Sporasub Pure Carbon or Radicals?

[scott]

I have been attempting for months to get a pair of carbons fins (without giving up my firstborn son). Various supply problems too long to detail in this thread have left me carbonless.

I have now gone from no choices to too many choices and need some assistance:

I can get the Sporasub Pure Carbons from diveinn.com for $159 (new supply in next week) or the Sporasub Radicals from diversdirect.com for $149 (thanks Erik). Normally the price spread on these fins is much greater.

I had originally wanted the Radicals as I had heard they are much more durable. However, for only $10 extra, is it worth the upgrade to pure carbon? I will only use these fins in open water and will always handle with caution (in theory anyway).

Any thoughts in helping me make my decision would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Scott

 

[Jon]

Radicals

I bought a pair of the Pure Carbons last year and proceeded to break them in less than three days. The fact that I was on a two week dive vacation at the time only made the situation worse.
DiveInn was wonderful about replacing them for free. My wife was not inpressed.
I have now convinced her, thanks largly to Eric's testimonial, that If I could just get a pair of the cheaper Radicals they would not break on me. I showed her the price and she agreed.
SO, I have now ordered a pair of the Radicals to use for the majority of my diving. I might still pull out the Pure's under the right circumstances.
When I ordered them from Diver's Direct they were out of many sizes, so buy them quick.
The Pure's are a dream to swim with. I just find that I might be a little bit to rough on my gear to use them all of the time.

Jon

 

[scott]

Jon,

Thanks for the info - how have your replacement Pure Carbons performed? Have you have adjusted for their fragility and continued to use them? Under what circumstances would you use them over the Radicals once you get the Radicals?

Let me know,

Scott

P.S. I could be like you and just buy both

 

[Jon]

one pair is enough

I think that one pair would be more than enough from all of the good things that I have heard about the Radicals.
I am not sure how differently they will perform just yet. I can let you know once I get the other pair- I just ordered them.
I have only used the replacement Pure Carbon fins a couple of times in the pool. I didn't swim very many laps with them- I was too scared. I have gone back to using my Picasso B.T.'s for most everything. If i was going to be using a pair of fins for just constant ballast on a line I would bring out the Pure Carbons. I broke the other pair when I got too close to the bottom. I started my ascent and one fin tip scraped across the bottom and immediatly broke. I am hoping to be able use the Radicals for everything.
Eric has had good luck with his. I guess that he swims laps with them quite often.
My wife has become quite speculative about my fin collection. I make sure to remind her of her shoe collection.

Good luck,

Jon

 

[Bill]

fragile?

I have an old pair of Pures that I bought used. I use them for pool, spearfishing and constant. The tips are slowly being worn to a knife edge but I don't think they are overly fragile. Maybe my old puny legs is the reason???

Aloha
Bill

 

[scott]

Jon,

I too have the Picasso B.T.'s and a speculative wife with a shoe collection. Thanks for the info.

Scott

 

[scott]

Bill,

Thanks for reply. How do the carbons perform relative to the regular longblade fins (Picasso, Cressi Gara, etc.)?

Scott

P.S. No info to add about the puny legs comment.

 

[Jon]

When I kick with ny Carbons I can feek that I am going faster with much less effort. My legs don't seem to tire as easy.

When I broke my fin it cracked in half right below the toe box, right at the bend in the blade where it meets the foot pocket.

Maybe I should try them in the pool again if others are having better luck than me.

Jon

 

[Bill]

compare

Aloha Scott

Carbon is the way to go. My favorite plastic blade is about 20 yrs old and very comfortable but, if you kick hard it just folds. That requires a different kick. The stiffer versions seem to take a lot out of the legs in a short time. I feel that using them to train is a mistake.

Specificity; you get better at what you train.

C4s are the smoothest fins (maybe the most efficient) that I've had on but, I haven't had a chance to push the envelope with them yet. Beuchat's Elite Stiff (I think it's part carbon) is still my choice below 30 meters. It took me a long time to get the kick right. The pocket matches my foot very well so it might be all in my head but, they sure respond when I lean on them.

