Best fins for spearfishing?

[Murat]

C4 Mustangs are so new that you are probably one of the few people in the world who has actually worn a pair long enough to be able to judge them.

I have been wearing them for two months now,a sample pair of Mustang 40's 47-48, and I'm still trying to become one with the fin. It isn't a clear winner in my mind yet compared to the other C4's or the Omer Rekord 3's. I am impressed with the quality of the fin and the uniqueness of the footpockets and I would say for 30 meter dives its better than the Rekord 3's and the C4 30's because naturally as the 40 is a stiffer fin its ideal to get off the bottom when you're very negative, however my spearfishing is mostly in the 50-90ft range and it's there that I'm really trying to come to terms with the differences between the fins. It has such a different feel alltogether.

Mark

Which one do you think better, C4 mustangs or rekord 3? please no poletical answer:naughty pm me about your opinion if you want.

 

[strangelove]

Spaghetti

How do you like your new Omer 3000 (assuming that you've bought one), did you get the XXV.

How did you like the muzzle are you using it with a circular band or split band ?

 

[Marwan]

tottally agree that there are fins for every occasion, but most of the time my profile is more or less the same, about 3-4 hour, lots of surface swimming plus diving down from 6-15 meters, i will write a review in about 2 weeks when i try out he fins. To add to spagetti's point, its not just fins for every occasion, is fins for every person too, like i said, i was not fascinated by the c4's despite everyone saying they are the best fins, they just didnt make me feel anything special, probably because to fee their difference you need to go deeper than i do. similarly the omer Bats, great fins, very durable, bt i did not like them for surface swimming. actually in all my fins the most comfortable so far have been the sporasub h dessault plastic fins. like i said people differ.
cheers everyone

 

[strangelove]

Marwan

What bat fin did you try 20,30,40 or the 25

 

[spaghetti]

Spaghetti
How do you like your new Omer 3000 (assuming that you've bought one), did you get the XXV.
How did you like the muzzle are you using it with a circular band or split band ?

Budget trouble, Strangelove: I spent it all for Rekord 3 fins and the new speargun will wait a couple of weeks to be bought...:vangry
But it was money well spent honestly: very good fins overall, it just took two drops of cyanacrilate glue to fix the blades on the footpocket (I had the slight sensation blades could slip off before glueing, now they're perfect).

--PS: My dreams speargun is a XXV Gold 90cm, gonna use it for bluefish, typical summer catch in Tuscany. It's like a bass, but faster and stronger: it takes a good reel. This is why I'd rather buy the XXV Gold - sold reel included -rather than the simple XXV).

 

[Marwan]

strangelove, i have the bat 30's (at that time the 25 hadnt come out yet) maybe the 25 or 20 are better, i doubt it but i could be wrong.

spaghetti,
the xxv is the way to go, i think its a great gun as it has many options, open muzzle/closed muzzle, you could really adjust it to fit your needs, maybe they would make a version sometime in the future with a telescopic barrel and shaft so that you could adjust the length as well we are joking about it know and think its funny, but i am sure it will happen one day

 

[adelmukhtar]

I've been using soft fins for along time and it was ok ,but from one year ago, my friend adviced me to try the hard one's (SPORA SUB)and idid took his advice and start with the hard fin's .
when i start with it i found big difference ,becuase when you are on the bottom( 20m_30m)it's faster and easiear to go to the surface.

[

 

[land shark]

I got my honey do list caught up so sneeked out this morning.
Didnt care about the vis just wanted to do some open water and really shake hands with my new bat 30'''''''s. First time I had them on with out all the warm suit stuff. Like i said the vis sucked and there was huge weed floats of algae.
So off came the weight belt and I just put it in cruise mode. I was really impressed with the performance. I just spent a couple of hours just cruising the surface and breaking my kicks up. Dolphin through the weed floats. Frog over interesting nest spots. and pour it on in the deep. I even tryed to get a video of them flexing like in Ted's vid but my beer belly got in the way.
All in all I think they would perform admirably for our type of spearfishing here.

I recently started to run at least one day a week. Mark assured me that for my size I would want the 30's. Now Im gald I did. I also like the turn around feel they dont spin me like the sporas. A couple of easy kicks and enjoy the ride up.

jim

 

[Mark Laboccetta]

Which one do you think better, C4 mustangs or rekord 3? please no poletical answer:naughty pm me about your opinion if you want.

