Should I replace my Cressi 2000HF ?

[)<((((º>]

Hello,

Last weekend I participated in a competition of freediving underwater-photography here in spain.
I could compare my equipment with other people, and could compare performance. I saw my buddy going up and down up to 20m with no effort whit his carbon fins moving around with strong current while surface swimming, when I felt it difficult.

Then ... it came the question.

After seeing a lot of people using C4 blades (with omer, spetton pockets) with good swimming efficiency .... should I replace my 2000HF?
I have been diving with them by six years, now is time to replace.

My 'profile' is:

- long surface swimming time. I go to dive for 3 or 4 hours, competitions are 5 hours (five times a year). Some times at the end of the morning I am very tired, pain in the legs (too hard fins?). I noticed also that when moving in surface I'm less efficient than others wearing carbon fins.
- My weight is about 195 lb, 6 ft height.
- To get a nice fish portrait, sometimes you have to be 45 second looking for a fish, same time to get the photo ... and go up. Depths are no big, from 3m to 15m
- I really love cressi footpockets, they are perfect for my feet.
- For instance, last saturday I was freediving in balearic islands, 3 hours diving in strong current up to 15m to get 'difficult' fish and 2 hours in just 3m depth to photograph the 'easy' ones.

The question is:

- should I move to a carbon fin to be more confortable? Is there a clear difference with carbon fins? Will I be 'less tired' with carbon fins after a free-diving morning?
- what do you suggest? C4 30's ? Any other?
- I don't exceed 20m depth to take photographs. Will it be easier to get down with carbon fins?
- For my 'profile', is it enough with some millenium ice / bat fins?
- Which footpocket do you suggest?
- Which 'hardness' number do you suggest? 25? 30? 40?
- Sometimes I have to stay at 3m depth with a hand in the camera, the other in a rock and blades kicking stones in order to take a photograph of some fish. Would carbon fins resist a 'hard' use?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help!!
Regards from Spain

Daniel

 

[cdavis]

Hi Daniel,

I went through the same process a few years ago when I wanted something more than my 2000hfs. I'm 6'1" and 155 to give you a comparison.

One important point, pockets and blades are incredibly individual. What works for somebody else may not work for you. Blades can feel quite different in different pockets.

On pockets, I found the sporasub dessault pocket to be a good replacement for the cressi. Not as comfortable, but after some practice, I can wear them barefoot for a full day of diving. Omers require socks of some kind.

Most any fiberglass or carbon blade of appropriate stiffness will perform better than the 2000hfs. If you get them too stiff, it kills most of the advantage. I have two Specialfin blades, carbon/kevlar hybrids (hard), fiberglass kelpie (mediums) and a fiberglass Waterway #2. The hybrids are the fastest, fastest for long distances, best acceleration, best for depth, but wear me out, maybe a little more than the 2000s. The kelpies are almost as good, but are easier on the legs after a whole day of diving. The waterways are even softer and easier on the legs. They are soft enough that lack of a bend in the blade is not a large negative for me. For shallow diving, the waterways have become my standards. Deeper than 30 meters or for short days, especiall spearfishing, I'd go back to the hybrids. I once tried a pair of c4 vtr 25s and absolutely loved them in shallow water (20 meters and less). Not enough umph for 30 meters though, strictly a shallow water blade, at least for me.

Just my guess, but it sounds like you would do best with a carbon blade with a bend in it, stiffness 25 or 30, but I could be wrong. Try'em if you can.

Have fun with your search.

Connor

 

[immerlustig]

hi,

here's my opinion:

of all fins i ever tried i prefer the c4'S without a doubt. not just in performance but also in manufacturing quality and reliability. i haven't seen that with fiberglas fins yet (at least the ones i tried).

at the same time i think that for dives up to 15m it doesn't matter at all what you use. for long dive sessions my main concern would be the comfort of the footpocket and a medium-soft stiffness blade.

if you love the cressi footpockets maybe try the gara LD-model (grey, softer blade)

cheers,

roland

 

[Marwan]

daniel, heres my 2 cents,
i totally agree with connor that fins are a very personal item, i go spearfishing a lot so i need a comfortable fin for long distance surface swimming and dives up to 15-20 meters. I tried several fins, omer bat 30's, cressi 3000 LD (the soft version), sporasubs (plastic dessault model), c4 25s and special fins Hybrid (medium stiffness). For me (and im not a big guy), i found the hybrids to be the perfect 10, i am using them with sporasub footpockets, which i personally find much more comfortable compared to omer, The blades in medium stiffness are perfect for me, i go down to my target depth very quickly, so more bottom tme to stalk those fish and not too much effort going up to the surface as the fins are not stiff. I would not recommeng hard stiffness for freediving fins, unless youre a large person (because otherwise the fins wont have enough kick to push youre weight tot he surface), but if youre not large, the hard blades could wear you out a bit.
the specialfins are a bit expensive though, so if you dont want to move very high in price, the omer ice fins could be a good alternative.. again divng to our depth doesnt really require too much technology

 

[)<((((º>]

Thank you very much for your comments !
I have been reading all with detail. My conclusions (please tell me what you think about):

- In order to dive up to 15-20 m I don't need carbon blades.
- With millenium ice / specialfins hybrid (medium stiffness) / cressi 3000 LD I can go dive up to 20 m with no problems and swim long distance / long time (four - five hours not ending drained like with my current 2000 Hf)
- If I go to ice / specialfins: should have a look to sporasub footpockets. Here in spain I'm using neoprene socks all year (3 mm)
- In carbon world, C4 25 would be a good option (less effort than 2000 HF but best performance in surface and pushing off the bottom).

