Background: I swim pretty regularly, but due to my new scuba interest decided to try fins for the first time ever recently.
I tried 3mm neoprene dive socks with a new $30 pair of shorter open-heel fins, and some longer full-foot speedos my pool had available.
Both felt absolutely horrible. I'm pretty sure the pool ones were bent out of shape, despite what they said. They were like a quarter circle.
But the other ones seem to be well-liked by many, many people (#2 best-selling on Amazon with a 4.6).
My issues were that my ankle/foot felt pulled way too far back, and the pressure was concentrated on the front of the foot on and right behind the toes. I have knee issues and they didn't seem too happy either.
Then I got some ML force fin originals for my size 12 feet. They fit perfectly. And all of the problems I had with the other fins just were not there. They were just comfortable, with the extra pressure being transferred to parts of my body that made sense. And it's definitely the fastest I have ever swam.
I do hope to try some more expensive "normal" fins at some point, but I don't see how the physics would work any differently than the $30 ones. If anything I'd think it would be worse as the fin blades would be longer and/or wider.
I tried 3mm neoprene dive socks with a new $30 pair of shorter open-heel fins, and some longer full-foot speedos my pool had available.
Both felt absolutely horrible. I'm pretty sure the pool ones were bent out of shape, despite what they said. They were like a quarter circle.
But the other ones seem to be well-liked by many, many people (#2 best-selling on Amazon with a 4.6).
My issues were that my ankle/foot felt pulled way too far back, and the pressure was concentrated on the front of the foot on and right behind the toes. I have knee issues and they didn't seem too happy either.
Then I got some ML force fin originals for my size 12 feet. They fit perfectly. And all of the problems I had with the other fins just were not there. They were just comfortable, with the extra pressure being transferred to parts of my body that made sense. And it's definitely the fastest I have ever swam.
I do hope to try some more expensive "normal" fins at some point, but I don't see how the physics would work any differently than the $30 ones. If anything I'd think it would be worse as the fin blades would be longer and/or wider.