins, in practice, I would guess that most people can do just fine with most fins. That said, I have been using Apollo Bio-Fins split fins lately, and have been happy with them. They are heavy, so they are good for dry suit diving, and I also have a second pair in white for my warm-water videography diving trips as well.

Two and half weeks until I get to Coco View on Roatan again - I can't wait.

3 days before Cocoview for me, will be there for 2 weeks.

If you like split fins, you better buy them now. I read an article last week saying at DEMA this year not a single manufacturer showed either a new or redesigned split fin model - all the new designs are "modified" paddles.

I really like the Force Fin Pro with comfort insteps. They're small, light, very easy to pack, and they allow for high-speed chases as well as subtle but extremely helpful maneuvers such as backing away from a reef wall by rolling your ankles a few times. You can walk around in them because they are so short and the blades are bent upward. As far as kicking efficiency and power they are fantastic as long as you are away from the surface, where they tend to come out of the water a bit too much. (If I'm going snorkeling or I think I'll be at the surface a lot, I use Apollo split fins.) But if you're diving in a current or trying to get away from a crowd, the Force Fins are awesome and their efficiency means extended bottom time.

3 days before Cocoview for me, will be there for 2 weeks.

Hi Paul, it sounds as if you will be leaving the day that I arrive. Have fun, and good diving.