Has anyone tried Seac Shout S900 fins?

[ikravchik]

Hi,

I just purchased Seac Shout S900 fins online. Amazon.com: Seac Diving Shout S900 Camo Fins

Has anyone had any experience using them? How would you rate them?
I am thinking of using them both for freediving and scuba.

Thanks

 

[sai]

Well I'm using the S800. I think you can't get much more bang for the buck. Great fins imho.

 

[ikravchik]

Thanks,

I should be getting mine in the mail tomorrow. Can't wait to test them out in the pool! (yes, I don't live close to an ocean)

 

[Iveros]

Hi there!

cool to find an existing thread to give a quick review.
Well ok, I am really a beginner, so i can only compare the S900 to crappy Aldi snorkeling fins (too small as welll) and crappy "professional" Aldi open heel what ever fins.
So, I can only say that for me as a beginner, they are great! I was quite a long time in the water 1-2 hours and it was my first dive this year and i had nearly no pain in the ankles! They are huge though, but the speed is amazing, never swam and dove like that before.
I will try to get some S800 for my wife, as she would need some softer ones, but they are very hard to get in the size I want currently.
Anyone knows any other very soft fins, normal size, so e.g. 41/42 with sock?

Unfortunately I cannot compare them to some other proper fins and I hope to test them in a bit deeper water soon, my last dive was a very shallow site

Cheers,
Niko

 

[ikravchik]

Thanks for your review Niko,

I tried out the Seac S900. They are big and stiff compared to my Mares Superchannels, the funny thing is that I actually go faster in the Mares, because of the flexibility and streamline design. With the Seacs I feel like I am dragging them through the water. Returned the Seacs. Got new appreciation for Mares.

 

[sai]

Maybe try the S800, they are softer and may suit your finning style better. Still you have to do some adjustments to your finning when you switch from scuba fins to long fins. But I'm sure once you got the right stiffness, you won't go back to short fins.
And remember it's not about going faster, it's about how efficient you move since you have limited supply of oxygen available.

 

[Iveros]

hey, thanks for your replies guys. very interesting ikravchik. So, are you freediving/spearfishing in those scuba fins? Or are you doing Scuba? Are they softer than the S900? Again, I am a beginner, and this doesn't make sense to me Afaik long fins are generally more effective and you take the softer ones a a beginner, for shallow dives/spearfishing and the harder ones when you get more experienced and for "competitive" free diving.

If I will not find any other soft fins for a entry price (~50€) we will try to order those S800, they are apparently still available on Amazon, but they cost around 70€ there.
Still, if anyone knows (and tired actually ) a "soft and long" alternative to the S800 which is for instance available on scubastore.com or so, I
would love to hear about it.

 

[ikravchik]

Hi,

So far I have only been able to compare the Seac 900 and the Mares Superchannels side by side in a pool,- I liked the Mares a lot better. HOWEVER I am not an experienced freediver so my assumptions are not backed up by experience. Hands down the Mares are more comfortable, but I don't know how they would perform on a freedive.

I think a good alternative to the Seac 800 soft blade are Cressi GARA 300 LD (long distance)

 

[hteas]

The Cressi footpocket is designed for narrow feet. The are highly respected as a good all around fin. They are fairly soft.

Alternatives are Omer Millenium or Stingray with the grey (winter) blades. They tend to be fairly soft, and fit medium wide feet well.

H Dessault fins with the plastic composite blades are another good choice. They are somewhat wider than the Omers.

Despite what you will hear over and over, freediving fins are not the most efficient way to move through the water, especially at the surface. They are very effective.
Their specialties are:
1) getting up in a hurry when you need to. You can really lean into them, and since your body is anarobic at the point, it doesn't care about the effort, but rather the goal
and
2) slow, quiet finning while diving, so you don't scare the fish as much.

Surface swimming is much easier and faster with a medium or soft freediving fin, and more so with a good scuba fin, like the Scubapro Jetfin. The distance records for scuba are all done with fairly soft scuba fins for a reason. They are more efficient for moving long distances through the water with a minimum of effort.

With a few exceptions, like Stephan Mifsud (11' 35" static) and Dave mullins ( 265 m dynamic, I think), manly men use stiff fins. The stiffer the better.

Personally I am using Imersion E-carbons, a soft fin that fits my wide foot really well. In pool tests they are the fastest freediving fins I own, and are about the same as my JetFins. With them I've had no problem coming back up from a 40 m dive.