Bill

 

[fjohnson]

Like my Pure Carbons

Hey Scott,
The 1st set of pures I had were faulty and were quickly replaced by diveinn. This second set has been very good. I noticed the first set had one screw holding the blade but the second set has two. I've had them to Mexico (in a hard case) and have been in the pool quite a lot with them. A good idea I gleaned from the board here was to use some vinyl tape in approx. 2 inch lengths to wrap the edges to protect them when turning in the pool. No problems so far, other than wearing out the tape. (use some white or yellow vinyl tape and your buddy can maybe spot you just a little further down the line) First day in Mexico I used the old fins but once I put the pures on there was just no going back..did have to be careful of the corals and the swim throughs. DiveInn has sure been a pleasure to deal with. (as have others in the freediving equipment businesses)

Fred

 

[icarus pacific]

Re: compare

Originally posted by Bill

is still my choice below 30 meters.

Bill

...Dis haole boy call you da kine kinda guy!

sven

 

[pim]

Hey,

I had the carbon for 2 years with lots of diving and no problems what so ever. I'm not very careful with my materials, but the most important thing to do is to use silicon-paste to glue the blades in the foot-pockets and place a rubber ring between the screw and the blade (or also use silicon-paste to do the same).

I used the carbons maybe 5 times in the pool but they aren't fun to use. I always grab back to my gara's for the pool.

Greetings Pim

 

[Amphibious]

So if i was looking for A fin for competition and deep constant ballast traing which fin would I get? Pure Carbon or Radical?

The Lamborgini, not the BMW.


Willer

 

[icarus pacific]

Da same

Use the same model fins in training that you'd use in competitions, and I'm assuming the compititions would be just the up and down stuff, not shooting fish. Go with the Pures then.

sven

 

[pim]

Yep I agree, GO FOR THE PURE CARBONS

 

[Bill]

swapping

Yesterday I dove safety for James while he he worked out the clearing problems for his first 30 meter dive. He finally nailed one to 32 meters after his 'PFD' course this weekend was interrupted. Guess I'm a frustrated instructor type cuz I got a bigger rush than he did.

We did some shallow fish watching on the way in and swapped fins. You could tell he didn't like the way the C4's felt. Then he got them pointed straight down in deep water. The story changed.

BTW those Esclapez were very comfortable. If I went out and spent all day cruizing the kelp beds at 20 feet, looking for Whites like the good old days.........I dunno. No wonder there are so many kinds of fins.

On monday I tried kicking the C4 40 at 40+ meters. I'd say 'they're the greatest' but, Bret mentioned something about trying C4 80's. Stay tuned.

Aloha
Bill

 

[icarus pacific]

Re: swapping

Originally posted by Bill


On monday I tried kicking the C4 40 at 40+ meters

Aloha
Bill

The hell with Brett and Kirk and Eric, I wanna be Bill!

sven

 

[Bill]

kind words

Thanks for the kind words Sven. Why don't you freeze your tail off when ab season opens and bring a few over. We could dive the 77 degree stuff that came in on the last high tide. You can thaw out while some beautiful wahine cooks them and I'll watch both.

Bret said that my next fins were at Kirk's, unless he lent them to Mandy. I know Mandy isn't too big. Does anyone know how many kilos she bench presses? In case I have to arm wrestle her for the 80's.

Aloha
Bill

 

[icarus pacific]

You don't how good that sounds Bill. Does Hawaii have extradition?

I'll mail you come April and see if we can figure out how to send some snails over your way.

The vision of some sweet local gal pounding the meat just brings tears to my eyes. :waterwork

sven

 

[Amphibious]

Originally posted by icarus pacific


The vision of some sweet local gal pounding the meat just brings tears to my eyes. :waterwork

sven

Does that mean what I think it means........


Willer :naughty