Extreme Dolfinism G2

[cdavis]

To the color question on anodizing:
fish eyes are adapted for low light, seeing contrast, not so much color. Camofloge (sp?) must be important since you see so much of it underwater. The effect of color changes with depth. Thats why you see so many red fish. Mostly those are species that don't come above the depth where red light even exists, so they just look grey.

I'm not familiar with flashers, so can't comment on that. In general, anything that shows a sharp contrast in shape or color(and those colors are visible at depth) will be visible to the fish. I try to avoid those things.

Ron, on your videos. I find them very useful for studying technique and performance. The open water ones are inspiring. However, they usually require some degree of experience to appreciate. For the less skilled viewer, more shots taken by a camera man other that the diver should be better. Check some of Ted's videos. He makes great use of the female form and some very skilled photographers. If you are thinking of marketing videos, paying for a top notch camera man should be an excellent investment.

 

[Philip Fennell]

To the color question on anodizing:
fish eyes are adapted for low light, seeing contrast, not so much color. Camofloge (sp?) must be important since you see so much of it underwater. The effect of color changes with depth. Thats why you see so many red fish. Mostly those are species that don't come above the depth where red light even exists, so they just look grey.

I'm not familiar with flashers, so can't comment on that. In general, anything that shows a sharp contrast in shape or color(and those colors are visible at depth) will be visible to the fish. I try to avoid those things.

Ron, on your videos. I find them very useful for studying technique and performance. The open water ones are inspiring. However, they usually require some degree of experience to appreciate. For the less skilled viewer, more shots taken by a camera man other that the diver should be better. Check some of Ted's videos. He makes great use of the female form and some very skilled photographers. If you are thinking of marketing videos, paying for a top notch camera man should be an excellent investment.

I'd add to @cdavis comments by saying that the whole GoPro perspective is obviously very in at the moment so mixing in footage shot in that style would probably give it a personal kind of feel too.

 

[REVAN]

@cdavis
Your fin is unfinished aluminum. Does its bright/reflective qualities interfere with your ability to get close to fish for hunting? If it's not a problem for you, then I think the black and gold anodizing on the X-20 and Pilot would not be a problem either. The gold anodizing is useful for the safety divers to be able to better see you, and It would be easier to spot for recovery if the fin were lost in the water. I'm thinking the gold anodizing is an overall benefit. What is your official opinion?

 

[cdavis]

The aluminum on mine is pretty dull, blends right in. Don't have an opinion on the anodizing, but I think gold is mostly absorbed in fairly shallow water. Don't think the fish would notice, one way or the other. Not sure about safety divers. Lime green, on the other hand, really jumps out at you from a long way off underwater. Make a lime green blade? (not for me)

 

[baiyoke]

Ron what a pleasure it is to follow your development of the fins, and especially also your business ethics, openness and proffessionalism.

To add to the things you are asking about concerning how to attract more people:

- First of all for me, a monofin has been something in my mind from I was a child, and saw something in television - people made them from circuit boards... When I picked up freediving 20 years later, I'm not sure when I got interested... It was just something that naturally came to my mind, having seen it here and there- "gotta have one of hose...".

- About your videomaterial: I'm not sure what to say, but I think it is very engineer-like, and not so much sales-orientated. Could be more of a go-pro "Be a Hero":lifestyle - beauty - awesomeness and superb functionality

- Also I think you are to some extend being damaged by the Lunocet development history, because people mix up the fins and everything around them.

- The biggest hurdle by far I think is the price... Perhaps the Pilot-2 can help with that. But the Orca and X-20 are just not entry-level fins going at those prices, no matter how good and durable it is... My first mono was a Nemo at 200-250 dollar. When buying your fin I was allready an enthusiast regarding freediving and a huge fin development fan...

- One thing that might be a factor also is the look. The Orca or mk-2 looks (more) "organic", but the x-20 and Pilot-2 looks "mechanic" to the untrained eye... So be explicit about the heritage from dolfins and fish - show it - tell about it... I see it, but many people don't. To me the best shot of your fins is this one...

And be all means get this up on your homepage also

Make a front-page slideshow or similar

I've said it before, partly as a joke, but I mean it: You should use the similarity of yout fin, not only to dolfins, but also to tunas and blue marlin:

In short: More positive branding and get the functionality of the mechanichs coupled with the organic heritage, get that message out in an interesting way, and perhaps get the price down a notch...

