Tech fin options - neutral buoyancy?

[Hatul]

I think with fins, like with shoes, or even more so, fit of the foot pocket is more than half the problem. If there is any looseness in the foot pocket I can't do the frog kick. I wonder if some of the "personal preference " has to do with some fin just fitting the foot better than others.

 

[DevonDiver]

I wrote this article reviewing the leading neutral fins for sidemount. It's nonetheless relevant to the thread..

Top 5 Warm-Water Sidemount Fins

 

[stuartv]

Interesting, just goes to show you different strokes, pun unintended, and all that. I'm small, skinny, with greyhound legs and the cardio fitness of someone with half a lung and absolutely love the XTs, in fact I sold almost every other fin I own in their favour, they are now the only gin I wear art suit diving. It did take me a few dives, maybe around 5, to "get" them though, it certainly wasn't love at first dive. If I lost or broke them I'd buy another set in a heart beat. I wear the grey ones in a medium. I understand the black ones are not as stiff and red even less so

First I've heard of that. The DR site does not mention any difference at all between the different colors.

Have you tried Hollis F1, Hollis F1 LT, or Deep6 Eddy fins? I haven't tried that many kinds of fins but the XT are my favorite of all the ones I've tried - except for the F1 LT (and I haven't actually tried the Deep6 fins yet).

 

[stuartv]

Speaking of Deep6 fins, I received a pair from @cerich on Friday. My next pool sessions should be Sept 9-10, which will be my first chance to really compare them to the F1 LT and other fins. I will post any update with details after that. All I can say so far is that the size L Eddy fits me well with my Oceanic 5mm booties on.

 

[buddhasummer]

First I've heard of that. The DR site does not mention any difference at all between the different colors.

Have you tried Hollis F1, Hollis F1 LT, or Deep6 Eddy fins? I haven't tried that many kinds of fins but the XT are my favorite of all the ones I've tried - except for the F1 LT (and I haven't actually tried the Deep6 fins yet).

I own the F1s which I bought for use with my drysuit, I bought them after trying then on with the drysuit boot I was sent. To my dismay when the suit arrived they had attached a much thinner boot and the F1s now did not fit, I had significant lateral movement. I tried them once, I liked them, I found them to be very powerful but the lateral movement was annoying as hell. I'm curious to to try the F1 LT but given the huge foot pockets I doubt they'd fit me, to add, after some bad experiences with Hollis I'll no longer purchase anything from them.

A friend of mine who owns the grey and the black made the comment re different stiffness and apparently this was confirmed by a DR rep.

I now use Mares Power Planas (small) for drysuit diving and really like them. If I could only keep using two fins the rest of my life I'd choose the XTs for wet and Power Planas for dry. In fact that's basically what I've done.

I'm a 6.5-7 size.

 

[stuartv]

A friend of mine who owns the grey and the black made the comment re different stiffness and apparently this was confirmed by a DR rep.

I emailed Dive Rite to ask about this. Here is what I asked and their response:

Me: "Someone has posted on ScubaBoard that they were told that your different colors of XT fins are different stiffness. I.e. the black ones are a different stiffness than the grey ones. And the red ones are yet another stiffness. This was supposedly “confirmed by a DR rep”. Is this true? If so, which are the stiffest and which are the softest?"

DR: "Not quite right but I know why it would be out there. Originally the fins were monprene in black only then we we added blue to the line, the blue and black were shot in a blended TPA that was supposed to be better. After the design engineer passed away and took the secret to how to make them we took them off the market for a year until we got the old formula back into production. To reassure everyone the new fins were the monprene material, we launched it in grey only for a couple of years. Now the grey is phasing out and replaced with black and red, both in monprene. Any future colors will be in monprene."

So, I guess they used to make them in blue and those were a different stiffness. And maybe they made black that were also the same stiffness as the blue ones. But, all the ones they are making now are the same stiffness as each other.

 

[buddhasummer]

Ill buy a pair and compare as it's the only way "I'll" know for sure.

I bought some Taiwanese Jets and was told by the SP rep that they were exactly the same as the US Jets, they most definitely were not, I returned them.

My friend swears black and blue, pun unintended, the black are not as stiff as the grey ones.

Someone's mistaken.

 

[stuartv]

Ill buy a pair and compare as it's the only way "I'll" know for sure.

I bought some Taiwanese Jets and was told by the SP rep that they were exactly the same as the US Jets, they most definitely were not, I returned them.

My friend swears black and blue, pun unintended, the black are not as stiff as the grey ones.

Someone's mistaken.

They made black ones in that TPA formulation for some period of time. All the grey ones are monoprene. So, there are definitely black ones in existence that are different than the grey ones. But, they are older black ones. According to the DR rep I was trading emails with today.

 

[rjgiddings]

I went from some Scubapro split fins - used these for 10 years - to the Hollis F1 - and I really, really liked them. Surprised my own self. Both are just a tad negative, so for me noticed nothing different.

Backward fin kicks is still a chore...I go real slow, and only move a little bit w/ each kick.

 

[buddhasummer]

Yes, I'm aware of the "evolution" and recall issues they had some years ago.

My friend owns the new version. I have a local buddy who recently bought some, I'll do my own comparison next time we dive together, I think he too wears a medium.