I honestly don't know and cant tell you what's better for you. I think you will really need to talk to a few people who have tried both. Shane has the Rekord 3's and a previous poster has the Mustang 30's, that will be a better comparison rather than comparing Mustang 40's to Rekord 3's as in my case.
Either way, there is no mistake they are both two of the best fins currently on the market so it's not like one is going to be a mistake. I think fit, feel, and comfort in the water depending on personal preferences are more important deciding factors.

Mark

 

[Marwan]

ok my fins arrived today, great service from martin and the specialfins team, too bad my bathtub isnt long enough or deep enough time to remodel the house i cant wait to try these babies in the water, cant do it this weekend though, i have to work, next weekend, i will post the reviews as soon as i can, i got them in mediums and i must say i am very optimistic.
cheers to all my fellow toy collectors

 

[harpune1]

has anyone tried the sporasub graffiber blades?
could get those for 60E (pair)
good deal?
thx

 

[Trainwreck]

Marwan,
In my opinion, for the money, you can't beat the Cressi Garas. I have had mine since 03, I use the $#@%$# out of them and they are still great. I se that you already made a choice so, good luck and let us know how they are.

 

[Marwan]

ok guys i have the official review, this weekend, i tried the following:
Cressi Gara 3000 LD
C4 25
Specialfins Hybrid
the gara were great for surface swimming and adequate for going to 12m (nothing special but good)
c4 25 are excellent fins by all standards but i didnt enjoy them, i felt they were a bit heavy on the legs
the Hybrids are AMAZING!!! i was concerned because they seemed wide i was afraid that they would eachother as i swim, but that did not happen. I had them in medium stiffness, excellent for surface swimming, i used them for 4 hours and no strain on my legs. i dove to 12m the propoulsion was excellent the more you push the more they respond and you could reach your target depth in less time which gives you more bottom time. The only drwback i found was the footpocket (omer millenium) its very stiff, but i now changed that to my trusted sporasub footpocket. The fins feel very light underwater and feels that all of a sudden your feet became too powerful
they are quite pricey too, but i am content that i have found my perfect fins.
cheers

 

[GreekDiver]

the Hybrids are AMAZING!!! i was concerned because they seemed wide i was afraid that they would eachother as i swim, but that did not happen. I had them in medium stiffness, excellent for surface swimming, i used them for 4 hours and no strain on my legs. i dove to 12m the propoulsion was excellent the more you push the more they respond and you could reach your target depth in less time which gives you more bottom time. The only drwback i found was the footpocket (omer millenium) its very stiff, but i now changed that to my trusted sporasub footpocket. The fins feel very light underwater and feels that all of a sudden your feet became too powerful
they are quite pricey too, but i am content that i have found my perfect fins.
cheers

I have the hards in hybrids. I love them. I should test out the sporasub footpocket. Everyone says good things about the sporasub footpocket. I wonder why? I have the omer one.

 

[trux]

... I should test out the sporasub footpocket. Everyone says good things about the sporasub footpocket. I wonder why? I have the omer one.

BTW, among the French fin manufacturers, it is not only Sporasub who offers good footpockets. I saw several tests where the footpocket of the Beuchat fins was ranked as one of the best. I use Beuchat Competition myself too, and it is true that I am quite satisfied with the footpocket. Sporasub has recently redesigned the footpocket at the plastic Instinct fin, though unfortunately, the blade is moulded to the pocket in this case, so you cannot use the footpocket for blades of other manufacturers. I suppose though that they will use the redesigned footpocket at other fins with exchangable blades too, since it seems to be even better than before. At least according to the test in the French Apnéa Magazine. I posted about the test in another [ame="http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?p=601526#post601526"]thread[/ame].

 

[Marwan]

Beuchat in myopinion are the most underrated manufacturer of spearfishing equipment, i guess they need to touch up on their marketing/advertising, in my opinion they make some of the best stuff, i'm not surprized t your comments about beuchat.
greekdiver, the omers were just tooo stiff as footpockets, the holes on your hybrids will fit the sporasubs excatly no more drilling needed, there is just a small rubber part on the footpocket that you will have to cut when assembling, you will understand as you assemble.
cheers

 

[Mr. X]

BTW, among the French fin manufacturers, it is not only Sporasub who offers good footpockets. I saw several tests where the footpocket of the Beuchat fins was ranked as one of the best. I use Beuchat Competition myself too, and it is true that I am quite satisfied with the footpocket...[/URL].

