OK, so Monday I was too sick to go training, but I was better today, so I gave it a try. Before I go into details, I can conclude that I am still not sure what to think about them. But then I have to tell you also that I am actually rather miserable at fins testing.
I tested many different long fin models, from some old rubber long fins, over all possible plastic fins (Beuchat, Esclapez, Sporasub, Omer, Cressi, Dessault, Mares), to expensive fiberglass and carbon models (Breier, Beuchat, C4) and rarely see any difference or feel some apparent preference. It is more about being used, or getting used to one type of fins. In fact I can do practically the same maximal performance even with small rubber scuba fins, or without fins at all (my max in DYN is 125m and in DNF 116m - and paradoxically the DYN was in a 25m pool, while the DNF was in a 50m pool). So please keep on mind that I am already a very poor fin tester. Perhaps I have miserable kicking technique, or lacking observation talent.
Additionally, I really did not give them any good testing - I did just a few pool laps with them, since I actually wanted to train DNF. And I just came out of a cold, so did not feel quite fit for some intensive training. In fact I'll need to take my old fins together with these ones, and make some more objective comparison, including measuring the speed and number of kicks per lap.
So for now, at least some first impressions:
As I wrote, I was not really surprised by the fins, neither positively, nor negatively. What I found the most positive on the fins till now, was the ease of putting them on. While with classical fins I often struggle so much that I then need couple of minutes to recover from the physical effort to be able doing some serious apnea, here it is, thanks to the shoe concept, absolutely smooth and effortless.
Also, the shoes are very comfortable. Perhaps even too much - unfortunately I forgot my socks, and the shoes are sized little too big for bare feet, so the transmission was far to be optimal despite that I tried to tighten the dry zip straps quite well.
So because of the loose foot-pockets, and the missing transmission, I also lacked good side control of the blades, so their side angle was changing little bit chaotically - I did not really felt it, but saw it when a colleague tried them. Also the missing side rails may have contributed to it too (I'll probably try to glue some longer rails on them).
As for the stiffness - first of all I did a lap on surface, and had the impression the blades were rather stiff. But the surface swimming was easy. Too short though to draw any conclusions. I'd guess they must be quite good though, because of the great angle and comfortable foot-pocket.
In contrary, when submerged, they felt rather soft - softer than my plastic Beuchat's or C4 Flap 30's. It is not necessarily bad, in fact I wanted some softer fins, but may need to adjust my kicking style to get advantage of it.
My biggest interest, but in the same time also the biggest fear was the drag. On one hand, due to the huge blade angle, I hoped for easy glide, but in the same time I was quite afraid of the clumsy shoes with elevated toes, making them little suitable for good streamlining. The result of some gliding tests was rather inconclusive. As I wrote, I'll have to compare them side by side with fins I am used to, and measure the time, and number of kicks. I am not even sure about my subjective feeling - in some way the big angle makes it easier to relax during the glide phase, but in the same time, I do not have the feeling I glide better, farther, or faster.
I made no maximal attempt (being out of shape this week), so cannot tell you anything about it either. I'll make a competition next Saturday, but am little bit scared doing it with new fins without getting used to them (I'll probably not manage to train DYN anymore till the competition), so will probably use my old fins. Or perhaps I'll try them - finally the DYN result is not too important to me. Let's see later.
So in fact all this long report is relatively useless, because I did not bring you any interesting or conclusive information. I'll try to bring you some more impressions later
EDIT: Well, I do perhaps have one conclusion: I believe the shoe concept is excellent and can work, but needs some tweaking. First of all the shoe needs to be more streamlined and less clumsy. The toes must go down instead of upward, and the heel might be perhaps a bit more open to facilitate feet straightening.
On my mind the shoe is also little too soft and too comfortable (but maybe it was just because I did not use any sock, or because I ought to take a size smaller foot-pockets). Then, the blades need some serious rails, and could be perhaps little bit stiffer at their root (at the foot-pocket) - they are rather narrow at the fixation, and I have the feeling they flexed little too much there, reducing so the efficiency. But I may be wrong here - I need to observe it better, and make some videos too. Another thing that would be quite useful is adjustable angle, especially the side angle, but perhaps some variations in the blade angle would be interesting too - with the shoe concept it is quite well possible, so why not doing it.
