I have Hollis F1, Atomic Blade, and Mako Competition Freediver fins.
The F1s are very negative and I only use them with my dry suit.
The Atomic Blades work better for me than the F1s for everything (except that they are neutral, and I need negative in my dry suit). I get more power and more control for technical kicks than with the F1s. I use the Blades for all my wetsuit diving, except....
The Mako freedive fins are my favorite. I actually use these for all my wetsuit diving - where I know I won't be doing any kind of wreck penetration. I'm afraid they're a bit too long for that. Plus, inside a wreck, I don't need that power anyway. They are way more powerful than the Blades. And they still give me great control for frog kicks and even back kicks. I'm pretty bad at back kicks, but I am best at back kicks with my freedive fins over either of my other sets of fins.
I have used the freedive fins for boat dives in rough conditions, and I have used them for shore dives off the Big Island (Hawaii) also in some fairly rough surf. They are a little bit tougher to don/doff than my Blades with spring straps. But, not so much tougher that I don't use them.
I did some dives with a friend of mine a few months ago. She was in a single tank rig with regular blade fins (i.e. not Atomic brand, but not split fins). I was in doubles and the freedive fins. Mostly, we were drift diving and staying right together. At one point, we had drifted off the reef and decided to swim across the current and get back on top of the reef. I turned and was leading. I was not trying to hurry. I was just kicking at a comfortable rate that I could maintain without even thinking about starting to breathe hard. I had to stop every 20 or 30 seconds and wait because she couldn't keep up and had almost gotten too far behind for me to see any more..
Putting them on seemed daunting until I read an article from Mako on how to do it (which I can't find now). Basically, it said to turn the heel inside out, then slip the fin on just like you would with an open heel fin. Then grab the tab at the top of the heel part and pull it over/around your heel. Voila! Doing it that way, I have had no real trouble even on a pitching boat, wearing doubles, walking to the exit with fins in hand (heels already inside out), standing at the exit, putting my fins on, then jumping in.
On top of everything else, the freedive fins are cheap. $90. Plus you might want to get their 2 or 3mm socks to wear with them. Still cheap. They have some that are less expensive, but I paid the extra $20 and am glad I did. The cheaper ones have the blades permanently attached to the foot pockets. These will allow me to swap out the blades if I want. I don't know that I ever will. What I do know is that when I took them to Hawaii a couple of months ago, they would not fit into my giant gear bag until I disassembled them and separated the blades from the foot pockets. If I had the cheaper ones, I would have had to just leave them home and take my Atomic fins.
The F1s are very negative and I only use them with my dry suit.
The Atomic Blades work better for me than the F1s for everything (except that they are neutral, and I need negative in my dry suit). I get more power and more control for technical kicks than with the F1s. I use the Blades for all my wetsuit diving, except....
The Mako freedive fins are my favorite. I actually use these for all my wetsuit diving - where I know I won't be doing any kind of wreck penetration. I'm afraid they're a bit too long for that. Plus, inside a wreck, I don't need that power anyway. They are way more powerful than the Blades. And they still give me great control for frog kicks and even back kicks. I'm pretty bad at back kicks, but I am best at back kicks with my freedive fins over either of my other sets of fins.
I have used the freedive fins for boat dives in rough conditions, and I have used them for shore dives off the Big Island (Hawaii) also in some fairly rough surf. They are a little bit tougher to don/doff than my Blades with spring straps. But, not so much tougher that I don't use them.
I did some dives with a friend of mine a few months ago. She was in a single tank rig with regular blade fins (i.e. not Atomic brand, but not split fins). I was in doubles and the freedive fins. Mostly, we were drift diving and staying right together. At one point, we had drifted off the reef and decided to swim across the current and get back on top of the reef. I turned and was leading. I was not trying to hurry. I was just kicking at a comfortable rate that I could maintain without even thinking about starting to breathe hard. I had to stop every 20 or 30 seconds and wait because she couldn't keep up and had almost gotten too far behind for me to see any more..
Putting them on seemed daunting until I read an article from Mako on how to do it (which I can't find now). Basically, it said to turn the heel inside out, then slip the fin on just like you would with an open heel fin. Then grab the tab at the top of the heel part and pull it over/around your heel. Voila! Doing it that way, I have had no real trouble even on a pitching boat, wearing doubles, walking to the exit with fins in hand (heels already inside out), standing at the exit, putting my fins on, then jumping in.
On top of everything else, the freedive fins are cheap. $90. Plus you might want to get their 2 or 3mm socks to wear with them. Still cheap. They have some that are less expensive, but I paid the extra $20 and am glad I did. The cheaper ones have the blades permanently attached to the foot pockets. These will allow me to swap out the blades if I want. I don't know that I ever will. What I do know is that when I took them to Hawaii a couple of months ago, they would not fit into my giant gear bag until I disassembled them and separated the blades from the foot pockets. If I had the cheaper ones, I would have had to just leave them home and take my Atomic fins.
