Leaderfins Freediving mono quality review

[Jon]

I've been able to do 45 min in 4C water with 3mm Spetton socks on in my Speacialfin's mono with Sporasub footpockets on it. Any loner than that and I need to move to my other monowith OMER footpockets and a 6mm sock.

I was able to get a 5mm sock in my old WW #2 LD, but that's because I bought the fin extra big and i think my efficiency suffered a bit as a result- too much slop.

Jon

[monofin_diva]

hey.. remember when i was ordering my fin?

well my fin pretty much just arrived about like a month ago.

for some strange reason it came without the logo on it that i paid for, but ivan told me it's on its way. i still haven't received it yet. however, i'm patient.

i have no problem with the fin yet but i haven't used it because i want to use it for the first time with my good luck graphic on it.

i know you love the fin, we spoke about it and you had nothing but good things to say about it and we have the same fin.

but i see you're obviously having problems with it.

anyone with eyes can see you are.

i like leaderfin fins, but i am not too keen on their customer service. i mean you know what i went through to get the one i have.

honestly, if i have problems with it, i wouldn't bother sending it back.

i don't have time for email tag and i was not nor am i content with the level of customer support.

i *hope* my fin doesn't take a poopie on me because if it does, well that's just like 300 euro down the drain- i won't contact customer support... frankly, i don't feel there is any.

-diva

[demasoni]

Originally Posted by monofin_diva

hey.. remember when i was ordering my fin?

well my fin pretty much just arrived about like a month ago.

for some strange reason it came without the logo on it that i paid for, but ivan told me it's on its way. i still haven't received it yet. however, i'm patient.

i have no problem with the fin yet but i haven't used it because i want to use it for the first time with my good luck graphic on it.

i know you love the fin, we spoke about it and you had nothing but good things to say about it and we have the same fin.

but i see you're obviously having problems with it.

anyone with eyes can see you are.

i like leaderfin fins, but i am not too keen on their customer service. i mean you know what i went through to get the one i have.

honestly, if i have problems with it, i wouldn't bother sending it back.

i don't have time for email tag and i was not nor am i content with the level of customer support.

i *hope* my fin doesn't take a poopie on me because if it does, well that's just like 300 euro down the drain- i won't contact customer support... frankly, i don't feel there is any.

-diva

Hey Diva,

Good luck with your fin, I hope its not related to mine. My fin took a dive for the worse only recently, although the first problems started months ago. In the beginning it was simple color change in the blade and then what I believe was some kind of delamination in a couple of areas. These were just cosmetic problems, but the fin worked fine and it was great.

However, once the footpockets tore and started to come off, that was the end of the fin. By then the color change became dramatic and the delamination was much worse - the effect seemed to occur along the points of flex and stress in the blade. I might trying re-gluing the footpockets, but I feel its only a temporary solution.

Speaking of customer service, I have yet to hear from the US rep...I will try contacting Leaderfins directly, because this fin is still under it's one year warranty.

I have noticed that Special Fins seems to have better customer service as they have one main contact (Karmo) in Estonia. However, based on the website and my dealings, Leaderfins relies on their worldwide representatives to act as middlemen.

[monofin_diva]

i hope it's not related to yours too!

i was so excited to get it finally because honestly, i didn't think it was ever going to arrive. true, it did arrive without the logo i paid for but at least i have it, maybe i can just like draw the graphic on with a permanent marker (and yes i have literally considered that.) yet i was still told that it's on the way, well the logo still isn't here.. a full month later.

you're right, the customer service for leaderfin needs to step it up a notch... like seriously.

i think here, on deeperblue, people don't want to disparage a company or say their product sucks or their customer service is crappy and i'm by no means saying that this is leaderfin in general, but if more people don't openly speak about their experiences then how are we supposed to know?

it's ok to say you got a product that didn't live up to it's expectations.

i remember you saying how happy you were to have the mono and now i see the pics i'm like lord have mercy, i'm not getting into the ocean with THAT!

sorry, but this is our lives we're talking about here. what would you do if the mono failed at depth?

we discuss masks or anything else.. why not monos?

how the hell else will we know if someone doesn't say anything?

no offense, i didn't just scratch my butt and magically have a mono appear- no, i had to pay a LOT of money for it. and for the amount i paid i would like some good customer service.

i don't care if you wanted a next gen monofin or if you have bi fin foot pockets attached to a mono or what... end of the story your product is obviously poorly manufactured.

anyone that is reasoning, cognizant, and that has eyes can plainly see that your mono is f*cked up. plain and bloody simple. helloo..

and you haven't had it that long. from what i remember from your emails to me, it hasn't been like 6 months if that or maybe a little longer.

i would ask anyone to look at what happened to your fin and ask themselves if that is something they'd want to happen to them? especially at depth.

i don't care if you use it in a pool, the ocean, or tap dance in it. it's flat out sh*tty construction and no normal wear and tear would result in that.

have fun trying to get a hold of leaderfin reps.

i personally no longer find it fun.


sorry for the rant but hey, i'm black and cuban and firey of temper. but the above that i said is the straight up truth.

