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Well, just got back from a great vacation in Thailand. Managed to get 17 dives in during my stay, including 11 in on a LOB in the Similan Islands.
During my first dive on the LOB, when donning the fin, the loop on the fin strap snapped. OK, I think...no problem, it happens. However, on the very last dive of the trip I had a major failure of my bio-fin. Upon surfacing on the last dive, a member in my dive group let me know that my biofin had split right down the middle. Well, duh, I'm thinking, they are split fins....and then I look down and notice that there really is a huge split down the middle of my fin. I really don't know how it split. I wasn't crouching on the seabed or knocking into anything.
Now, I'm a little shocked at this as I bought the fin in late 2006 and have only about 70 dives on it. I take real good care of my gear. I always rinse after dives and never dry or store my gear in direct sunlight. Due to it's heavy rubber construction, I thought that these would last for years.
I have to say, I love my biofins. But, this is something I never expected and has kind of given me pause if asked to recommend a fin. So I throw it out to the board, has anyone ever experienced something similar to this?
Have seen this "split"happening once,on a Oceanic V12.
They have a "limited"lifetime warrenty.
I called them about it and told me to replace it on the spot.
Afterwards is was a batch of fins with a bad rubber mix.
Never seen it happen again,uptill now.
Good luck with the warrenty.
Would be nice to know what they DO.
Well, I contacted Apollo and here is what they told me. Since my fins are over the 1 year warranty, I have the option of buying a new fin from them with a 1 time 50% discount. If I have my original receipt they won't charge me for shipping and I must send the damaged fin back to them. So, if I want to replace my fin, it works out like this:
Apollo Bio-fin pro C-series $279 -50% DISCOUNT = $139 to replace both
To replace 1 fin would be half of that = ~$70 for 1 fin.
Now the thing that's funny is that the woman on the phone said that the spring straps would cost extra??? I think she has this wrong as the C-series is priced $60 more then the normal biofin because of the spring strap.
I wrote the Apollo rep a PM saying something to the effect that while I don't mind paying for parts that are subject to normal wear and tear like screws and straps, this failure is not the same as it's a total failure in basic construction. The rep's response...tough, that's the deal.
Now, I could elect to buy another fin, but if there's an issue with the construction of the fin, the other fin may be subject to a similar failure. If that fails after I buy 1 fin from them, well, I'm basically out of luck. I could elect to buy a pair from them, but I just don't know if they really stand behind their products.
Annoying, I'll agree, but Apollo's proposal seems fairly reasonable given the simple fact that the fins are 3 years old and there is a one year warranty.
There will always be some risk with a natural rubber product, I suppose is the lesson in this. The fins are good enough that it seems to be that the trade-off may be worth it.
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