Was it the French Apnea Magazine that rated the French Beuchat footpockets highly by any chance?!

Beuchat in myopinion are the most underrated manufacturer of spearfishing equipment, i guess they need to touch up on their marketing/advertising, in my opinion they make some of the best stuff, i'm not surprized t your comments about beuchat.
greekdiver, the omers were just tooo stiff as footpockets, the holes on your hybrids will fit the sporasubs excatly no more drilling needed, there is just a small rubber part on the footpocket that you will have to cut when assembling, you will understand as you assemble.
cheers

I too bought Beuchat Competitions, last year, because they were the cheapest most readily available (to me) long fin (they went on sale just after that too ). I had quite low expectations but have found them to be surprisingly good, quite sufficient for my needs. The foot pockets are comfortable (quite solid). The blade seems a little stiff sometimes & a little soft other times - so I figure it is probably just about right most of the time. The guy who sold them to me (is a similar size & build) uses Omers - so I figured Omers must be better. I feel reassured by your comments. I had already figured that I would not need to "upgrade" for some time.

re. Beuchat, they appear to make little effort to sell in the UK. Although several vendors carry a few bits & pieces (snorkels/fins). Their low end guns are very plasticky (although I think they would sell well here if priced the same as in France) but their higher end guns (Mundial) look good and seem like they should be more popular/common (bit too pricey here perhaps?).

By the way, is it possible to fit other manufacturers blades in the Beuchat pockets? (e.g. Omer ice).

 

[Fondueset]

I've only tried Sporasub, Cressi and Omer footpockets. I much prefer the Omers. I think this is probably highly individual though - the Omer footpockets just fit me better. I like the Cressi's as well - my daughter uses a pair of Garas and swims for hours and hours with no problems. I've found the Sporas and Omers better for surface swimming.

I think for spearfishing it depends on where. Here I use Omer Ice fins - but I am mostly in 10-20 meters of depth. They are very easy to swim with and very maneuverable but for deeper dives you would probably do well to have something stiffer. With my sporasubs I often had problems stopping or turning to photograph fish around a rock breakwall - the ice fins are much better. I've also noticed fish will approach much closer from the rear - they don't seem to see the fins - which is also significant because it means they are also seeing much less motion. I've notice that even fish in front of me are much less alarmed if I have to kick or make position corrections with my legs - whereas with other fins I can see them shift their eyes to my fins and show signs of alarm.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

I have an impression of the Rekord fins, so I guess I might as well tack it onto this thread.

A friend of mine, Jeff, had been using the BAT fins- I'm not certain which number, but I think it was a mid-stiffness, and didn't feel like they were giving him enough thrust on his deeper dives. So he just got a pair of Record 3 fins, and we went out on a two day trip.

He is really delighted with the performance, and he even got to do a very specialized test. The other guy with us got tangled trying to get his white sea bass out of the kelp and had to drop his 18 pound weight belt. There was no way he could get down there himself, so he called for help. I held our guns while Jeff looked for the belt. The plan was that when he found it, he would take the other guy's float line down and attach it so we could pull the belt up. But when he did find the belt, he just grabbed it and powered for the surface.

He was wearing a two-piece 5 mm wet suit and was weighted to be neutral at about 18 feet, so he would be very negative himself at 45 feet. But then carrying that 18-pound belt, he would be like a rock, but he managed to bring it up. I rushed over and took the belt from him as he hit the surface, and I had a hard enough time even staying afloat while I took it over to its owner.

So I am very impressed with those fins, as well as being very impressed with Jeff. Now if only I had not just spent over $2000 on boat repairs and/or was rich.

Here are some photos showing some of the fish from the trip. We got a nice mix of dorado, yellowtail, white sea bass, and calico bass.

 

[spaghetti]

I have an impression of the Rekord fins, so I guess I might as well tack it onto this thread.

A friend of mine, Jeff, he just got a pair of Record 3 fins, and we went out on a two day trip. He is really delighted with the performanceNow if only I had not just spent over $2000 on boat repairs and/or was rich.
Here are some photos showing some of the fish from the trip. We got a nice mix of dorado, yellowtail, white sea bass, and calico bass.

I can report the same good impression of the Rekord 3.
But I can't display such wonderful fishes. :head