-diva

Originally Posted by demasoni

Hey Diva,

Good luck with your fin, I hope its not related to mine. My fin took a dive for the worse only recently, although the first problems started months ago. In the beginning it was simple color change in the blade and then what I believe was some kind of delamination in a couple of areas. These were just cosmetic problems, but the fin worked fine and it was great.

However, once the footpockets tore and started to come off, that was the end of the fin. By then the color change became dramatic and the delamination was much worse - the effect seemed to occur along the points of flex and stress in the blade. I might trying re-gluing the footpockets, but I feel its only a temporary solution.

Speaking of customer service, I have yet to hear from the US rep...I will try contacting Leaderfins directly, because this fin is still under it's one year warranty.

I have noticed that Special Fins seems to have better customer service as they have one main contact (Karmo) in Estonia. However, based on the website and my dealings, Leaderfins relies on their worldwide representatives to act as middlemen.

[demasoni]

OK, I got word from a guy named Maksim Merkuri after I contacted Leaderfins directly. He asked for more pics and supporting info, so I will let you know what happens...

[monofin_diva]

Originally Posted by demasoni

OK, I got word from a guy named Maksim Merkuri after I contacted Leaderfins directly. He asked for more pics and supporting info, so I will let you know what happens...

ok.. let me know what happens. i've never dealt with him before, just ivan and the one guy on here that is also a leaderfins rep that got a hold of ivan for me.

keep me posted.

good luck!

[jome]

Originally Posted by efattah

I use 3mm socks in my monofins.

I have tried monofins that have bi-fin footpockets. However, in my opinion, you are better off using high quality bifins (i.e. C4 Falcon 40), rather than using a mono with bi-fin footpockets... however don't take that as a fact, since I have only tried a couple of monos with bi-fin footpockets.


I think it is possible to get open heeled footpockets that a large enough for a 5mm sock, but I'm not sure which company makes them (not waterway or finis), but maybe Mat-Mas, leaderfins or specialfins.

I have a customized Hyper that fits 5mm socks quite well. the curious thing is, that it also works pretty well without socks. One of the main customization they did was widen the footpocket a bit and use softer rubber on the top part, which makes it very comfortable on the foot and I guess it stretches a bit with bigger socks. But the rubber is so think that it's pretty warm without socks too (I've been using it over 1 hour with 3mm socks in ice diving) It's a soft blade with soft footpockets, but somehow it propels me better than any other fin so far, I've shaven off 3 seconds from my 50m sprint.

I did not order it from Leaderfins, but I'm told the same guy made it. Maybe if you can explain to them what you want, they can make a similar one.

Anyway, I hope the thing stays together, because it is the first monofin I'm truly happy with - and afraid that I'll never receive another one like that even if I order the excat same fin - people with experience with russian fins probably know what I'm talking about. If you find a good one, hang on to it!

[BennyB]

Originally Posted by jome

- people with experience with russian fins probably know what I'm talking about. If you find a good one, hang on to it!

Yep I had one and I snapped it... you're pissed at the time but when you buy another fin and realise how good the first one was you're really pissed...

[demasoni]

Just got a reply from Maksim, he has offered to fix the mono if I send it to him.

[wes]

On durability I have now a waterway nemo wing monofin with the nemo footpockets. I have used this fin for 7 months averaging 3 times per week in the pool so lots of use plus maybe 20 times in the ocean. I never rinse it off or anything and it has shown zero wear issues except some scratches from when I dove with it under a waterfall bonked it into the rocks. My wife has the same fin and hers has zero issues also. I would agree also with Eric that these types of mono fins with pockets are not more efficient than good bi fins. Before I had Gara 2000 fins and can do the same length dynamic with the mono as with the bi-fins though this is after 6 months of practice with the monofin. The foot pockets are very comfortable (I wear no neopreme socks) and the technique I am developing seems very good. It is also really fun!!, much funner than the Bi-fins especially as last winter I had something new to learn and was very happy to go to the pool every day that I could with my new monofin. For this reason I would buy the waterway wing nemo monofin again for sure. I have also used it in constant weight dives to 50m and just for fun and it works great (though again not really any more efficient than my Gara 2000 Bi-fins). For me I feel mono-fins will develop ALOT during next 5 years so trying to buy the best one right now is kind of silly unless you want to set records. The waterway wing nemo I think is very good to learn monofin technique as I have learned three different strokes with it, a very quick flutter stroke usually for sprinting, a medium speed stroke where I push up and down and also a very large undulating "push" stroke for getting started and going really slow so I think these strokes will help alot with whatever monofin I end up with next. Cheers Wes

