Anyone tried Gara 3000s

[Ben Gowland]

I'm always looking for a good plastic fin to recommend to newcomers. I had some of the original Gara 2000s which then became LDs and I had some HFs. I thought the blades were OK on both (for plastic fins) but didn't like the footpockets when wearing socks, but thought they were great of you weren't wearing socks.

Does anyone have any feedback on the new blades?

Ben

 

[fatboyjim]

hiya ben

the footpockets are pretty much the same but the blade is stiffer and slightly longer.
found they were better / more effective on deeper dives but a bit more like hard work on long surface swims.
good all rounder though if you can afford them !

 

[ADR]

I'm relatively new to the game but did take gara3000 fins to vanuatu for 2 weeks and dived spearo style 3hr sessions up and down between 25m-35m on relatively short recoveries. They felt good and put up with 2 weeks of that type of diving. Very durable and good performing and that is from a guy who prefers a mono!

hope that helps but best to get feedback from the deeper guys about the serious stuff

Andy

 

[Ben Gowland]

Thanks chaps,

Jim - when you said stiffer, did you mean stiffer than the HF or stiffer than the LD?

The main reason I am asking is that I always want to recommend the best of the basic fins to the newcommers that I teach each year. I always recommend going for carbon or fibreplastic fin, but I appreciate that this seems like a lot of cash for new people. So far, the plastic fin I recommend most is the sporasub HDessault, but this is not a good fin to recommend if someone wants to dive in warm water without footpockets as the footpocket is not well designed for a bare foot and the blade is way to stiff for warm water diving.

It sounds like there is little discernable difference in the blade from the others, but the comments on bad surface characteristics (which one would expect from it being longer anyway) would certainly put me off recommending it.

Any more comments appreciated.

 

[h2schmo]

Ben,

These are my first pair of longfins so I can't compare them to the others, but I love them. The blade is slightly thinner and longer than the previous ones, and also slightly stiffer than the HF ( from a mate who's had both).

They don't feel too stiff. I got used to them fairly quickly, and even though I don't dive often and am in poor shape, I swam with them for three hours last week and only experienced very minor cramping in my feet at the end of the dive.

As for surface characteristics, I can't complain either... it's just a matter of trying different styles and getting used to them. I think the only way longfins would be really great on the surface would be if they were either so short or soft so as to render them useless for depth.

They are light, the footpocket fits (me) well, and power me up and down really nicely. So far I've only taken them to 23m, but since I used 20 year old snorkel fins to 21m, the carbons would have to be a damn sight cheaper for me to make the switch.

 

[Murat]

I am using gara 3000s. The most amazing thing about the this blade that i noticed is the flex of it. At first blade was bit hard for surface swimming ( i guess its because of it is my first long blade freediving fin, i was using short rubber "toy" ones before", after several dives my leg accommodate it and swimmed more than 5 hour non stop on the surface without even 1 cramp. They were pretty good for diving as well (up to 17 meter tested by me) but after i put wetsuit (half of it) on with 5kg weight belt i noticed huge decrease in performance while getting from bottom. I don't know may be its just me. I will try them with some heavy load (weight belt) see what will happen... Overall may be good plastic choice for beginners... By the way i tried footpocket with bare foot which was too bad and painfull after 4 hours dive,but after putting socks on it was ok....

 

[Farmer Mat]

Great

Hello,
i like the gara 3000 very much. my brother got the 2000 Hf. the gara 3000 is stiffer than the 2000 LD and more flexible than the HF. the flex of the 3000 is like i want. i move quiet fast with a minimum of work. it is my favourite fin - of the plastic ones.
greets