Are apollo bio fins really the best fins in the world?

[bpotkin]

After reading much information, I just purchased a pair of apollo bio fins. ( have not used them yet.) I've read that they are the best of both worlds. Power and comfort. Does anybody have an opinion?

[Krazytomdiver]

As a pro dive guide (retired) I have used Apollo black Bio pro fins with S/S springs for over ten years. Expensive but IMPO the best except they are heavy for travel. After you learn how to use them properly,you will agree that your investment was well worth the cost. Dive safe,Have fun!

"living life without a hard bottom"
KT

[hongrace]

Depends on which world you are in, I guess?

[theLeakyMask]

Depends on the kind of diving you do. If you want to do back kicks, helicopter turns and precise maneuvering in general then other fins are better.

[Jorgy]

They have been a top rated fin by Scuba Diver Magazine for a long time......here is a article from 2007..

Gear / Accessories | Scuba Diving Magazine

I dive SP Seawing Novas and really like them......in 2010 they were rated the best of course Apollos were not included in the article....

| Scuba Diving Magazine

For ME (and I emphasize this) the Seawings offer both the comfort of a split with the control and alternate kick capability of a paddle.....

We will need to see if the Seawings are as durable over the long haul as other fins, there have been reports of the articulated joints breaking.....

M

[fdog]

Is the Ferrari F40 the best vehicle in the world?

It's an amazing car, but for lugging a bunch of scuba gear, I'd prefer a pickup truck. Or, for driving off-road, a Hummer H1 perhaps. How 'bout for soccer moms, maybe the venerable Suburban?

...Fins are just like vehicles, there's something that's best at each different application, not a single "best fin".


All the best, James

[danvolker]

Considering Scuba Diving Magazine has never tested the best Freediving fins, and then never compared these to "what they think" are the best fins, this is a completely foolish claim for anyone to consider as truthful or meaningful.

First, for a diver of average fitness with no knee or hip problems, soft bladed freediving fins ( like Cressi 3000 Gara LD's) , with the proper coordination and kicking technique, will allow this diver to be far more efficient ( use less effort, less air up) at a given speed, than with ANY scuba fins ever tested by scubadiving.com .

For an athletic scuba diver, particularly a cyclist, the medium to stiff blade models made by Specialfins.com (such as SpecialFins Monofins & fins for Freediving,Spearfishing,UW Games ) or by DiveR DiveR Australia: Equipment will provide almost as much difference from Apollos or other "tested scuba fins", in air consumption and underwater travel, as if you were compairing traditional fins to an underwater scooter.
I am willing to prove this to anyone that dives in Palm Beach, as I have several pairs :-) and am happy to let other divers try them... I don't sell fins, and am not affiliated with a shop or manufacturer to promote fins sales....Since the late 90's it has pissed me off how badly the dive industry lies about fins, basing best fins on advertising budgets, and the having the audacity to claim best fin awards, when the real best fins are always excluded.
I am sorry I can't tell you your buying decsion was a good one....but you can console yourself in realizing that most divers were misled just as you were....

[ScubaMarc]

They have been a top rated fin by Scuba Diver Magazine for a long time......here is a article from 2007..

Gear / Accessories | Scuba Diving Magazine

Has anyone ever noticed that the "speed in MPH" is ranged from 1.7 to 2.2 miles per hour in these reports. The difference is so small i can not see how this would effect the real world. The graph makes it look like the difference between 1.8 mph to 2.0 mph is huge. I would think it is not.

I would also think a diver can change his performance to increase or decrease the mph in the test the Scuba Diver Magazine test. Are these test reproducible?

I had the Apollo and ScubaPro Twin Jet Max. I did not see a significant difference.

[Bob Evans]

ScubaMarc, good questions. I introduced the first split fin "Foil Force" one year before others. I wish they had included this model in their testing. This model was developed for the U.S. Marines Recon. The "Foil Force" is made with our super duper material, bungee strap "developed also for the U.S. Marines". As with all Force Fin models a powerful recovery is quickly obtained with the foil shaped blade. The other split models are flat and hang off the end of your foot. Our open toe pocket prevents those foot cramps and much more. NO one yet has attempted to TEST the "Foil Force"..I always wonder why, may be a bigger jump in their chart?

[danvolker]

Even though Bob Evans does not produce a Freediving fin in the sense I am used to, I have tried many of his Force fin models in past years, and found the more advanced versions exponentially better than apollos or what are known as "split fins". He even has me interested in a new model he has for deep wreck penetrations, where my extremely long freedive fins ( DiveR's) can hit the ceiling on a low overhead, when I use the standard cave diver frog kick body position....since you do not want to take any chance of silting in a deep wreck penetration, no one with any brains will use a long bladed freedive fin in such a low overhead with high silt and danger potential...
Bob's new fins show the promise of the quick reaction and efficiency you can't get from splits, apollos, or traditional fins, but in a much shorter package than my DiveR's....I plan on trying a pair of these soon!

Also, sometime in late November, I will have had the time to shoot a video that will show split fin and apollo users in a Palm Beach drift current, when they have to go sideways to the current to run from the crown to the inshore ledge( common practice)...and also with a short up-current run to get to a shipwreck... This will be side by side with a diver wearing DiveR fins, and the video will show the mechanics of the kicks used by each, the breathing rate of each diver ( bubble stream) and the ease with which the DiveR wearing diver maintains an efective and efficient speed for each of these objectives while maintaining a resting heart rate--while the split fin or apollow wearing diver is breathing hard, and having extreme difficulty keeping up, even though esentially no work is being done by the DiveR fin wearing diver.... We "see" this all the time in Palm Beach...it's about time you guys see it too !!!!! :-)