Alchemy V2HS vs Trygons Carbon Stereo?

[sxc]

I've heard good things about the trygons, but haven't heard much about alchemy's stuff.

I'm looking for a soft blade, repetitive recreational diving/spearing in the 20-40M range.

So.. any opinions? Any other carbon blades I should be considering? Price isn't too much of a concern.

Thanks!

 

[Aber]

Imersion is said to have soft blades: Imersion E:Carbon. Fins Free diving, Scubastore.com, buy, offers, dive

I am very happy with my Mtechnic Spirit fins, which are very responsive, but they have also even softer blades: Carbon Fins

 

[landshark sa]

My Omer Stingray Carbon Fibre fins recently cracked and after a lot of research I ordered a set of Moana Waterman fins. Moana Waterman | Free Diving Carbon Fins

I have not received them yet (only placed the order this week) but so far the experience has been very good, JD, the owner of Moana, took the time to answer every one of my questions fully. I have also read only good reviews of his fins only so very eager to try them out.

My application is pretty much the same as yours - spearfishing in the 10 to 30m range and I went for the "hybrid soft" with the Pathos foot pockets. They are not available on his site yet but here are some excerpts out of our communication what he had to say about them:

"When you kick soft or small, they feel like short, soft fins. Once you kick harder or open up your kick, they stiffen up like a medium fin. This is different from so many of the softer fins out there that tend to just work like a broken board...levering at the end of the footpocket tendons.

I think for spearfishing, the hybrid softs are the way to go for most people, most weights. They just have so much range from lolly gagging to surface swimming, to dolphin kicks."

"A truly versatile fin that is comfortable on the surface as well as a great deep diving fin."

 

[chrismar]

As I've used both the Trygons and the Alchemys, perhaps I can help.

The Trygons are very light - the lightest fin I've ever found. I went with the soft blade and it's very soft indeed. If you want speed in them you have to use quite a high cadence, but it's quite possible. I used them mostly for spearfishing - in the 15-40m range, from tropics to 10 degree water - though I did one competition dive in them where I did 65m with an ascent rate of 1 m/s. The biggest advantage is their softness and lightness. If you have ankle pain or do very long days, they're great. The biggest disadvantages are the high cadence required to build speed (especially deep diving in thick suits) and their fragility. Unfortunately an airline ended my fins, despite heavy padding, etc.

The Alchemys are my current fin and I chose the soft-soft-medium on their advice. They seem to do a greater stiffness variance than most. I haven't done any really deep diving in them yet (early thirties) as I've only really spearfished in them. I'm off to the tropics at in four weeks though, so I'll get some deep spearing done there. Overall I slightly prefer the Alchemys, mostly because I can keep a slower & wider cadence which is generally more relaxing. I've found myself a bit less tired when diving with them, possibly due to efficiency loss when bending the Trygons too much when trying to accelerate. The big advantage is the higher efficiency during medium-speed diving and the wider range of power/speed you can get out of the fins (helpful when trying to drag fish away from cover!). The biggest disadvantage is they're less efficient than the Trygons when diving slowly and surface swimming when tired. They also stress my extremely unreliable ankles a bit more than the Trygons.

Any other questions?

ps. Neither fin seems to suit dolphin kicks particularly well (though I don't think bifins in general do), but the Alchemys are superior here.

 

[sxc]

As I've used both the Trygons and the Alchemys, perhaps I can help.

The Trygons are very light - the lightest fin I've ever found. I went with the soft blade and it's very soft indeed. If you want speed in them you have to use quite a high cadence, but it's quite possible. I used them mostly for spearfishing - in the 15-40m range, from tropics to 10 degree water - though I did one competition dive in them where I did 65m with an ascent rate of 1 m/s. The biggest advantage is their softness and lightness. If you have ankle pain or do very long days, they're great. The biggest disadvantages are the high cadence required to build speed (especially deep diving in thick suits) and their fragility. Unfortunately an airline ended my fins, despite heavy padding, etc.

The Alchemys are my current fin and I chose the soft-soft-medium on their advice. They seem to do a greater stiffness variance than most. I haven't done any really deep diving in them yet (early thirties) as I've only really spearfished in them. I'm off to the tropics at in four weeks though, so I'll get some deep spearing done there. Overall I slightly prefer the Alchemys, mostly because I can keep a slower & wider cadence which is generally more relaxing. I've found myself a bit less tired when diving with them, possibly due to efficiency loss when bending the Trygons too much when trying to accelerate. The big advantage is the higher efficiency during medium-speed diving and the wider range of power/speed you can get out of the fins (helpful when trying to drag fish away from cover!). The biggest disadvantage is they're less efficient than the Trygons when diving slowly and surface swimming when tired. They also stress my extremely unreliable ankles a bit more than the Trygons.

Any other questions?

ps. Neither fin seems to suit dolphin kicks particularly well (though I don't think bifins in general do), but the Alchemys are superior here.

First of all, thanks for that detailed response!
Questions:
1) Have you tried any other fins that are well suited to a dolphin kick?
2) During diving itself (i.e, descent/ascent) would you rate the trygons and alchemy as essentially equal? i.e, any efficiency loss that the alchemy has is purely on the surface?
3) Did you have the trygons with the short blade, or the regular ones?

Thanks!

 

[Aber]

Even though I have not tried the Trygons or the Alchemy fins, my guess is that with the Mtechnic, you will have the advantages of both the Trygons and Alchemy without the disadvantages Chrismar writes about. I know people who have tried all of these fins and they prefer Mtechnic. They are superlight and very responsive. You can swim with both low and high cadence and they will respond evenly well. If money is not an issue, I would certainly consider Mtechnic. They have a lot of experience and have made carbon blades for freediving since 1999.

 

[ZOKIAPNEA]

Even though I have not tried the Trygons or the Alchemy fins, my guess is that with the Mtechnic, you will have the advantages of both the Trygons and Alchemy without the disadvantages Chrismar writes about. I know people who have tried all of these fins and they prefer Mtechnic. They are superlight and very responsive. You can swim with both low and high cadence and they will respond evenly well. If money is not an issue, I would certainly consider Mtechnic. They have a lot of experience and have made carbon blades for freediving since 1999.

You use Mtechnic? what model,BS or Spirit?

 

[Aber]

Spirit.

 

[Matthew Elkins]

Alchemy v2s are what I'm using now in med/soft and I am loving them .like what has been said they aren't the fastest out there but the energy needed to move at the 1m /sec is weighless using for spearfishing and down to about 30m dives

 

[Sub37]

Alchemy v2s are what I'm using now in med/soft and I am loving them .like what has been said they aren't the fastest out there but the energy needed to move at the 1m /sec is weighless using for spearfishing and down to about 30m dives

Which faster carbon fins are you comparing the V2's to?