Force Fins "The ultimate fins" or are they?

[Baracuda Smile]

I own a set of splits and I love them manly because they are bright yellow and my students and clients can always spot me from the rear. I have never used force fins, nor will I try them until my dive buddy out swims me. I have never had a cramp. I have never had any one out swim me so far. I guess I need to dive with Michael Phelps. I don't seem to tire any faster than my dive buddy. So I see no need to get any other fin since I have to wait for my buddy any way. I dive in heavy surf and current and there are times I need the power that splits can not help, so this is when I use my Dacor Turbos. However, for long surface swims 500meters/yards I fair much better in my splits than my dive buddy who wore his force pros. He stated he could not get a full length kick or only half a kick into the water. He stated that he was fine underwater but was wore out from the surface swim. My dive buddy uses a frog kick with his force fins when underwater. He bought the force fins for use with his dry suit.

I find manuverability in tight places caves wrecks to be decent with splits but not as good as fins tech divers use where they can go in reverse, which is helpfull if you run into a dead end and don't want to stir up the silt.

I think with any equipment it is the operator as much as the equipment that makes the most efficient swimming stroke. I find if I start off with a large kick to start going in one direction then all I have to do to maintain momentum is barely move my ankles. This very streamline postion with my legs extended straight behind me helps me swim long distances with a very low sac rate. There times that I am video taping sea turtles, rays, or sea snakes that I like the speed, fast starting power, and manuverability of the splits.

Oh and they are cheep.

I hope this provides some alternative to the pro force fin.

 

[Katamuki]

I am the other half/third (?) of the dues paying member of the Long Haul Dive Club with B-Smile and do the regular 500-800meter swims on the surface with him. When I know I am going to have to swim that far I tend to wear splits. My regular fin of choice are Rockets with wetsuits off a boat and DiveRites with a drysuit. Splits on the surface are just plain fast and cover distance very well especially as I carry a fairly large/heavy camera rig when we dive. I do NOT like splits with a drysuit, camera AND shore swim as it takes a lot of uumph to get all that drag moving a long distance and to keep it moving.

However, I got to look over a set of SDI(?)/Military dive fins from Force this weekend and I can say they are a very good looking fin. The construction and material from looking them over seems to be very very nice, both rugged and well thought out. After seeing them I would like to try them out one day but I just havnt figured out how to get them away from my dive buddy.

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

I was in the ," No thanks," crowd, until a friend had a new pair on one of my boats. I played with them during the surface interval and then stole them for my second dive. I loved them. It did take adjusting to the feel that I'm not getting anywhere, but I really Was. I just wasn't feeling the resistance that I usually get on my kicks.
I don't see the point in diving as a race. But they move as fast as any other when I have needed to chase after someone doing something stupid to the reef. (We have a lot of that here....)
I have bone fragments floating in my ankle and a detached ligament due to an old injury, and they have helped tremendously with that.
Don't believe me. Try them out. They may be the best, or not your cup of tea.
I have had 8 people this last season order them because they played with mine on SIs.

 

[DepthCharge]

Speedy kicks, highly maneuverability and speed. What fin is the best?

I've had a pair since '90 or '91. Took some getting used to, but I've never had a cramp with them. I don't use them in a cave tho, as the "snap" at the end could cause some silting problems. (don't know for sure, but just looking at how the fins cycle). For the caves I still use my stinin' ol' Turtle Fins.

 

[meesier42]

i always liked the idea of force fins, the size, weight and ability to wander around in them
i just have concerns as to how the perform with frog kicking while reasonably gear laden (twins, drysuit etc).
they look similar to splits in that the most effecient kick in them is flutter instead of frog.
i dunno
someone send me a pair to try

check out this thread, or check out any of the information from the Ocean Futures Society, they regularly push gear bigger and heavier than any recreational diver will ever push and they exclusively use ForceFins.

 

[jlovold]

They may use ForceFins, but apparently not standard ForceFins... Rather the Launch Pad with Oscillating blades...

Still, I have several hundred dives with ForceFins, and I discovered that normal FF Pro is not very efficient compared to FF Extra Tan Delta... How I could feel it? Easy, I got cold on dives I previously would get sweaty on...

My bet on FF would probably be the Excellerating FF, as it is the one that seems to suit best to my style of swimming (from description only). I tried to frog-kick with the Pro and the Extra, but it didn´t work very well, as I had to modify the kick to get proper thrust, and that again hurt my knees.

Now I dive paddles, and just recently switched from SP Jets to Hollis F1, and am very happy with that!

