Split fin or non split fin?

[Xeno]

I have been using mares excel plus, but since im a big man with like 30% fats, i used my air consumption a bit faster.

I want to improve on it, will changing to split fin will helps it a bit ? Cause i read split can reduce our air consumption

 

[tursiops]

Don't believe everything you read, especially about split fins. One problem with them is that you need to do a fast flutter with them....that is more tiring, for most folks. Their ONLY advantage is they are easy on the ankles and calves, NOT that they give more propulsion to a big guy.Take it easy, go slower.

 

[undrwater]

Not sure that bring big necessarily impacts your consumption. Fitness and trim are much more important.

Changing fins might help, maybe, perhaps, possibly. Relaxing, slowing down, being in trim most definitely.

 

[tbone1004]

your fins are about as efficient as they get. Are there some that may be better? Of course, but Mares makes good fins and the Excel+ are pretty good for most types of diving. I wouldn't start there. Look in the mirror to fix most of your problem. To lower your consumption rate you have to move to a more efficient kick, or make your body more efficient. Flutter kicking is not an efficient kick because it forces your body to use the largest muscle group which are your thighs/glutes. This is very inefficient and causes you to increase respiration. Move to a modified breast stroke kick where you are using your calves and hip flexors which are much smaller muscles and require less O2.

Stop moving your hands if you are moving them as that is futile, and make sure you are diving horizontally. Most divers and unfortunately instructors dive at a bit of an incline. This is very inefficient because your kick is directed down and out instead of just out. Remember pythagorean theorem, A2+B2=C2. Your kick is always C^2, and when you dive in anything but a horizontal trim, A^2 has a value other than 0 and just increases your workload which is bad.

 

[Allison Finch]

Don't believe everything you read, especially about split fins. One problem with them is that you need to do a fast flutter with them....that is more tiring, for most folks. Their ONLY advantage is they are easy on the ankles and calves, NOT that they give more propulsion to a big guy.Take it easy, go slower.

Well, you are not very informed about splits, that's for sure. I have been diving almost 50 years, many of them in jet fins doing tech diving.

I now use split fins and find them every bit as versatile as my old paddle fins. I will say that I use about the stiffest split fins out there, the Scuba Pro twin speeds (no longer being made). I will admit that the floppier splits have much less pinpoint accuacy translating movements.

I can frog kick as well as anyone. I almost NEVER scissor kick. I can fine tune maneuver, back up, turn on a dime. All of this with much less effort. This is especially important as I am carrying a 30 camera rig and need the help! Once, In PNG, i swam with the divemaster to help secure the anchor on a high current seamount. We had to swim hard into the current. He was half my age. I was right along side, the whole way, and was not gasping for air, like he was, when we got there.

So DO try to better inform yourself. Better yet, learn how to use them. Many try the floppy fins and get frustrated, as I did. BUT, there is a learning curve and I am glad I stuck it out....and didn't parrot the old silliness.

 

[scubadada]

Well, you are not very informed about splits, that's for sure. I have been diving almost 50 years, many of them in jet fins doing tech diving.

I now use split fins and find them every bit as versatile as my old paddle fins. I will say that I use about the stiffest split fins out there, the Scuba Pro twin speeds (no longer being made). I will admit that the floppier splits have much less pinpoint accuacy translating movements.

I can frog kick as well as anyone. I almost NEVER scissor kick. I can fine tune maneuver, back up, turn on a dime. All of this with much less effort. This is especially important as I am carrying a 30 camera rig and need the help! Once, In PNG, i swam with the divemaster to help secure the anchor on a high current seamount. We had to swim hard into the current. He was half my age. I was right along side, the whole way, and was not gasping for air, like he was, when we got there.

So DO try to better inform yourself. Better yet, learn how to use them. Many try the floppy fins and get frustrated, as I did. BUT, there is a learning curve and I am glad I stuck it out....and didn't parrot the old silliness.

I am skeptical of split fin performance, especially for alternative kicks. It would sure seem that split fin use is on the steep decline, finally.

