Freedive vs. Scuba gear modification

Of course there is the obvious, but for those of you diving to less than 50 feet, are you using a dedicated freedive fin or your standard fin. Fins are what I was most interested in, but feel free to discuss whatever other differences you might have.

Justin699:

Of course there is the obvious, but for those of you diving to less than 50 feet, are you using a dedicated freedive fin or your standard fin. Fins are what I was most interested in, but feel free to discuss whatever other differences you might have.

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I do a lot of diving less than 50' - there's no comparing good long fins to regular scuba or snorkel fins, and I've done a lot of comparing. When I first started fdiving it wasn't the little fins I had that were the limiting factor though but it was the scuba mask with the large volume that limited me. I hated (psyched out maybe) putting so much air into the large volume mask and when I picked up a mares target mask getting beyond 60' was possible and much more comfortable. As for fins, now I can't wear anything but good fdiving fins. They are sooooo efficient. If you have never tried a good freediving fin, you should, they're amazing, but it helps to try several as I know I have several pair that I don't care for, especially the really stiff ones like the OMER millenium comps, but that's me.

Anytime i am freediving i am using a long blade fin of some sort. My mask is used for both freediving and scuba.
But as holdingmybreath said it's all about being efficient. hard to beat the feeling of having an efficient fin (and kick) and being able to kick down to 50' with a few simple whips from the fin. If i were to choose a fin that I thought would be suitable for freediving AND scuba, it would have to be Mares' Quattro. i guess the only other significant difference would be a considerable less amount of weight for freediving.

Just to chime in ... the only time I do breath-hold diving with anything other than 3-foot-long freediving fins is when I'm on vacation and long fins won't fit in my suitcase. There's at least one brand of freediving fins that break down for that purpose, but on vacation I just use Mares snorkeling fins. For freediving at home it's either Riffe Silent Hunters (rebranded Omer Millenniums, with a relatively pliable blade) for shallow freediving, or Omer Millennium Comps or Esclapez black blades for deeper. (Or a monofin for all depths.) For scuba it's a pair of Scubapro Jetfins with spring straps.

For both freediving and scuba, I use the same low-volume masks (currently most often a Riffe Viso or a Halcyon, sometimes an Omer Asia or Omer Abyss).

Those are probably the most critical pieces of gear for freediving. Right now I'm using the same wetsuit for both freediving and scuba (though I'd like to get a dedicated freediving wetsuit). I use a separate set of weights for freediving, though that's not really that critical. The freediving fins will require separate neoprene socks.

if you`re diving to 50' then i`d definately recommend a dedicated freediving fin, pick the right one and the efficiency power and energy wise is amazing, i`d also recommend looking at both jb esclapez black fins and omer millennium competition. both are nice stiff, snappy and powerful blades, i`d personally go for the millennium comps, in my opinion omer have better foot pockets and the interchangable blade system is good if you want to change the stiffness without forking out for a while new set of fins. as for mares quattros, they are essentially a scuba fin, i have a pair, they are powerful but they don`t compare to longfins. if you want a fin that is inbetween, have a look at the imersion plongee, the blade is 10cm shorter than the esclapez black fins but the construction is the same. also, the blade length makes them less cumbersome if you are traveling with them and makes them more suited for scuba. hope this helps. i speak entirely from my experience, i made the decision to have separate fins for freediving (jb esclapez) and scuba (atomic splitfin) i use the quattros for underwater hockey. all work well for what i use them for, i don`t really use the longfins for scuba unless im diving in warm water and i definately never use the splitfins for freediving. i occasionally use the quattros for both. definately check out the omer millenniums, they come in a variety of stiffnesses, i personally prefer the competition blade. good luck

I used to spend all day diving to the 50' range with my old scuba fins. a pair of very beat up Idea3 open heal fins. they work fine, but are no comparison to a proper longfin. I currently use the Omer Bat 30 fins. amazing.

if you're only diving to 50' you can get by with a scuba fin. it's not really all that deep.

Amphibious:

if you're only diving to 50' you can get by with a scuba fin. it's not really all that deep.

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It's not that deep but it's a lot of work! I used to use open heel scuba fins and when I switched to the full footpocket freedive fins my dive times increased dramatically. I really enjoy the extended dive times, especially on the shallower dives where there is so much to look at.

As an aside, I'll often use my freediving fins to scuba, so if I only had money for one set of fins thats what I'd buy.

badmojo:

I'll often use my freediving fins to scuba, so if I only had money for one set of fins thats what I'd buy.

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Ditto, except insert always for often.

For diving with and without tanks, I gave up Jetfins in 1978 for Cressi Rondine-L fins, (long rubber), and moved into Garas by about 1980. I haven't owned a "scuba fin" since! (200+ tank dives a year. 200+ freedives a month.)

Chad

how deep is deep for freedivers?

That sorta depends on how good you are. The guys I was out with on saturday were going to 40m (132feet) and hanging. The current record for competitive diving is somewhere around 103M (330 feet) I think. That's kicking down and up with the same weight, completely under your own power.

For me 100ft seems plenty deep for doing recreational freediving...