 

[REVAN]

Thanks for the feedback, Baiyoke. I do appreciate it.

I was worth taking that flag all the way to France just to get that picture of the red, white and blue Orca. That RWB Orca is actually the same Orca that I am holding in the Okinawa picture. One cool thing about the Orca1, it can be refinished and made into a new monofin over and over again.

 

[divebike]

How did you change the finish, is that a painted surface ,what is the current orcas fairing made of ?

 

[Philip Fennell]

@REVAN I think there's another angle to explore in the promotion of your DOL-Fins and that's to do with the principle of the hydrofoil. Upon first glance the fin looks somewhat skinny and therefore could be excused for being thought of as ineffectual but that'd be a mistake because the principle upon which it works is entirely different to a conventional monofin. So maybe some text and imagery that associates your concept with other practical and successful applications of the hydrofoil.

That might help get across the point that your fins are different from the ordinary.

 

[divebike]

I'd like to see you have a crack at producing a fin for the sprinters market, to see what results you could get. A stiffer fin is prob needed to deal with the extra load on the fin,carbon or glass fibres as infill perhaps,and either a larger fin or the same fin moved further back from the feet to allow a greater amount of work to be done per rep. This would be a new market for you.

 

[REVAN]

The Pilot2 prototypes are in the final stretch of fabrication. The frames are getting anodized. I should have some pictures ready to post in about a week.

With the shipping of these initial units, the DOL-Fin Pilot models will be the first monofin systems to offer connections to both SPD and Look interfaced cycling shoes.

 

[REVAN]

Only one month from kickoff to completion for the DOL-Fin Pilot2 project. That's gotta be some kinda record for the development of a new monofin product. In all fairness though, I've had several years of work to get my tools and technology mature enough that I could produce this level of quality so quickly.

Finished in the traditional DOL-Fin black and gold anodized colors, here's proof of the Pilot2's completion:

 

[Philip Fennell]

Only one month from kickoff to completion for the DOL-Fin Pilot2 project. That's gotta be some kinda record for the development of a new monofin product. In all fairness though, I've had several years of work to get my tools and technology mature enough that I could produce this level of quality so quickly.

Finished in the traditional DOL-Fin black and gold anodized colors, here's proof of the Pilot2's completion:

That's looking damned good Ron!
Absolutely cracking job.
Oh, yes, and finished on time too. That's gotta be worth something.

I'm really looking forward to getting in the pool in a couple weeks time and taking mine for a spin, or should that be fin?. Insanely busy at work right now but I'm going to make the time even if I have to work all night to make up the hours.

 

[divebike]

That's looking damned good Ron!
Absolutely cracking job.
Oh, yes, and finished on time too. That's gotta be worth something.

I'm really looking forward to getting in the pool in a couple weeks time and taking mine for a spin, or should that be fin?. Insanely busy at work right now but I'm going to make the time even if I have to work all night to make up the hours.

Do you still have the luno on order or have you cancelled it? If you still have it on order then I think one day , I don't know which day sorry, that you might be the first person to own both one of the dolfins + a luno, a comparison between the 2 would be good to see.

 

[REVAN]

Do you still have the luno on order or have you cancelled it? If you still have it on order then I think one day , I don't know which day sorry, that you might be the first person to own both one of the dolfins + a luno, a comparison between the 2 would be good to see.

Not the first for "dolfins + a luno" (see quote below). However, the 2015 Lunocet Pro and the DOL-Fin Pilot2 are new models, so it would be interesting to see a comparison now, especially since these new monofins are at the same price point.

I'm assuming the x20 and the lunocet? In terms of where it matters, the x20 outperforms the lunocet by a long shot. I'm talking 50% better. Here's something that compares similar to the performance of the Lunocet (classic) at a faction of the price.

Yes I have those fins in the picture and yes they are similar in terms of effort required, number of undulations, speed and distance covered.



just eyeballing it, I think the lunocet has similar if not slightly less surface area than the x-20. By "slightly", I'm guessing about the size of your palm. I think the only unhappy customers about the Lunocet are the ones who value factors other than aesthetics.

The lack of performance is appalling after the big talk and reviews.
From the Lunocet (classic) site
It can take you great distances underwater with little exertion
The lunocet was born of a need for speed… underwater speed
The result?… The most efficient swim fin ever developed.
(all big talk with absolutely zero data to back all these claims up)
In hindsight, the few people who talk the Lunocet up are essentially people who have been bought over with free gear. They ignore negative comments, talk up irrelevant information that may seem to make the Lunocet really good and scoff at request for any performance data.



