Best travel fins?

[Mike]

Looking for a set of travel fins

In order of importance

1) Supply enough thrust to use in currents (think drift diving Cozumel or similar)
2) Light weight
3) Small size
4) Simple to use
5) Durable, ride em hard, put em away wet








10) Price - not that concerned with price, but if they are expensive then there better not being any regrets in criteria 1-5 now or later

Are force fins the travel fin beyond all others?

Been diving with these for 10 years.

 

[HenrikBP]

The new Hollis F2 or the old OMS Slipstream fin might fit the bill. The Hollis foot pocket is clearly the better of the two, but both get good reviews. The OMS has been my travel fin for years.

 

[Doppler]

+1 on the Hollis F2... an excellent small but powerful; and extremely light fin

 

[danvolker]

Small size will eliminate any real power or thrust ...Even with a fin as revolutionary and different as Force fins--(the originals have little power), and the Hockey fin is fairly large, relatively speaking...but the Force Fin Hockey fin can really push when needed, so for something much smaller than freedive fins, but much larger than the originals, the Hockey fins would be an option for you.

Jet Fins and Hollis fins "can" push hard, if you are a competitive cyclist( have trained the correct muscles, and they are at an elite level) ..For non-athletes, they need to be frog kicked, slow with big glides, and this is not optimal against a big current....if the non-athlete trys to flutter kick hard up current, they wont get the nice result the cyclist will get--they will very quickly fatigue their legs. Low to the bottom--belly to the bottom, slick config, and nice frog kick and glide may work even against a big current for a non-athlete, with jetfins...but this will then require good kicking skills and good gear configuration.

Freedive fins will always be the ones that have the best power for drift diving, with no exceptions, and we can easily prove this in Palm Beach to anyone tha really wants proof....I have many sets of freedive fins, including the top carbon fiber models, that I would be happy to let SB divers that are in search of the real truth....try.

The real proof is in the ease of going up current, or sideways to the current, with freedive fins.
...Another proof, is how much your air consumption should drop with freedive fins, in staying at your normal swim speed with your usual buddy(s). You dont get your heart rate or breathing rate as high with freedive fins, and it will feel like your buddies are swimming slower than usual.

Dan

Looking for a set of travel fins

In order of importance

1) Supply enough thrust to use in currents (think drift diving Cozumel or similar)
2) Light weight
3) Small size
4) Simple to use
5) Durable, ride em hard, put em away wet








10) Price - not that concerned with price, but if they are expensive then there better not being any regrets in criteria 1-5 now or later

Are force fins the travel fin beyond all others?

Been diving with these for 10 years.

 

[DevonDiver]

Are force fins the travel fin beyond all others?

IMHO, yes.

Small size, very light weight and sufficient power for most divers needs. I've dived 'pros' with 4 tanks in strong current and had no problems.

Anyone who thinks that Jets, Slipstreams etc classify as 'light' needs their head examined. LOL

 

[skankpile]

I'm a FF hockey diver and these fins will push, and push hard. I agree with the comments on the freedive fins as many of the Mexican DM's use them in Cozumel and keeping up with them can be a challenge. The FF Hockey, excelerator, and extraforce will do it, but the Freedive fin will make it look effortless... its just not easy to pack.

FF wins 1st place in easy of travel & packing

 

[tridacna]

Anyone who thinks that Jets, Slipstreams etc classify as 'light' needs their head examined. LOL

You just made my day. That is funny sh1t. Thanks!

 

[fdog]

Ha ha. I've always had a mental bet with myself - every time one of these "best fin" threads comes up, how long until the Force Fin posse and Dan Volker show up? Kind of like how the BP/W folks chime in (or used to, anyway) on every "what about this BC" thread. Anyway, all ribbing aside:

Janet laughs at me and calls me the Imelda Marcos of fins. My stable of fins is up to 11 pairs now (hello, my name is James, and I have a problem) and I've come to believe there is no single perfect fin, just fins with specific optimized goals. ...And when something is optimized for a specific task(s), then other parameters go lacking.

