Just Say No to Force Fins.

[djdalite]

Holy crap. How can fins cost that much

 

[danvolker]

Holy crap. How can fins cost that much

To me, the strange thing is that divers will spend almost a thousand on a BC, or more with 2 computers....and on and on....but with fins they are stuck with the lousy brands for around $100 or $200 max....
I think you should think of your fins as your engine and transmission....without this you go no where fast....
.If you built a supercar, that looks awesome....but put a tiny little lawnmower engine in it....all the money you spent on making the car cool, is largely wasted.

As a diver, getting fins that are optimal--for YOU...will mean you can do things and go places not possible for you with many of the bogus fins rated highly in print rags today....and sold at most dive stores. Sure you can get around on many dive sites....but often you are like a leaf in the wind when the conditions get hairy....Force Fins can be an excellent solution...and if you visit the BHB in Palm Beach, you can try a few models for free---and see what a big difference they make at the tide change when the current is ripping, or, what a great job they do in frog kicking along the muck bottom without silting...or, with modified flutter in narrow high silt areas where frog kick is to wide to fit...

Unlike the garbage brands ( think mares or scubapro Novas)....that count on huge advertising budgets and forced distribution into dive shops--really forcing shops to sell them....all Bob Evans really needs to do is to have a few places where divers can go to DEMO force fins in real and interesting ocean conditions.....Once you have done the A-B comparisons, the inescapable conclusion, is that these fins can take you to a much higher level. You would be able to do much more than you could with the garbage fins....If you were a car...would you want to be a clunker, or a supercar ?

 

[snowdog61]

In a nut shell - engineering, tooling, manufacturing and materials. Small production runs = large costs/unit. Injection Molds are extremely expensive and I'm betting the materials are not a generic off-the-shelf blend.

If you want to question costs...... SP Jet Fins should be relatively cheap at this point in time since that design & tooling was paid for a LOOOOOOOONG time ago. They shouldn't cost much over the materials that go into making them.

But you must also remember - if it goes on/in the water, you have to pay to play

 

[tridacna]

Those are Extra Force Fins with Speed Pods. Sort of like adding a turbocharger to a 12 cylinder 5.0 Liter McLaren.

M U S T have. When Bob when????

 

[danvolker]

And here is another thought
If you were an advanced snow skier, chances are, when it comes time to buy a new pair of skis, you would DEMAND to demo several brands/models of skis, to give yourself a true picture of which skis are really most ideal for you.

The dive industry is scared ****less about this as a concept....They DO NOT want demos of gear like fins...as it would eliminate sales of potentially 80% of their inventories....and Divers would then realize there are some widely divergent choices, and they would be shocked that a store would be selling the very bad fins that are so commonly pushed. Not that the store has much choice....they have to sell quotas of the gear the manufacturer has put in their shop...they have to sell the good, WITH THE BAD... A good shop may well have decided they really want the Scubapro line of regulators, and they signed on the dotted line to get scubapro in their shop....but now they get saddled with junk like the Novas, that overflex with the lightest of kicks, that won't frogkick worth a damn, and in fairness, probably the shop employees have not demoed enough gear themselves to know how bad these fins are in comparison to other fins....This is how pervasive the bad choices are in fin manufacture, by the big companies today.
"In the land of the blind..the one legged man is King".

 

[djdalite]

Hey I'd love to try them as I visit the BHB often, however that being said; is this something like the marketing that goes along with recreational diving regulators? A $1500 regulator doesn't mean it's better than a tech one for 1/2 the cost. Not to knock the product, I'm all about using good equipment, but a $700 fin sounds a bit like snake oil to me.

 

[danvolker]

Hey I'd love to try them as I visit the BHB often, however that being said; is this something like the marketing that goes along with recreational diving regulators? A $1500 regulator doesn't mean it's better than a tech one for 1/2 the cost. Not to knock the product, I'm all about using good equipment, but a $700 fin sounds a bit like snake oil to me.

The reality is you need to DEMO plenty of gear.... I think you will find little advantage between most of the better regs...but you SHOULD discover this for yourself---exclude all marketing hype.'
Fins are an entirely different kind of product than regs, and the poor technology of some fins, versus the brilliant technology of others, AND, the need for pairing certain fins with divers that they have been aimed at, all combine to spell out the NEED for the DEMO....the demo removes the marketing hype, and replaces it with firsthand knowledge.

Let me know when you want to try a pair of Force Fins....And no, I don't sell them or make money from marketing them....Fins and propulsion are just important to me...this topic is one of my favorite rants

 

[tomfcrist]

this topic is one of my favorite rants

Say it aint so.......


I think it may be worth trying a Demo Days type setup at the local dive spots....you could use Dutch, Rawlings, Ginnie whatever as a litmus test. try it a couple times and see what it does for your sales numbers....worst case scenario, you went diving for a weekend.

 

[Dave616]

Just say "NO TO FORCE FINS" for the next few months.... After 28 years we are changing the Game Plan, moving all the Santa Barbara Operations to our Pennsylvania production plant. Growing again we had to make the changes for the growth. Appreciate everyone understanding and remember just say " NO TO FORCE FINS ".View attachment 202107

I would sell my Pro's for a pair of those in a heartbeat. I need more power!

I would love to stop in the new shop sometime. I hope the move goes well.

 

[SubAquatix]

Welcome to the East Coast, Bob!!! Hope you'll take some time and come dive the Outer banks now that you are so close. If you do, you'll see me diving my pros!! Great fins, never cramp!!