Heya
Heya,
I've been diving with OMER Millenium Competitions for over a year now, and if you don't wan't to spend too much money, I might be able to offer a few cheaper alternatives...
I agree the foot pocket uses hard rubber that can hurt your feet, but what I did was went out and bought a pair of 1mm neoprene socks to wear. The set I got were for surfing (because they were the cheapest I could find - wholesale) but I know a lot of diving companies make them. Just make sure your foot still fits in the pocket
If your finding the blades too hard to work with, then you may have bought too stiff a blade for the type of diving you're doing. My blades a fairly stiff, because when I get over my ear problems, I'll be doing a lot of deep diving. I'm at the stage however where I can spend a fair few hours (5 or so) in the water with them on before I notice it. So, returning to my point

, you can actually buy new blades for the fins that are a lot softer. This is a lot cheaper than buying a new fin, and it has the added benefit that if you ever decide to branch into deeper diving, you have the stiffer fin (You need a stiffer fin in deeper water).
Hope this helps, and good luck with the diving
Loopy