Having been through the lightweight-travel-fin dilemma, here's some things I've found out by trying out fins:



Force Fins: you either love them or hate them. You'll have to try them to find out, our shop has a loaner pair that I use periodically (because they are not in my closet). They are pretty light for a pair, IIRC the ones in the shop are 2.8 lbs for a pair.

Hollis F2: I haven't personally used this exact fin, but I have used the APS Manta Ray (black), which as far as I can see is the identical fin. After a weekend of diving I decided that there was far more power for the weight available in other fins, and so the APS Manta Ray did not go into my specially built fin closet. The ones I tried were 3.2 lbs IIRC, so nice and light too, but what do you expect for such floppy construction.

US Divers Hot Shots, I had high hopes for these.. They're very lightweight (only 5 ounces heavier than the Force Fins), and suited my eye - short, stiff, stubby. After trying a pair I sadly passed on them too (inefficient in the frog kick), but I heartily recommend them for people who primarily flutter kick and travel a lot. This fin has possibly the very best foot pocket in the industry that has to be tried to be believed.

The Dive-Rite EXP performs nicely for a plastic blade fin, but was heavier than I expected... I found myself willing to just pack the extra 10 ounces for Jets, or bring Quattros (which were easier to "sprint" in for me) at the same weight.

DiveR (spelling?) fins, with my opening tongue-in-cheek comment aside, I haven't had a chance to dive these. However I do own 3 different pairs of freediving fins, and use them all; they never travel with me unless I am doing dedicated freediving. And lord knows I've tried using them for scuba diving, they just don't have the in-close fine control I want. If all I did was travel in a straight line, yes, I'd take them, but I spend most of the dive hovering and pirouetting and backing up and I'd rather have those characteristics.

Two days ago I was helping a friend with fin choices, she's looking for a paddle fin that was less heavy than Jets. Our shop had just gotten in a couple pairs of the new version of Turtles from XS Scuba, new enough that I hadn't seen these before. They have printing on them that says "XS Scuba Turtles", and feel like a different blend of monoprene or something...anyway...the XL's that she was trying were lightweight enough that they left an impression in my mind of "wow, that's really light!". And on her they looked like they were just as crisp as regular Jets. I will be definitely trying these out soon, much to Janet's dismay I'm sure, and a possible closet expansion.

Right now I just pay the penalty of extra weight to bring fins that do exactly what I want for the type of diving we're traveling to. Just like having a mask that doesn't fit right, having fins that aren't right for the job makes the dive miserable. Find a fin that dives the way you want it to, and just drag the weight along.


And for the love of god, try before you buy!


All the best, James



edit: having re-read your OP, if truly, all you want is straight-line speed to push into current, then I'd have to agree with Dan and push you into a freediving fin, like maybe some Cressi Gara 2000 HF's or something, which is a great-performing fin without the issues of dealing with carbon fiber. Be honest with yourself though, and look at what you really do on a dive, and optimise for that.

 

[danvolker]

Ha ha. I've always had a mental bet with myself - every time one of these "best fin" threads comes up, how long until the Force Fin posse and Dan Volker show up? Kind of like how the BP/W folks chime in (or used to, anyway) on every "what about this BC" thread. Anyway, all ribbing aside:

Janet laughs at me and calls me the Imelda Marcos of fins. My stable of fins is up to 11 pairs now (hello, my name is James, and I have a problem) and I've come to believe there is no single perfect fin, just fins with specific optimized goals. ...And when something is optimized for a specific task(s), then other parameters go lacking.

Having been through the lightweight-travel-fin dilemma, here's some things I've found out by trying out fins:



Force Fins: you either love them or hate them. You'll have to try them to find out, our shop has a loaner pair that I use periodically (because they are not in my closet). They are pretty light for a pair, IIRC the ones in the shop are 2.8 lbs for a pair.