Delivery dates, post customer support, how he received feedback, lack of instructions, quality of materials, precision of manufacturing. performance.
Yes I could say I'm very unhappy with it.
I was once typing out a thread on why I wouldn't buy the Lunocet but I stopped halfway. Didn't like the negative energy I was feeling and I generally don't like to talk bad about people. I have since already taken a "I give up" approach despite being an active early contributor to the Lunocet thread.

I know of other customers (3) who are unhappy. They just can't be bothered to come to the forums and type about it.

Would you buy a brand new sexy looking car that required (amateur) fixing after you bought it? Then why would you buy a Lunocet?

 

[Philip Fennell]

Do you still have the luno on order or have you cancelled it? If you still have it on order then I think one day , I don't know which day sorry, that you might be the first person to own both one of the dolfins + a luno, a comparison between the 2 would be good to see.

Because I wasn't prepared to wait an indeterminate amount of time for the Lunocet Pro 2015 to arrive (I'd already been waiting 10 months) I asked for, and received, a refund. I'm told that it is actually in the USPS postal system but nothing has arrived since pre-shipment notification was sent to me in mid-December. If it does arrive, and I hope it does, I'll be interested to compare the two but for now I know my Pilot2 exists and will be delivered soon.

 

[finSailor]

Because I wasn't prepared to wait an indeterminate amount of time for the Lunocet Pro 2015 to arrive (I'd already been waiting 10 months) I ask for, and received, a refund. I'm told that it is actually in the USPS postal system but nothing has arrived since pre-shipment notification was sent to me in mid-December. If it does arrive, and I hope it does, I'll be interested to compare the two but for now I know my Pilot2 exists and will be delivered soon.

I wish you better luck with Pilot2. Sorry to hear that your loooong wait was pointless. I also still have one of those extra USPS-tracking-pre-info-received-number like yours (other than the one that finally delivered my Luno), but I do not expect to receive second one, like ever.

Miracles do not happen, they are made - like that awesome looking DOL-fin there. Great job!

 

[REVAN]

The crowdfunded DOL-Fin Pilot2 monofin units are completed and shipping out. Overall, the performance is similar to the X-20. The feel is a little different. I'm beginning to transition toward thinking more about promotion of the Pilot2 with the goal of making it a standard product, and I'm wondering if I should be looking to find someone to do a gear review, or if it is close enough the X-20 that another review would be of limited benefit. I could put the resources toward getting sexy girl monofin action pictures instead.

If doing a review: keep in mind that this is a recreational use monofin. Pool swimming is useful for metrics, but the real review should take place in open water, preferably after taking a flight on the airlines to a nice diving destination. Who should be doing the review? One of the crowdfunding customers, myself, or someone hired to do the review? What do you all think would be the best path to take here?

 

[Ichthys]

I would tend to think you should do something yourself (optional hired swimmer for photos\vids), being sure to push it as what you intended it to be--a recreational fin, and throw your weight behind that. Then work to encourage a few visible reviews from experienced reviewers\snorkellers\fin swimmers, and if you feel that any of those go really well you can sort of bring it in accordingly.

Might be kind of far out, but I'll throw it out anyway--visit a popular beach-side resort, having a small camera crew in tow, and let visitors\swimmers try them out. Get feedback, verbal reviews, and with their permission photos and vids to use. With any luck this kind of material could be worth its weight in gold.

 

[HydroApprentice]

Actually, I think it would be worthwhile to combine it with a freedive-related event. Take a couple of fins, which can be used/tried by the community. It's your target audience, after all. And it's good to get feedback from a broader base, not only from the elite, but also from people who simply enjoy water and love the general vibe. This way, you could collect footage, testimonials and probably even sell one or the other testing fin at a "promotional price". Above all, people can try these fins, gain confidence in the tech, and spread the word. [emoji1] Thanks to your design, all it takes is a suitcase, a couple of blades and several cycling shoes of different sizes to provide a fin for almost anyone [emoji16]

 

[HydroApprentice]

Ichthys has a good point. Performance is one thing, and quite an important one for marketing the fin. But it's also a great deal of fun, and this message should be heard by people who just want to have a good time in the water. Especially when this is possible without making compromises on gear quality and performance.