Let's have a look to prices:

* Cressi 3000 LD: 88€ ($112)
* Millenium ICE + omer footpockets: 129€ ($164)
* C4 25 Falcon + picasso footpocket: 283€ ($362)
* Special fins Hybrid Professional + footpocket: 399€ ($511). I see from webpage that they have only hard / extra hard. How feel hard compared to 2000Hf in surface swimming?

Let's think about money: I'm going down with more than $2.000 in order to get a fish photograph, money spent in a good fin (efficiency / security) is not a matter. Comparing prices, C4 25 is into budget.

'Target' would be: easy swimming in surface / less effort in long distances / depth up to 20m / minimum oxigen consumption in order to dive for 2 - 2:30 min safely trying to take a fish decent shot ... sometimes with short recovery times (some species come straight to you and go out quickly, so you have not too much options to take a shot) / sometimes kicking rocks in very shallow waters with currents.

So my choice would be (price / performance): 3000 LD or C4 25.
It's worth the money to pay three times more for C4 instead of trying the 3000 LD?
I can broke two pairs (if they are like 2000 it would be very difficult to break anyway) and being paying less than C4 (more fragile). 3000 LD would fit my 'target'?

Here you have an example of photographs I use to take freediving:

Regards,
Daniel

 

[Marwan]

daniel,
if i were you id go for the ice fins, i have the 3000ld, they are excellent for surface swimming and have the most cofortable footpocket but a bit underpowered fo diving down, or at least thats how i feel, or go for the c4 25's, if you want something more fancy in your price range...

 

[foxfish]

Daniel, those are nice pics.
Dont forget the ice fins offer very good & camouflage & smell nice too.

 

[cdavis]

Daniel,

Very nice pics. I love the idea of a freediving photo contest. Never heard of one before.

Given your discussion,

I think you will find the extra performace worth the extra cost for either Specialfins or C4s

Specialfins will make mediums or soft hybrids for you if you wish (at least they used to)

Medium hybrid sounds like the right combination for your activity and build. The right C4 would also do very well, but I haven't used them enough to make a specific recommendation.

One possibly important difference is the rails on the C4s. Rails increase efficiency, but constrain manuverabilty. My hybrids wobble a little bit when I push them hard, you can see the efficiency loss. However, they are noticably more manuverable than my Waterways, which have rails like the C4s. For spearfishing, I prefer the hybrids, just wish I had a set of mediums. Depends on what is important to you.

Connor

 

[immerlustig]

500 dollars for specialfins??? well, c4's then, no doubt. they are worth the money.

regarding foto contest watch out for fred buyle: www.nektos.net (all freediving fotography!)

roland

 

[fflupo]

you can come with us to the medas islands and do some nice stills there and you ill be able to try different carbon fins as f.e.c4s
i love the c4-30 if i can not use a monofin

 

[JustinF]

Great pics!

I am not sure why no one said this so I will. If you plan to keep your carbon blades working nice, you shouldn't be contacting them against any rocks at all.

If you think it essential to kick rocks and the like, go with Cressi. They make 2 stiffness, the grey and black, black are more stiff then grey and in my opinion ideal for the application you use them for.

I have the Cressi I use barefoot when there are rocks around, and the SpecialFins Hybrid when in open water.

 

[)<((((º>]

Thanks again for your comments.
First thing I'll do will be to have a look to Omer Millenium footpockets, to see how they feel. For blades the choice will be ice or c4 25.
In u/w photography of fish, you try to get the still of the fish in their environment, so most part of the time you are near the bottom (here in costa brava it means over rocks). Anyway, I think than c4 blades are strong enough to receive some scratches ... and not breaking.

fflupo: thanks very much for your offer !! I'm in Sabadell (20 min away from Barcelona), so Medas is not so far. Keep in touch !

Regards

 

[)<((((º>]

Hi all,

I'm near to final decision: carbontek blades number 2 (medium hard) into omer millenium footpocket (46-48 it's ok). Similar to C4 25 but cheaper + mimetic finish in the blade.

Thanks all for your suggestions

Regards,
Daniel

 

[)<((((º>]

I have new fins, carbontek matt mimetic with blades number 2 into an omer millenium footpocket.
I was yesterday 3 hours in water - no problem with stiffness. When I have to take some shots at 4 m depth, I use 9 kg weight. I tested to go down to 15 m with that: no problem ascending, very responsive blades. I'm happy with the blades.

Regards
Daniel