Ice Fins / Rekord 3 Carbon
Ice fins -
http://www.omersub.com/catalog/fins/p11.htm Two years ago I was sent three pairs of ICE prototype blades following the unsuccessful introduction of the ICE fins that came out in 99' and were taken off the market in 2000. By and far Omer told me that if there was one product that they have always had request for was a new version of the Ice. So since the Ice were taken off the market in 2000 they've been working with one of the worlds leading thermo-plastic manufacturers based in Germany on a material that didn't suffer from temperature changes and stress cracks like the first, but still maintains improved performance over polymer (plastic) fins closer to the performance of carbon fiber fins. The other added benefit is it wouldn't have the issue of causing concern from scraping and rubbing against the sea bottom like carbon fins.
I sent the three pairs of Ice fins we were given for evaluation to Ricardo Hernandez (former trainer of NL world record holder Pipin Ferreras), Bill Ernst 17 time National Champion, and Dane Karcher of Florida whose an avid spearfisher from Florida and whose brother won the Hatteras Blue Water Open twice, something no other spearfisherman has matched yet among a list of other credentials to his name. Shaneshac on Deeper blue has also been using a pair for several months now.
Well, needless to say none of these guys in the US or any of the divers in Europe have reported one single casualty over a period of two years so we're looking pretty good I think.
The Ice will be out this Decemeber or January and should cost somewhere in the range of the BAT fins. I've personally not used the new ones, I loved the old ones before they broke, and they're well suited to diving conditions of 60ft or less and lot's of surface work since the blade is not as rigid as some of the stiffer carbon fiber or fiber glass blades while the energy return is optimum. They are going to come with a 3 year warranty and another concern some people have asked about, does the scratching cause the material to loose its clarity? Negative, they still stay surprisingly clear though however badly they're scratched.
CARBON REKORD 3
http://www.omersub.com/catalog/fins/p11.htm
Some of you may or may not remember this but Omer was the first company in the world to produce a Carbon fiber fin. It was actually with the collaboration of C4 (who then only produced bikes and a few carbon parts for automobile legend Ferrari) and Umberto Pelizzari, that Omer went to C4 with the idea of providing Umberto with a carbon fiber fin that would improve his world record freediving attempts. That was 92' if I recall with the Rekord. Then a few other Omer/C4 fins followed, the Formula, then the Rekord 2 which became a popular staple among the die hard deep spearfishing community. Since then came the Evolution, then the Evolution Pro until Omer discontinued carbon fiber fins from production because of the high costs associated with production and limited specialty market for a very finicky product that didn't warrant it. And now back by popular demand is an improved version over the previous carbon fiber fins, the Rekord 3.
The project: the carbon fiber fin has always been and love and pain relationship for many spearfishing and freediving fanatics and top notch divers who require the most out of a freediving fin. The high costs and relative fragility have always undermined the undisputable technical qualities of the product. A company like Omer that sells niche specialized equipment on a global level can't overlook the fundamental element of reliability, therefore the Rekord 3 project was initiated from a standpoint and research into the maximum reliability of a product. Obviously a carbon fiber fin will never have the durability against wear and tear of a polymer or plastic fin, but the improvements and concepts learned from other fin track records have helped improve this new fin as well.
Eliminating critical weak points with new solutions (no more screws/holes under the blade to connect blade to pockets), production guarantees of uniformity and consistency that consent to achieve identical blades from piece to piece, thickness variation in the carbon fiber that ideally distributes the power through the fin stroke, improvement of the design, rubber T protection along the sides of the blades...This is a list of all the technical improvements of these carbon blades. All of these innovations without compromising any of the great attributes of carbon fiber performance.
I could spend all day writing about the unique manufacturing method of these new carbon fiber blade which is a huge improvement and very fascinating (to me at least), from the reliability standpoint, over previous carbon fiber design but that would get boring.
What it translates to is that the blade is produced in a tapered thickness beginning with 2mm thickness at the base of the blade in the pocket and gradually decreasing to .5mm at the extreme tip. This is in concept just like a fish tail and the way the best carbon fiber blades are made today. This system allows a very responsive reaction of the blades from the kick of the diver thereby guaranteeing an ideal arc of movement in the blade during the kick.
This is obviously a pair of fins that like cars, represents a fancy race car compared to your minivan for every day use. If not used correctly or if used like a minivan for which the race car isn't designed it's subjected to wear and tear issues and problems normal fins aren't. What this translates into is its a fin designed for open water diving and high performance deep freediving and spearfishing which doesn't include beating it up or trashing on the bottom. Disregard of carbon fiber, from this standpoint, just like any other carbon fin will have its consequences for durability. Weighing only 320 grams per blade this is even more obvious. Just like the C4's, Omer plans to offer a 2 year guarantee against manufacturers defects and problems not arising from wear and tear issues or abuse which the fin isn't designed for. What it boils down to to me is that when you want something with the best performance you have to give up some trade-offs like having to be more careful not to tear them up on the bottom fighting a fish or whatever.
On a personal level, I have only used these a couple times since I haven't had a chance to do any deep diving, but personally I'm really starting to love them. They are incredibly light on your feet and very smooth on the kick, it feels like you're getting much more out of them than you're putting into them which is how carbon fiber blades are supposed to feel. The stiffness is a compromise between a C430 in the front half of the blade and C4 40 in the back portion which for me is ideal for blue water hunting and deep diving without tiring out my ankles swimming all day.
By the way I forgot, Into the Blue starring Jessica Alba is out in theatres everywhere now and has divers wearing the ICE fins.