Hollis F2: I haven't personally used this exact fin, but I have used the APS Manta Ray (black), which as far as I can see is the identical fin. After a weekend of diving I decided that there was far more power for the weight available in other fins, and so the APS Manta Ray did not go into my specially built fin closet. The ones I tried were 3.2 lbs IIRC, so nice and light too, but what do you expect for such floppy construction.

US Divers Hot Shots, I had high hopes for these.. They're very lightweight (only 5 ounces heavier than the Force Fins), and suited my eye - short, stiff, stubby. After trying a pair I sadly passed on them too (inefficient in the frog kick), but I heartily recommend them for people who primarily flutter kick and travel a lot. This fin has possibly the very best foot pocket in the industry that has to be tried to be believed.

The Dive-Rite EXP performs nicely for a plastic blade fin, but was heavier than I expected... I found myself willing to just pack the extra 10 ounces for Jets, or bring Quattros (which were easier to "sprint" in for me) at the same weight.

DiveR (spelling?) fins, with my opening tongue-in-cheek comment aside, I haven't had a chance to dive these. However I do own 3 different pairs of freediving fins, and use them all; they never travel with me unless I am doing dedicated freediving. And lord knows I've tried using them for scuba diving, they just don't have the in-close fine control I want. If all I did was travel in a straight line, yes, I'd take them, but I spend most of the dive hovering and pirouetting and backing up and I'd rather have those characteristics.

Two days ago I was helping a friend with fin choices, she's looking for a paddle fin that was less heavy than Jets. Our shop had just gotten in a couple pairs of the new version of Turtles from XS Scuba, new enough that I hadn't seen these before. They have printing on them that says "XS Scuba Turtles", and feel like a different blend of monoprene or something...anyway...the XL's that she was trying were lightweight enough that they left an impression in my mind of "wow, that's really light!". And on her they looked like they were just as crisp as regular Jets. I will be definitely trying these out soon, much to Janet's dismay I'm sure, and a possible closet expansion.

Right now I just pay the penalty of extra weight to bring fins that do exactly what I want for the type of diving we're traveling to. Just like having a mask that doesn't fit right, having fins that aren't right for the job makes the dive miserable. Find a fin that dives the way you want it to, and just drag the weight along.


And for the love of god, try before you buy!


All the best, James



edit: having re-read your OP, if truly, all you want is straight-line speed to push into current, then I'd have to agree with Dan and push you into a freediving fin, like maybe some Cressi Gara 2000 HF's or something, which is a great-performing fin without the issues of dealing with carbon fiber. Be honest with yourself though, and look at what you really do on a dive, and optimise for that.

As you must know, I am irked about the extreme lack of awareness there is in the diving world, about the enormous differences that exist between fins, and how fins good for one diver, may be terrible for another.

Your freediving fin overview is something I would agree with, generally. And I even agree that the carbon fiber fins like my C4 Mustangs are fragile fins that have to be used carefully--no giant stride entry's to over flex the blade, etc.
The DiveR fins are an entirely different category of fin...they should not even be lumped with freediving fins, even though this is their main market.
For scuba divers that can afford DiveR fins, they are rugged compared to carbon fiber, amazingly so, and they can be used for delicate slow motion precision motions, even reverse kicks....Now if you try them for a GUE Fundamentals class, they are going to trash your shins after the first 2 hours of reverse kicking, so for this, or for Cave, or for exploration level tight shipwreck penetration, they are the WRONG fins.
But for Cozumel, or for Palm Beach, they are scooters on your feet. And they are precise. To pack them for an airline flight, they will need to go diagonally in a large suitcase....they are not heavy, just long.

 

[skankpile]

Just for fdog, ForceFin, ForceFin, ForceFin, you must at all costs try ForceFin.. order them regardless of the price and never even consider any other fin as anything other than a trash plastic fin.

Hollis, Jets.. you know them as the heavy rubber fins with spring straps. Yea they have their place, but lightweight is never mentioned as one of their positives. Think heavy, cramps, but maneuver great.