Fin Lineup - Any Questions?

[IBGuy]

Matrix Blades

I just took delivery of a set of Matrix blades,#2 stiffness, nice looking blades. The installation in my OMER Millennium foot pockets was super smooth. I'm gonna try em out tomorrow on a mission to abuse Tautog in Rhode Island. Goody, Goody

Cheers, Guy

 

[PaulV]

Re: somebody call??

Originally posted by icarus pacific
... Maybe the tooling was getting worn when my Matrix blades underwent the shave, ...

Sven, the tooling on the Matrix blades is done by hand on our fins as opposed to the CNC tooling by OMER. Hence the tooling imperfections, but of course no impact on performance (but it does minimize the impact on your wallet!!)

PaulV
www.20fathoms.com

 

[icarus pacific]

Re: Re: somebody call??

Originally posted by PaulV
but no impact on performance
PaulV
www.20fathoms.com

That's for sure, Paul! These things are just nuts! It's great that a simple swap to some really good blades makes this all fun again.

 

[icarus pacific]

Sven's early XMAS...

The big brown truck just trundled to the door of the Sultanny digs with four pair of Specialfins products!

Stay tuned in the next couple as I give these things a wringing out. Hint- Bat camo, Matrix weight. OMER pockets. Smooooth.

 

[miles]

Hiya

Received my Hybrid Professional's on saturday. I was really impressed with the service i received from Jyri. He answered all my question very promptly. Paid with my Master Card and two and a half weeks later my fins arrived. Fitted them to my Picasso footpockets (my UK size 13 won't fit omer footpockets:waterwork ) Needed a bit of work but fitted them ok. The blades really look awesome and i can really recommend the fin bag that they make. It's a camo bag which looks wicked

Went spearing with them yesterday, and the findings are:
I weigh about 100 kg's and am quite strong in the legs. Jyri & Mikko suggested Extra-hards. My dive partner is body guard and tends to train regularly, whilst i'm quite lazy. We both use picasso black teams and he is the same height and weight as me, just much stronger in the legs. We normally race each other back to the boat after diving a spot and he ALWAYS beats me.(sometimes by quite a considerable length ) Well yesterday, with my new fins, he didn't beat me once

The first thing i noticed when using them, is that they feel incredebly light in the water. Surface swimming was a pleasure and after 7 hours in 14 degrees water, my ankles and legs were ok. What i did notice is that for the first 30 minutes i kept kicking the fins against each other. Slight adjustment to my kicking tecnique solved this.

Diving down seemed to require less effort and coming back up was quite easy. I did a personal best yesterday with a dive time of 1:45 at 14 meters in 14 degrees water

Unfortunately, cold water and bad viz (4 meters at some places, 1 meter at others!!!) didn't bode well. Did see two schools of yellowtail (kingfish) smashing baitfish, but they were just too spooky in that dirty water. Not to mention the fact that a friend swam into a geat white last week in the same area

Sorry that this report isn't very tecnical, but i'm just a spearo who is interested in anything that can give me an edge

In conclusion, those Hybrid Proffesionals are absolutely fabulous. Really can't praise them enough

Regards
miles

 

[Mikko]

Cheers mate!

M

 

[Murat]

Hey Miles, I liked your review... Simple but effective...

You are saying that you swim 7 hours with x-hard fins and it was great. Hey Mikko, is it fin's property that makes surface swimming easier or its just because of miles is a big guy...?

Murat.

 

[Mikko]

It's the toe angle, unique shape and perfectly gradual "J" bend that all contribute to this. Toe angle is the most important part as it allows you to keep your foot in much more natural position when swimming one the surface and underwater as well.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Mikko

 

[unirdna]

Re: Sven's early XMAS...

Originally posted by icarus pacific
The big brown truck just trundled to the door of the Sultanny digs with four pair of Specialfins products!

Four Pair!? That's some coin, brotha. You been poachin' seals or shtuppin the boss? When you follow through on your review, post a pic of all the goods if ya can.

Miles, nice review. I bumped my fins a bit when I first got em too. For those reading, you don't need to use a wider kick to remedy this. Rather, it is simply a timing issue. If anything, you'll be forced to improve your kick 'frequency'.

I'm leaving for Coz tomorrow! I'll post some shots, and maybe even host some video of me using my stereopros, when I return.

Ted

 

[miles]

Hiya

Follow up report. I have used the Hybrids for about 4 weeks now. Wasn't happy with the picasso footpockets fit and fitted them to omer footpockets. Fitted like a dream. Very easy to fit. Omer footpockets fit my feet relatively well.