 

[Blair Mott]

Jlovold,
Great reading about your experience with Force Fins. At Ocean Futures Society we started out using the OPS fin. We used this model exclusively in Sharks at Risk and most of Voyage to Kure on PBS Ocean Adventures series.
http://web.mac.com/oceanfutures/OFS_Amazon/Force_Fins.html
For a majority of the 8 episodes of Ocean Adventures we used the Excellerating
excel_force_fin_product
Tan Delta and Original Polyurethane material, mixed in with the Ops.
OPS - Oscillating Propulsion System
I have pushed a lot of gear while wearing my drysuit using the Excellerating and the OPS, I do prefer the Excellerating and am now experimenting with the Extra Force.. Since you have tried Force Fins, but not the Excellerators it might be the fin for you? There are some tech divers out there that use the Pro, there are a lot of instructors that dive the Tan delta Force Fin because they do not like the other models they have tried. With over 31 different models of Force Fins there is a fin for multiple types of divers and diving situations. I am glad you found fins that work you- as we say, "all fins work!"

With frog kicking with the pros it is better to use more of an ankle snap and less use of your knees in a traditional frog kick. I adapted this style when diving the Pros and Flying Force Fin after I read this from a DIR diver describing his experience in the Pros. Safe diving and thanks again for your post.

 

[pescador775]

Force Fins will always be the choice for a small minority and will always be a small production item. This latter point has to do with the constantly changing styles and low volume which don't mitigate in favor of setting up a large production line. As a result, the new age messenger is constantly trading back and forth with production shops for small lots and each design is an outlet for the mind of the tempermental artiste. Cressi, Swimaster and others did this in the 1960's. Basically, the factory had some old guy with a device that looked like a laundry press. He would insert pieces one at a time and cook them until a fin was complete. If an efficient Force Fin is ever created at a favorable price range then it could succeed in the market place. However, I suspect that success would kill the messenger. In the mean time, the company will rely on its propaganda machine to push sales along. As always, the more controversy the better.

 

[Blair Mott]

i always liked the idea of force fins, the size, weight and ability to wander around in them
i just have concerns as to how the perform with frog kicking while reasonably gear laden (twins, drysuit etc).
they look similar to splits in that the most effecient kick in them is flutter instead of frog.
i dunno
someone send me a pair to try

Bob designed the Excellerating Force Fin to be the most efficient Force Fin model in performing the Frog Kick. It has many other benefits and is a truly fine fin. We have a range of customers using different Force Fin models while wearing twins,

Technical diver David Falco' Rodriguez. Photo by Juergen Renner.
drysuits, and rebreathers, performing commerical dives and miltiary operations. So there is a Force Fin model that will satisfie for need. Will have to keep my ears open if I hear of any Force Finers are heading to your region so you can jump into a pair. Feel free to contact me at forcefin@forcefin.com
Some great shots from Kevin Gurr, Al Wright and the guys from VR Technology Ltd.
Sentinel Photos

 

[marchand]

check out this thread, or check out any of the information from the Ocean Futures Society, they regularly push gear bigger and heavier than any recreational diver will ever push and they exclusively use ForceFins.

You obviously have never heard of the WKPP (Woodville Karst Plain Project; link) or of KUR (Karst Underwater Research; link). The WKPP is one of the most respected (and snottyest) groups of divers in the world and they use scubapro jetfins exclusively; they also routinely cary more gear than you would think posible. Why do they use jetfins? Because they have found that they work the best at moving copious amounts of gear; in other words, they are powerfull and more importantly they are very cheap. That means the dollar per pound of thust per kick is very good, unlike the force fins. Jet fins also last forever unless you leave them in the trunk of the car during the summer which streatches your dollar even further.

KUR on the other hand lets their memebers use pretty much whatever fins they want, but still no force fins for much the same reasons.

Why do the people doing the most extreem diving in the world NOT use what is, apparently, the best fin ever made; aka force fin? Beacause it is NOT the best fin ever made. Sure, it may be the most powerfull/efficient flutterkicking fin in this universe, but it lacks the ability to preform all types of kicks, and the cost/benefit ratio is not in its favor.

if you look closely you will see a pair of cressi frog fins, also keep an eye out for the guy with the blue diverite fins diving sidemount. I too used to use cressi frogs and I could outpace most people, while some could outpace me. Just for kicks, sometimes when following other divers I will keep the same kickrate as them and see who goes faster. Sometimes I'm faster and sometimes they are. The funny thing is that some people who wear jetfins are faster than me and some are slower.

The guy with the blue DiveRite fins is Joel Clark. That guy can MOVE with modified flutter kick; faster than most people can frog kick.

What this says to me is that how fast/efficient your swimming is has a lot more to do with TECHNIQUE and STREAMLINING than what fin you are using.