I suppose you could say the same in snow skiing....there are people that feel that snow plow is just as good as parallel skiing, and they are just as right for using this as their ultimate technique, as a mogul skier or a racer is in using thiers....
This may be a reality some people live in....More of us, live in a world where results do matter....Many of us like the idea of using the technique, and the gear, that can allow greater precision, or more speed, or allow exploration potentials not available with lesser techniques, and some forms of gear.
Split fins as should be obvious, are the Snow Plow of gear, for Diving. A new diver with no coordination, no strength, and no desire to improve themselves, can quickly figure out how to move around with them...it may not be pretty, much like the snowplow, but many divers will not care about this.
The reality for me, is that split fins are so flexible and floppy, that they are very poor in allowing precision control....of course, if you will always be 10 feet off the bottom, never swim near any structure ( the thought of penetrating a shipwreck is repellent to you), and always gravitate to calm water without current, then really, how much control are you giving up? For this direction, maybe it means nothing.
Then there are divers that will want to dive where currents pass by large structure, this being where huge schools of fish will congregate, and where certain forms of corals and other marine life will concentrate as well....these divers need to be able to have far more precise control, than is possible with a fin that is so floppy that it is barely a control surface, no matter what is done with it. And when the current shove the diver this way or that, the rapid kicking of the splits will do little to address the sudden need for movement sideways or into the current.
I won't even discuss the desire some have for swimming into currents to reach an anchor line, or to help someone up current.....the split fin wearers won;t want to justify this as a reasonable issue. Similarly, they will never agree that anyone should want to swim at 1.5 miles per hour, or faster, for any reason.... So we are really just talking about control and precision. Splits are poor for this.
You can't really know this from an Internet discussion. You can react to advertising, and to advice of an instructor or shop...and you can decide your choice of split fins was a good one....many people love to convince themselves, that if they bought something, it was the right choice.
If you REALLY WANTED TO KNOW, you would want to personally get involved in a REAL DEMO. Just like with snow skiis...Few self respecting good skiers would want to buy a new pair of performance skis, without demoing them first. Unfortunately, divers as a group, are apparently not as smart as skiers. Divers apparently don't care enough about performance to think a DEMO is relevant, and apparently, when given the chance to try the alternative, a huge majority of divers will not bother....they have already convinced themselves that if they bought the splitfins, it must have been the right choice.
I just need to offer, that you can DEMO fins that will show Splitfins to be pathetic for control. Probably there are many places that you can do this, but due to the self congratulatory nature of so many split fin wearing divers, few shops get any where with the offers, and few people ever hear of DEMO opportunities.
I would love to get shops posting DEMO schedules for fins, so that divers all over the US could try Splits up against Jet fins, up against composite blade freedive fins ( the Ferrari's of Efficiency fins) and up against Force Fins. Here in Palm Beach, you can already get this. If you contact me, or Pura Vida Dive Shop, a fin demo can be arranged at the Blue Heron Bridge Marine Park.
The thing is, we can argue here for hours or days...or you can try it at BHB, and see in a few minutes how big the control problem is with splits.
If you have bad knees, or some other medical issue, maybe you did make the right choice. For most divers, training and technique WOULD have made Jets or Freedive fins or one of the advanced forms of Force Fins a much better choice for control, speed, power result, and comfort( no cramping). Part of this is technique you need, particularly critical for Jets or Freedive fins....Even Force Fins have a way they work better.....With splits, the real appeal seems to be that you just thrash them in the water, and they move you.
So who wants some free fin demos at the BHB?
My jumping in on this split fin issue one more time, certainly doesn't help me any....
