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DiveR Innegra Stiffness - Soft or Medium?

JohnnyJ

Member
May 10, 2023
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Hi guys!

first off I wanna say how f**** awesome this forum is!! I've started spearfishing about 3 years ago during covid and I've never been so excited and hooked to a sport since I started surfing some 20 yrs ago (nowadays when I see a good surf forcast I'm bummed that I can't go dive :D) and this forum has helped me soooo much!!! So thank you all for sharing your knowledge and experience I really appreciate it a ton and learned a lot here :)

Now to my question. I started with plastic beuchat mundial 50, then upgraded to carbon fins a year ago. wanted to support my local dive store since the owner gave me lots of good advice, so I got the cheapest he recommended which were pescador (no name brand) in medium-soft. They felt very stiff in the beginning but I got used to them and grew to like them a lot for dives, but they were never really great for swimming from a to b. Now I'm in Brazil and on the best day I start swimming out to an island only to have one fin breaking 5mins from the beach :| Pretty bummed since I always treated them well and they were still quite expensive being ~200Eur (220$) now I don't have the money to buy new carbons every year but even more so I started thinking that if this would've happened after swimming to some super far off place for >1h I would be royally f*****. So since I want a fin that is super reliable I'm pretty settled on saving a bit and investing in some diveR innegras.
Now I've read all remotely related threads in this forum about 10 times by now but I'm still not sure about which stiffness to get. From what I gather, innegras are in general a very soft blade (most ppl say medium is softer than soft carbons) but a lot of guys say that they love the soft innegras even if they are heavier than me (even guys like Sharkey being over 100kg - he uses medium carbons for boat/drift diving though). But then there is guys saying that they wouldn't use them with currents or in rougher conditions which is quite common where I dive (eg faddawolf). Don't want to repeat all the threads here but long story short I'm not sure if I should go soft or medium, leaning towards soft though since I do a lot of swimming to good spots.

Sorry for writing such an essay but I would be super thankful for any feedback whether to go soft or medium, if you have any experience with the diver innegras.

Thanks a lot in advance!!


PS: I'm 183cm (6ft) and after I put on a bit of a dad belly weigh around 83kg (183lbs) in good months - up to 86kg (190lbs) after Xmas when I'm lazy ;) I generally almost exclusively shore dive with longer swims >1h/1km. Conditions are generally tricky, there are currents every now and then and almost always waves (visibility is very bad most of the time). I'm comfortable in the 8-12m (26-40ft) range with my max dives ~15m (50ft), average dive time is 1min to 1:30 (max 1:50).
 
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I recommend getting softs. I’ve used Innegra mediums and softs extensively over the past several years. You surely won’t be disappointed with Innegra mediums. They do feel softer than other carbon softs. I loved mine, and I’m even happier with my Innegra softs! They’re even easier to kick on long swims and will still get you back to the service with a big fish or through strong currents when needed. I’m 195 cm, 90 kg.
 
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Thanks a lot Parker!! Was hoping for someone that has experience with both and potentially can compare to other carbons as well :) very much appreciated!
 
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Hi Johnny,

I'm in the exact same boat now as you were in May... How did you go mate? Are you happy with your soft innegras? Your feedback would really help my decision.

Thanks a lot!
RabbitHawk
 
Hey Rabbit!

Sorry for the late reply! In short, super happy with the soft innegras!!

In terms of stiffness they felt quite similar to my medium-soft carbons, which was a surprise to me given that most of the opinions I read said that they are very much on the soft side. So in hindsight I was even more glad that I went for soft over medium.

Other than that just feels like a great fin all around, used them quite extensively last summer/fall, never in really rough conditions, but I would be super confident with them no matter the current/swell. I paired them with mares x wing footpockets (had mares razors before), which feels great for me. It's a much lighter footpocket than the razor, still very comfy for my pretty wide feet and power transfer also feels great.

With all that said, just keep in mind that I basically only had the beuchat mundial plastics, the medium-soft pescador carbons and the innegras so far, so I'm definitely not super experienced when it comes to fins. Nevertheless hope this helps you a bit and if you have any other questions, just let me know :)

Cheers
 
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Hey Rabbit!

Sorry for the late reply! In short, super happy with the soft innegras!!

In terms of stiffness they felt quite similar to my medium-soft carbons, which was a surprise to me given that most of the opinions I read said that they are very much on the soft side. So in hindsight I was even more glad that I went for soft over medium.

Other than that just feels like a great fin all around, used them quite extensively last summer/fall, never in really rough conditions, but I would be super confident with them no matter the current/swell. I paired them with mares x wing footpockets (had mares razors before), which feels great for me. It's a much lighter footpocket than the razor, still very comfy for my pretty wide feet and power transfer also feels great.

With all that said, just keep in mind that I basically only had the beuchat mundial plastics, the medium-soft pescador carbons and the innegras so far, so I'm definitely not super experienced when it comes to fins. Nevertheless hope this helps you a bit and if you have any other questions, just let me know :)

Cheers
Thanks heaps, Johnny!

This is exactly the sort of information I was after and has put all of my doubts to rest.
I haven't had a chance to try on the Mares X-Wing but I too have wider feet, so I might need to try them.

Thanks again!
Rabbit
 
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