Cressi Professional?

[settingsteel]

Don't know if its been discussed/reviewed, but I just saw the Cressi professional fins at my LDS I really liked the streamline design, material seems quite tough and footpocket also quite appealing anyone own them that would like to provide some feedback on their performance?

[settingsteel]

bumpity bump...anyone

[bite ya]

I've just ordered a pair and will be picking them up this weekend. I am proposing to take them to the pool by next Wed and i will give you some feedback...

[settingsteel]

Awesome looking forward to the report!

[bite ya]

UPDATE>>>>Trying them on tomorrow...

[bite ya]

I picked the fins up yesterday, they look great. The foot pockets are nice and soft and a great fit, the foot is in-line with the fin and not mounted on top as do conventional fins. I'll give them a try out in the pool this week.

The fin is almost 3ft long and you can flex it all the way back and they seem very light indeed (maybe lighter than the C4s?)

I will be trying them out properly in Jan and if anyone is interested let me know and i will try and explain away...

[Dennis77]

Just from the feeling they´re not lighter than my C4 81 VGR. Maybe the Cressi come close to the C4. But that´s just a feeling. Perhaps I´m wrong.
I hope Cressi brings a soft Pro-Version. For my needs the blade is way to stiff.

[Gaz D]

Fellas,

There is already a thread on here about the new Cressi Gara Professional fins ( NEW CRESSI FINS (Gara Professional) ), started by 'Spaghetti' about a year ago, and added to quite recently - although I'm not sure how far they've got with their discussion, as it appears that nobody could actually get their hands on a set of the fins in question for a long while.

My interest is quite recent, as I just bought a pair of these fins last week - although I am probably not the best person to ask for a review, as these are the first set of full-foot pocket, long blade fins that I have owned, and I will be using them for spearfishing rather than free-diving.

After a bit of research I initially intended to buy a pair of the 'softer' Cressi 3000 LDs, as I would be spending a lot of time (up to 6hrs) finning on the surface of the water, and would rarely dive below 15 meters. However, when I went into the shop to buy these fins I decided to test them by hand against the Gara Professionals. Next to each other, in the shop, the LDs didn't seem to be any 'softer' than the Professionals - in fact, the professionals seems to be more flexible throughout the whole length of the blade, as opposed to the LDs, which were only flexible towrads the tip (or so it seemed in the shop). Basing my decision upon this, I walked out with the Garra Professionals.

I took them down to Portland (in the UK) to try them out, but the sea was blown out, so I dropped into The Fleet instead (a sheltered tidal lagoon of varying depths, but with quite a strong current at the time I jumped in, and quite cold too).

I found the Gara Professionals to be very stiff, heavy, 'clunky', and difficult to 'control', as well as being hard work on my legs and ankles - they certainly seemed too stiff for what I need, anyway.

As I said, I'm probably not the best person to ask, for the reasons I have already pointed out, as well as for the unfavourable conditions in which I took them out (and you can add to that the fact that I was also trying out for the first time my new 7mm Omer Cayman wetsuit, with insufficient weight!).

I've been doing a bit of complaining about the fins on my local spearfishing forum, but have been advised to persevere with them by people who know more about this than me, and to see what happens. To that end I'm gonna stick with them for a while, and will let you know my thoughts as I progress - you never know, I might just fall in love with them.

Anyway, that's my contribution for now.

Would love to know what other people think of them, and how they compare to other fins on the market.

All the best,

Gaz D

P.S: If it turns out that I cannot get on with them, I would appreciate some advice about a more suitable, 'soft-action', full-foot pocket, long fin, that I might get on with.

[bite ya]

Cheers Gaz, i still haven't used my ones yet but i am taking them to the pool tomorrow. I am also using them this weekend in Chepstow so i will know more then!

Thanks for your comments and i'm sure i'll post some on here after i've used mine.

[settingsteel]

Got'em, tried them, returned them...Although the design is fresh the performed to similiar to my 3000's, with a bit more snap.

[bite ya]

That's that then....

[Gaz D]

Can't return mine: they've now got scratches on the underside.

[bite ya]

Well i tried mine on Wed night and found them great, really flexable and not too bad on the legs. I'm doing some more with them tomorrow in open water so will know more then, otherwise i'm really happy with them!

[Gaz D]

I'm happy that you're happy!

[settingsteel]

Theyr'e definitely nice fins, and I found them to be very comfortable, and not stiff at all as mentioned by a few others here, if I did not own a set of 3000 I would have got these, although being close to twice as much $$$ they are no way close to being twice as good...but being a designer by trade, I'd get them anyways...cause they look sickly sliiiiiiiiick!!!