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#1
January 25th, 2007
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I received my new Hyper monofin from Leaderfins two weeks ago and I had the chance to test it twice in pool. I would like to share my impressions with you in the hope it can help others to decide.
I am not an expert in monofin but neither a novice. I have a good experience in freediving (I am not that young, unfortunately) but started using a monofin for pool training (once a week, on average) and constant weight diving, just one year ago. The Hyper I bought was the medium stiffness. Before receiving it, I was using a carbonmix from Mat-Mas: Mat Mas Monofins I also had the opportunity of using the Mat-Mas Freediver Evolution mono a couple of times: Mat Mas Monofins and these are the two monos I will compare my new Hyper against. The three monos are radically different even at a first sight. The two Mat-Mas fins are made in a mix of carbon and fiberglass, while the Hyper use fiberglass only. Also, the two Mat-Mas are much softer, at least when tested with your hands. As for the stiffness feeling in the water I will say later. Another big difference is the weight. The carbonmix from Mat-Mas is very light, while the other two are definitely heavy. Both weight around 4 kg and do not float. This is due to the wings they have, which are made with a hard rubber that do not compress on deep. They are designed for constant weight. Last but not least, the Hyper is the only adopting the "new concept", i.e., using an angled blade. Now lets enter the water. Just after a couple of minutes it was clear to me that the Hyper represents a huge advance with respect to the Mat-Mas carbonmix. This is especially true from a freediving point of view. The carbonmix feels very light and snappy, which is good for going fast, while the Hyper feels heavy, a bit stiffer, and has a great inertia, which is bad if you want to break your speed record but is perfect for freediving. It allows you to swim with a very efficient "kick and glide" style that makes the comparison with the carbonmix impossible. The Hyper is MUCH better. The comparison with the most advanced, "Evolution" Mat-Mas mono is different. The two monos feel much more similar than before. Both are heavy and very effective. The Evolution feels a bit less heavy, more snappy and responsive. The Hyper has more inertia and is better at gliding (remember: the Mat-Mas has a "flat", old-style footpocket, while the Hyper is angled). The impression I have is that the Evolution is better if you swim with a fluid and continuous style, while the Hyper is better if you prefer a "kick&glide" style. I could be wrong, but my conclusion is that the Evolution is better if you come from the finswimming world and are an "athletic" freediver, favoring a fast pace with a reduced apnea time. If you, like me, favor a slow pace, conserving air even if this requires a longer apnea, then the Hyper (and more in general a heavy, angled fin) is your way to go. As a final issue, I would like to come back to stiffness. At a first sight the Hyper is (much) stiffer than both the Mat-Mas fins. When I open the package I was disappointed I ordered the medium stiffness instead of the soft version. Fortunately, the feeling in the water is different. I think this could come from the different size of the fins (the Mat-Mas are slightly bigger) and/or from the different stiffness of the footpocket and particularly of the joining between the footpocket and the blade. The Hyper seems softer in this area. If the last was true, then the Hyper should behave in a totally different way than the two Mat-Mas, flexing more near the footpocket and less along the blade. Something that would not be particularly efficient, at least from a theoretical point of view. Is this true? I do not know, yet. I plan to use an underwater camera to film my action with both fins, trying to find an answer. I will report on you as soon as I discover something interesting in this are too. Finally, I have no idea how all this reflects to constant-weight dives. I hope to be able to test my new beast at sea asap :-) As a final note, I would like to point all of you who were interested in this test to this other thread: http://forums.deeperblue.net/monofin...ootpocket.html I need your help, please. Ciao G. 
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