[demasoni]

Thanks Wes, yeah, I almost got the WW Wings Nemo mono but I got the Leaderfins instead as the WW wasn't out yet when I purchased mine. I have been using a buddy's open heel Finis Competitor lately and although the blade is seriously stiff, my 7 or so months of constant use with the Leaderfins has improved my technique so that the Finis is less painful than before and I can actually use the fin somewhat "properly" on the surface and underwater (pool work).

The thing I immediately noticed when comparing the footpockets is the way an open heel flexes not only on the downstroke, but especially how the pocket behaves on the upstroke. It seems because the pocket can flex in unison with the arch of the foot, both the upstroke and downstroke are much easier (less total leg movement) and contribute more to forward propulsion more than the OMER pockets. Of course, the open heel is nowhere as comfortable, but that's a given I guess that will hopefully improve with practice. Funny I never noticed this with the Finis until after using the Leaderfins for a while, because when I first started monofinning with the Finis, I thought open-heel pockets felt almost detached from my feet and I wasn't getting any power.

What kind of advances are you talking about when you say monos will improve over the 5 years? BTW, congrats with the NR!

[wes]

I think monofins in 5 years will be almost unrecognizeable to monofins today. While not sure what technology will make this possible, I am sure monofins in the future will look just like dolphin tails with fully faired sections were the legs are and much more "wing" like thin crescent tails, the tails now are more like flaps then wings. Also the foot connection will be both very comfortable and very energy transfer effecient. If you look at other sports top foot gear, skiing, running, alpine climbing, the best foot gear is also very very comfortable. I think alot of the features of fins we have now are relics from ideas of what fins should be from the original molded fin that was all rubber. Now we have 1,000's of waterproof/rotproof materials we could use to make fins many many different ways that were not available when the first molded rubber fins were made though as the first molded rubber fins were so so sucessful we still have the ideas in our head that this is how fins should be like. Cheers Wes

[Fondueset]

We had some problems getting hold of the US rep for Leaderfins. Initially he took our order and our understanding from him was that the fin was done and shipped. But when we contacted leaderfins we ended up having to completely re-order the fin. However - support from Leaderfins - once we contacted them directly, was excellent. My daughter loves her monofin - and her technique is excellent. The fin itself does not seem as sturdy as my Waterway Nemo. The leaderfins allows some independant foot movement which, it seems to me, would make it a more comfortable fin for long dives as well as enabling some nuanced maneuvering. Claire is in for a couple of hours at a time with no probelms.

The waterway hurts the joint on my right big toe after about 90 minutes - but this is improving as I learn to relax my feet.

[demasoni]

Great news! Got a quick and kind reply from Maksim, he offered to replaced the fin entirely, rather than attempt a repair. I will ship him the fin today.

Thank you Maksim!

[monofin_diva]

Originally Posted by demasoni

Just got a reply from Maksim, he has offered to fix the mono if I send it to him.

nice!

glad you got a hold of someone..

i just used my leaderfin wings for the first time in the pool.. it's a HUGE difference from my old fin. it is a lot heavier than my old fin and i use my abs more to be sure of a proper undulation.

it took about 40 minutes to get used to it, but i am only using it in the pool.

i still have no ocean experience yet with it, i'll tell you in email.

i'm glad you got someone from leaderfin to help or listen.

its sad that their regional cust. service is so sub par in many regards... i am still waiting for my logo!!

anyhoo.. i tried it in the pool today, and it's perfect.. my feet hurt a bit after a bit, but i'm getting used to closed heels and i'll get over that, but the power from that fin is phenomenal for me.

either way i'm glad you got to Maksim.. i don't know him but if i have a problem with my fin.. i trust you'll direct me to him.

when i get a fin with the logo i paid for, i'll take a few pics.

i'm glad you got to someone that could help you

-diva