Fins feel very light in the water and surface swimming is a pleasure. Best part though is coming up from a deep dive. The power these fins give you are simply incredable. I normally spear at 10-15m water depth. Occationally i'd go to 18-20m, but that would be, go down to the bottom and shoot and go right back up. I now hunt at 20m 8). I've added about 4-5m working depth to my normal dive. (This was done in 9degrees celcuis water.........i was desperate for a dive!!)

I've got a couple of scratches to my fins because i hunt mainly reef areas. Other than that they're coping well so far.

To all those spearo's who haven't tried these fins yet, you don't know what you're missing!!! Best investment in my diving gear i've made. Just wish somebody had told me sooner about them!! ;D

Regards
miles

 

[ivan]

hi guys

Ive been toying with the idea of getting some new fins for a while now and today ive come very close to making my decision. Need some opinions first

After diving today with "Loopy" from Db and chatting with him about all kinds of fins that he has tried Im heading towards a custom pair of matrix fins. Brad says that the C4's are still the best fins he has tried in terms of performance but I think these fins would easily break whilst spearfishing on coral reefs where I live so that's no good to me.

Currently I have Omer millenium comp fins and I have now realised that these fins are to soft for me on deeper dives, after doing some dives today between 27-30m these fins just felt like they were too soft even though I was kicking my hardest all the way up. Maybe it has something to do with the amount of lead I have as well but I still think these fins are too soft for deeper dives for me.

Anyone out there own a pair of Omer comps or similar and changed to matrix/waterway blades. How stiff would you rate Black bladed plastic fins with the range of Matrix blades.

Im heading towards either the 4 or 5 stiffness with custom length blades. Just not sure if the 4's are stiff enough

anyone ?

cheers

 

[Murat]

Since the thread is active again, i have question to you guys...

Does anyone used specialfin kelpie model? How does it perform? It seems that i will need stronger fins in the way of progress. My cressi 3000 are bit weak for 5kg weight belt, i couldn't imagine how it will be with 10kg weight belt.

I will start to save money for new fins. I am thinking about 200 euro ( 250 dollars) what do you recommend?

 

[SpearSlinger1]

I was using the Riffe Silent Hunters (O.ME.R. Milleniums) until Santa-Wife got me the BAT 40s last month. Have I mentioned lately that I have a very wife? Anyway, I had reservations about getting the 40s, instead of asking for the 30s, while I was waiting for the 40s to come in and after the first couple of times in the water. The first time in the water with the new fins I took the old ones along to switch back and forth for a side-by-side comparison. The BAT 40s are quite a bit stiffer than the Milleniums. Surface swimming was easier with my old fins, but the new ones did everything sub-surface better, vertical and horizontal. On the second trip my right calf cramped up once, but I think a contributor to that might have been the four miles I ran in boots early that morning.:duh Now that I've used the 40s a few more times and my legs are getting more used to the stiffness I am finding that I prefer them more and more to my old fins, especially for anything sub-surface and towing my body board float with a stringer of fish hanging under it after a successful trip.

On the foot position thing. When swimming, with fins or without, my feet are always in the the the pointed toe position, the natural position for me, with the tendons and ligaments that run across the front of my ankles taking all the strain that is applied to my feet. I find this to be much more comfortable than trying to consciously hold my feet in any other position.

I, too, have found the camouflage pattern of the BAT fins to be much darker than it is in the web-site pictures.

In a nutshell, I have found the BAT 40s to be much stiffer than, and maybe not as fast as, the Milleniums, but better for swimming sub-surface and much better for towing.

 

[icarus pacific]

Andrew- that's my situation exactly. I was using a pair of OMER comps in their millenium footpockets and was finding myself wanting a tad more on the upslide. I picked up a pair of Matrix #3 blades, slid 'em into the pockets with zero hassle and never looked back. That said- the #3's are better for the surface to 50 foot stuff around here... for anything deeper on a regular basis, go with the #5 blades but be ready to feel like you're wearing plywood at the surface. I'm not hip to the custom length thing, but Paul here at DB is one of the guys at Matrix and he's great to deal with. The material that the Matrix blades are made of has resisted any attempts I've made at dinging them including standing on the tips at the bottom for a push-off.:mute The C4 Falcons are still the best things I ever had on my feet if I'm nowhere near a rock and need to get somewhere, but that's not often enough for me to get another set, though fin blade manufacturers are getting pretty proud of their stuff...

Murat- I have two pair of the Specialfins Kelpies in for evaluations and will be set to post the results about mid week. For right now, they're a great looking fin that looks like it will perform very well.

Spearslinger- I agree- those BATS are a really nice blade. Jeff Stewart had a set of the first ones here at my Ab Grab and I was waaay impressed with their quality and as I respect Jeff's abilities, he said he liked 'em- good enough for me. They're weighty though eh?