 

[Iveros]

great, thanks hteas. As we are doing more snorkeling really for now and definitely will move into spearfishing once we get more free diving experience, I would love to get soft ones as said for my wife. We are definitely not into competitive free diving at all.
Ok, so we have the Omers's now and the H Dessault and i heard the Cressi Gara's should be quite soft as well.
I also heard a lot of good stuff about the comfort of the the Immersion E:Green. From research on the net, I got the impression that they are quite soft as well.

see this post as well: http://forums.deeperblue.com/beginner-spearfishing/94531-fins-beginner.html#post877556

 

[hteas]

The E-greens have a very soft, comfortable footpocket and are medium stiff in the blade.
I sold mine, since I was using them in cold water, where they became stiffer. My E-carbons, and I assume the E-fiberglass, will be soft at all temperatures.I would have gone for the fiberglass blades if they ahd been available, since they are likely to be more impervious to breakage by baggage handlers and others. Carbon is more fragile than fiberglass, but, so far I've had no problem travelling with them (1 trip to Hawaii)

At this point you need to take into consideration the width of your feet. Cressis are too narrow for me, but many divers love them. The Imersion footpocket is the widest I've tried, followed by the H Dessault, then Omer. Not sure about others

 

[sai]

hey, thanks for your replies guys. very interesting ikravchik. So, are you freediving/spearfishing in those scuba fins? Or are you doing Scuba? Are they softer than the S900? Again, I am a beginner, and this doesn't make sense to me Afaik long fins are generally more effective and you take the softer ones a a beginner, for shallow dives/spearfishing and the harder ones when you get more experienced and for "competitive" free diving.

If I will not find any other soft fins for a entry price (~50€) we will try to order those S800, they are apparently still available on Amazon, but they cost around 70€ there.
Still, if anyone knows (and tired actually ) a "soft and long" alternative to the S800 which is for instance available on scubastore.com or so, I
would love to hear about it.

Seacsub Shout S800. Tauchflossen Apnoeflossen, Scubastore.com, anfugen, tauchen

Even with shipping cost it may be cheaper than Amazon?

 

[jaymz]

bit of a late reply I know, but I have these and have used them the last twice ive been spearing, and they are great for moving in the water. They are quite long tho.

 

[Iveros]

Seacsub Shout S800. Tauchflossen Apnoeflossen, Scubastore.com, anfugen, tauchen

Even with shipping cost it may be cheaper than Amazon?

hey sai, thank a lot Yes, but my wife would need 41/42 and scubastore confirmed to me that they will not get this size in anytime soon :/
I hope to get free shipping on amazon for those fins, lets see.

bit of a late reply I know, but I have these and have used them the last twice ive been spearing, and they are great for moving in the water. They are quite long tho.

Yep, damn long! Impressed my colleagues at work when they arrived. Now, i have been 3-4 hours more in the water with them I weirdly, one time i did not get any pain, but yesterday my ankles hurt slightly after 2 hours. but there was a bit of swell and i had to paddle quite a lot
Still, my feet are not hurting at all, so the footpocket is great I'd say, as they are very tight on my feet with a 5mm sock.

 

[Draven]

I just ordered the Shout S900 as I would like to get a feel for this type of fins for an ok first piece price before jumping onto the more expensive range but when reading about the wideness of the foot can be a problem then I got a bit nervous. I got size 43 in Europe size (Wide: 11-12cm, Long:25-26cm and ordered the size 43-44,would like to have both 3mm and 5mm socks/slim boots in them(living in Sweden)but now wondering if I made a mistake?

I have sent a mail to the shop what they suggest but an answer might take a few days. I asked about possibility of changing to the Omar Stingray camo 3D fins as that's what they had in Stingray. Will this be the better option, if there is time to change the order?

BR
D

 

[sai]

I have 42.5 in Nike shoes and wide feet. I ordered a 41/42, with 2.5mm socks they are pretty tight, but not hurting. Without socks it's a bit lose now, since they stretched from wearing socks in them.
I think you should be fine with yours.

 

[Draven]

I have 42.5 in Nike shoes and wide feet. I ordered a 41/42, with 2.5mm socks they are pretty tight, but not hurting. Without socks it's a bit lose now, since they stretched from wearing socks in them.
I think you should be fine with yours.

Ok good to have a bit of peace of mind about that. There ain't many shops around here with freediving gear so hard to get to try first hand which always sucks, and was surprising that there was no more reviews about them, hell just finding out of long they are is a mission it self.

Cheers!