Full Foot or adjustable fins?

[iceaxe]

Hello, I'm new to the sport and looking to pick some basic gear. I will be diving off the island of Dominica for the next year or so. I was wondering what the advantages of of full foot fins vs. adjustable fins. Am I correct in assuming that adjustable fins are mainly used with dive boots? My dive instructor pointed out that using dive boots make your feet more bouyant and he seemed to imply that this is bad thing. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[nivla80]

Ur feet gets a little buoyant, but it's nutting to be concerned with. Worse comes to worse, you could get ankle weights, BUT I have never encountered buoyancy problems with boots.

if you dive in colder waters, boots are a better option. It keeps ur feet a little warmer than full foot fins, since there will be some exposed skin. However, if you frequent warmer waters, they are more convenient. Just slip 'em on..

Personally, I prefer boots... It's up to personal preference though. Give both a try and see which you prefer! and good luck!

 

[Loneranger]

Booties usually are needed for colder water or entry from a rough shoreline. For warm water diving closed heel fins would be the simplest way to go. Make sure you have a good fit, otherwise blisters may be a problem.

 

[spectrum]

As mentioned booties are by far the most versatile with thermal and physical protection. Unless you plan only warm water boat dives the choice is pretty obvious. Don't forget the extra weight you will be carrying as you make your way in and out of shore dives.

If you are a person of the floaty foot persuasion selecting naturally negative fins can counteract some of the buoyancy. My fins with spring straps perfectly balance with my booties. With some depth they become decidedly negative.

Pete

 

[gregorio]

I think for warm water, full foot is more comfy and easy to my taste (I always use socks to avoid blister) but it is ok for boat diving, for shore entry, I want my feet to be protected, specialy because most of the time where there is coral, the sand is rough.

 

[*Floater*]

Even most warm water divers I have met wear booties for protection when walking to the boat or making a shore entry in shallow shore water with point rocks and such.

Also, fins vary in their buoyancy characteristics. If you don't like buoyant feet then consider negatively buoyant fins.

I guess the main advantage of full fins is that they are usually cheaper.

 

[webjr]

Full foots are worthless for anything except warm water boat diving. For any shore diving you'll want booties and adjustable fins. If your diving in mostly warm water you can get some very light booties like "wetsocks". Even the most pristine beaches could have something buried in the sand that can cut your foot and ruin your dive trip. I strongly recommend booties and adjustable fins.

 

[Footslogger]

If you decide on a full foot fin and wear around a mens size 10.5 shoe, I have a brand new (still in the bag) set of Mares Volo Race fins. Black with yellow accent color. Bought them and then decided on a different fin.

PM me if interested ...

 

[Scuba Brad]

I agree FF fins are good for warmer water. I use my boots on all my dives just because I don't want to walk around the beach or boat without shoes on. If you're having trouble with your legs coming up with the boots on then I'd suggest some 1 or 2 lb ankle weights.

Happy Diving

 

[WallDiver77]

Hey IceAxe,

I too asked this question a couple of years ago. I noticed that some of the DMs on some of the boats that I was diving from were diving with FF fins. I decided tha I liked the idea about not having to deal with my boots for warm-water dives.

I begin to see reports in Scuba Diving about FF fins being more efficient than MOST of the open-heeled type. Sooooo, I decided to buy a second (or was it my fourth set? ha!) pair of fins in the FF variety Just to see if they were any better.

Not wanting to put very much money into this experiment, I bought the cheapest FF fin I could find at LeisurePro.... the Oceanic Carribe. They were $19.95.

These cheap fins were a big improvement over my larger, heavier, open-heeled Tusa Imprex fins. They are faster. It SEEMS to take less effort to move myself around. Because they're so much lighter, traveling with them is great. These particular FF fins are a bit too soft for diving...so, I'm now looking for a little stiffer fin to replace these.

The downside is that any FF fin is only for warm-water diving. Shore diving with FF fins means that you're probably going to have to wear some type of flexible water shoe into the water, stow the water shoes in a BC pocket, and then put on the FF fins. Complicated.

However, I will glady deal with that complication to realize the benifits I mentioned when warm-water diving. If you can find the old Scuba Lab reports from a few years back, I believe that they will back up my statement about being more efficient and generally faster than the open-heeled fins.