 

[tursiops]

Well, you are not very informed about splits, that's for sure. I have been diving almost 50 years, many of them in jet fins doing tech diving.

I now use split fins and find them every bit as versatile as my old paddle fins. I will say that I use about the stiffest split fins out there, the Scuba Pro twin speeds (no longer being made). I will admit that the floppier splits have much less pinpoint accuacy translating movements.

I can frog kick as well as anyone. I almost NEVER scissor kick. I can fine tune maneuver, back up, turn on a dime. All of this with much less effort. This is especially important as I am carrying a 30 camera rig and need the help! Once, In PNG, i swam with the divemaster to help secure the anchor on a high current seamount. We had to swim hard into the current. He was half my age. I was right along side, the whole way, and was not gasping for air, like he was, when we got there.

So DO try to better inform yourself. Better yet, learn how to use them. Many try the floppy fins and get frustrated, as I did. BUT, there is a learning curve and I am glad I stuck it out....and didn't parrot the old silliness.

Sorry to disillusion you...if number of years diving is the criterion, I took my first class in 1964...you work it out.
I sold my Twin Jets, which are still being made. I wonder why ScubaPro stiopped making the Twin Speeds, if they are so perfect?

Perhaps our difference of opinion is not so much that I am uninformed, but rather than you are not completely informed.

The hydrodynamic principle that the split fins are based on is the creation of counter-rotating vortices with each kick, with a little propulsion coming from each vortex pair. The more kicks per unit time, the more propulsion from the vortices. But, the more vortices, the more energy is wasted in just spinning the water. I agree completely: the stiffer splits work better than the floppy ones. The Atomics might even work better than yours.

By the way, telling me you like your splits better than your old jet fins is not a compelling argument; I've owned three pairs of jet fins (the reals ones, and rockets) and sold them all.

I'm glad you like your fins. But please chill on your personal insults. I'm not insulting you, I'm insulting split fins.

 

[tbone1004]

while our good friend above me was a bit blunt with his, his point does stand. the principal of split fins says that they require less energy to move through the water sure, but they don't create the same amount of thrust. If you can keep up forwards and backwards in split fins with those in paddle fins, then those in paddle fins are not kicking properly. No offense to them, it just isn't possible. If you read all of the publications and user guides on split fins, they all say that they work most efficiently with short, rapid kick cycles.

IF they were the best fin out there, the military rescue swimmers would be using them, so would free divers, and technical divers... None of whom are. The hard fact is that they don't generate enough thrust to move you through current or high drag scenarios. Just doesn't work. Jet fins are certainly not the best out there in terms of efficiency, but there are fins out there that are much better than splits, and they are all paddle fins.

This is not to insult you or your opinion, and while I will agree that it does it with much less effort, it also does it with much less effectiveness for the effort involved. You can kick faster with paddle fins than with split fins, that is a fact. To do that, you need enough leg strength to move said paddle fins, but if you did a proper test with split fins and paddle fins of comparable quality, on good swimmers, I can 100% guarantee you that the paddle fins will move faster.

 

[Altamira]

It looks like the arguments about split vs paddle fins are never going to end. Those that hate split fins are not going to change their minds, nor will those that like their split fins suddenly put them up on EBay and buy a pair of Jets just because some say they don't work well. After watching the best diver I know, a man who is the ultimate professional diver, dive shop owner, multi-organization Course Director, etc., with all the credentials, who has been diving for 50+ years, I believe it is the diver and not the fin that makes the difference. He can master all the maneuvers and kicks with any fin, and make it look easy. It is sort of like me and golf, where I could borrow Jack Nichlaus' golf clubs and still be a crappy golfer, whereas Jack could borrow my crappy golf clubs and still play a great round of golf.

 

[tursiops]

It looks like the arguments about split vs paddle fins are never going to end. Those that hate split fins are not going to change their minds, nor will those that like their split fins

LOL! Yeah, it is kinda like climate change,,,,there are those who are right, and those who argue with them.