Ice fins -
http://www.omersub.com/catalog/fins/p11.htm Two years ago I was sent three pairs of ICE prototype blades following the unsuccessful introduction of the ICE fins that came out in 99' and were taken off the market in 2000. By and far Omer told me that if there was one product that they have always had request for was a new version of the Ice. So since the Ice were taken off the market in 2000 they've been working with one of the worlds leading thermo-plastic manufacturers based in Germany on a material that didn't suffer from temperature changes and stress cracks like the first, but still maintains improved performance over polymer (plastic) fins closer to the performance of carbon fiber fins. The other added benefit is it wouldn't have the issue of causing concern from scraping and rubbing against the sea bottom like carbon fins.
I sent the three pairs of Ice fins we were given for evaluation to Ricardo Hernandez (former trainer of NL world record holder Pipin Ferreras), Bill Ernst 17 time National Champion, and Dane Karcher of Florida whose an avid spearfisher from Florida and whose brother won the Hatteras Blue Water Open twice, something no other spearfisherman has matched yet among a list of other credentials to his name. Shaneshac on Deeper blue has also been using a pair for several months now.
Well, needless to say none of these guys in the US or any of the divers in Europe have reported one single casualty over a period of two years so we're looking pretty good I think.
The Ice will be out this Decemeber or January and should cost somewhere in the range of the BAT fins. I've personally not used the new ones, I loved the old ones before they broke, and they're well suited to diving conditions of 60ft or less and lot's of surface work since the blade is not as rigid as some of the stiffer carbon fiber or fiber glass blades while the energy return is optimum. They are going to come with a 3 year warranty and another concern some people have asked about, does the scratching cause the material to loose its clarity? Negative, they still stay surprisingly clear though however badly they're scratched.
CARBON REKORD 3
http://www.omersub.com/catalog/fins/p11.htm
Some of you may or may not remember this but Omer was the first company in the world to produce a Carbon fiber fin. It was actually with the collaboration of C4 (who then only produced bikes and a few carbon parts for automobile legend Ferrari) and Umberto Pelizzari, that Omer went to C4 with the idea of providing Umberto with a carbon fiber fin that would improve his world record freediving attempts. That was 92' if I recall with the Rekord. Then a few other Omer/C4 fins followed, the Formula, then the Rekord 2 which became a popular staple among the die hard deep spearfishing community. Since then came the Evolution, then the Evolution Pro until Omer discontinued carbon fiber fins from production because of the high costs associated with production and limited specialty market for a very finicky product that didn't warrant it. And now back by popular demand is an improved version over the previous carbon fiber fins, the Rekord 3.
The project: the carbon fiber fin has always been and love and pain relationship for many spearfishing and freediving fanatics and top notch divers who require the most out of a freediving fin. The high costs and relative fragility have always undermined the undisputable technical qualities of the product. A company like Omer that sells niche specialized equipment on a global level can't overlook the fundamental element of reliability, therefore the Rekord 3 project was initiated from a standpoint and research into the maximum reliability of a product. Obviously a carbon fiber fin will never have the durability against wear and tear of a polymer or plastic fin, but the improvements and concepts learned from other fin track records have helped improve this new fin as well.
Eliminating critical weak points with new solutions (no more screws/holes under the blade to connect blade to pockets), production guarantees of uniformity and consistency that consent to achieve identical blades from piece to piece, thickness variation in the carbon fiber that ideally distributes the power through the fin stroke, improvement of the design, rubber T protection along the sides of the blades...This is a list of all the technical improvements of these carbon blades. All of these innovations without compromising any of the great attributes of carbon fiber performance.
I could spend all day writing about the unique manufacturing method of these new carbon fiber blade which is a huge improvement and very fascinating (to me at least), from the reliability standpoint, over previous carbon fiber design but that would get boring.
What it translates to is that the blade is produced in a tapered thickness beginning with 2mm thickness at the base of the blade in the pocket and gradually decreasing to .5mm at the extreme tip. This is in concept just like a fish tail and the way the best carbon fiber blades are made today. This system allows a very responsive reaction of the blades from the kick of the diver thereby guaranteeing an ideal arc of movement in the blade during the kick.
This is obviously a pair of fins that like cars, represents a fancy race car compared to your minivan for every day use. If not used correctly or if used like a minivan for which the race car isn't designed it's subjected to wear and tear issues and problems normal fins aren't. What this translates into is its a fin designed for open water diving and high performance deep freediving and spearfishing which doesn't include beating it up or trashing on the bottom. Disregard of carbon fiber, from this standpoint, just like any other carbon fin will have its consequences for durability. Weighing only 320 grams per blade this is even more obvious. Just like the C4's, Omer plans to offer a 2 year guarantee against manufacturers defects and problems not arising from wear and tear issues or abuse which the fin isn't designed for. What it boils down to to me is that when you want something with the best performance you have to give up some trade-offs like having to be more careful not to tear them up on the bottom fighting a fish or whatever.
On a personal level, I have only used these a couple times since I haven't had a chance to do any deep diving, but personally I'm really starting to love them. They are incredibly light on your feet and very smooth on the kick, it feels like you're getting much more out of them than you're putting into them which is how carbon fiber blades are supposed to feel. The stiffness is a compromise between a C430 in the front half of the blade and C4 40 in the back portion which for me is ideal for blue water hunting and deep diving without tiring out my ankles swimming all day.
By the way I forgot, Into the Blue starring Jessica Alba is out in theatres everywhere now and has divers wearing the ICE fins.
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And Chris no problem, I'll just send one over to you too. Actually my mother is going to Michigan October 23rd, I could if you're really dying to see it send her in the plane with my gun (she'll hate that) and have her meet you at the airport and then you can send it back to us. That would be a stretch for some customer service though wouldn't it ha ha ha 