 

[rcerdena]

Hi guys:
has anybody tried carbon fins from Carbon Tek (spanish brand)?

Roberto

 

[unirdna]

Miles - you couldn't have been told sooner, because they didn't exist yet .

Sven - What say you about the dimensions of the kelpie fins. Specialfins say that they are designed for spearos, but the don't look as stubby as the hybrid fins. The shots on the website make the kelpies look the same as my fins. I bought my blades when specialfins used to offer the blades in 20cm or 22cm wide. I opted for the 22cm, and I think that this is the standard (only?) size fin they cut now for all their stereopro blades. If this is the case, Andrew and Murat could use my past posts as a reference for the kelpie.

Jyri? Mikko? You got your ears on?

Spearslinger, you must have some stong legs cuz the 30's were too much for me . I agree 100% with your review. They were quite good once you were below the surface. If you got the tires to move em, they could potentially be a helluva fin. And for those who like a bomb-proof fin, they are it (if you don't mind the weight - they are the thickest blades I've ever used).

Ted

 

[SpearSlinger1]

I never really considered the weight of these fins. On my Rapala digital fish scale the Milleniums weigh 2 lb. 7 oz. each and the BAT 40s weigh 2 lb. 11 oz. each. Of course this is in air. The in the water weight would be the one that matters and I don't think I have a very good way of finding out what that is. They don't feel any different though and I haven't timed it, but they seem to sink at about the same rate.

The main reason I went to a stiffer fin is that after I had my Milleniums a while I found it to be fairly easy to over-power them, especially when towing.

By the way, those weights are with the O.ME.R. size 40-42 foot pockets.

 

[SpearSlinger1]

Sorry, Ivan. I should have posted these comparisons earlier.

The BAT20 is the softer version, the BAT30 has a medium stiffness and the BAT40 is the one with highest stiffness and performing action.
From: http://www.omersub.com/omer/data/fins/bat.htm
Okay, no kidding omersub. That doesn't really tell me anything.

-BAT 20 corresponds to a Millenium Standard black in stiffness
and great for 50ft or less and lot's of surface work.
-BAT 30 is stiffer than the Millenium standard black and feels about the same or a bit less stiff than a Millenium Comp making it ideal for diving 60-90ft regularly.
-Bat 40- for the deep stuff and power kickers! Stiffer and Powerful.
From: http://www.spearfishinggear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=OBF&Category_Code=F
Ivan, this is probably the one that's the most informative for you with the comparison made between the BAT 30 and the Comps.

Bat 20 - The lightest of the three fins, this fin is ideal for light people.
Bat 30 - The Middle stiffness of the three fins. This fin is ideal for most people. If you are between 150-250 pounds we would recommend this stiffness unless you are an extreme-ist.
Bat 40 - The most stiff of the three fins. This fin is ideal for people who are deranged and like to fight five knot currents. It will also work well for professional Linebackers or divers spearing fish below 200 feet. If you are 200 pounds and all muscle or more, you qualify to be able to kick this fin. Just kidding...sort of...
From: http://www.bluewaterhunter.com/
I think this one is the funniest, but their description of a BAT 40 user doesn't fit me at all.

 

[Pezman]

@Sven

Are the Matrix blades mounted "smooth side down", i.e., is the smooth side of the blade on opposite side of where you stick your feet in the pocket (and if you're standing on the dock looking down at your fins, would you see the scalped side of the blade)? I've mounted my #4 blades that way (in Sporasub pockets) and they feel great. It seems to address the problems that folks had with the blades being bad for surface swimming. They dust my old Gara 2000's and some newer Millennium Comps. Also, the #4's are surprisingly soft -- don't feel like boards at all.

 

[ivan]

hi

Thanks for the great responses guys.

Sven thanks a bunch mate I think now that you say that I will most likely get the 5's, im currently in contact with Paul at the moment. Im suprised that you went with the 3's considering you are over 6ft and most likely much more powerful than me ? How do you rate the Matrix fins compared to those special fins or do I wait for your fin test

Spearslinger thanks for the heads up mate some nice info there, before you got those 40's were you using the same fin as me the omer millenium competition, supposedly the stiffest plastics :hmm I won't get BAT fins mainly due to price and the length. They seem fairly short, I think I will go with the extra long matrix fins just like "Skindivers" he posted a pic of his custom matrixes on another thread the total length of the fins is around 110cm. This suits me as I want to try some deeper apnea diving and I believe that a very slow long kick works better for me then the shorter flutter kicks we do with shorter blades.

Anyways I will see what Paul says and hopefully order some in the near future. I will be on an 8 day spearfishing trip next week but I don't think I will have the matrixes by then, I might just push the plastics down towards 40m and find out just how much they flex

cheers