Tropol Monofin - a Fondueset Review

[Fondueset]

Glad you like it, MHF. The Ivory looks great! If your pockets are like mine the color will weather over time and get a really nice 'organic' look.

Kars - I will try to get some video as well. Some of the people at my pool are a little edgy about getting filmed.

The M5f has been delayed due to the expense involved in some of the retooling Tropol needs to do. They are committed - but it will take longer than they thought.

PS - What stiffness did you order on Tropol's scale - and what size are your feet - and the pockets?

 

[monkeyhatfork]

Believe me Kars the fin was very carefully placed to take the picture normally only touches carpet. My waterway pockets are 330mm ,long distance blade I ordered it through PFI and waterway was buzy and couldn't fill the order so Mandy sent me Kirks glide since he had same foot size so don't know if it had any custom specs on it as far as blade or pocket PFI just sells in Medium or long distance. The tropol pocket is size 3 (240mm) lubos said soft I'm guessing that means the model m4 constant, basically I gave him info on my height, weight, foot size ,age type of diving, and current fins I was using and he built the fin around it, the tropol pdf says the soft has a weaker stiffener at the heal but the supports are definately stiffer than the waterway, as you can see from the pics the tropol pockets reach much fjurther into the blade than the glide. With the tropol the pocket conforms to your foot on the glide your foot has to conform to the pocket the tropol pocket is narrower the glide is very wide in front and then piches tight at the opening thier is a slight squeeze at the widest part of my foot on the tropol but it is not bothersome and overall I thinks the pressure is more evenly dispersed over the surface of the foot on the tropol pocket. My tropol looks a bit different then Fondueset's the blade edge is completely flat and the bottom of the pockets don't extend all the way forward to mirror the top I'm guessing that is just a design difference of the soft fin in comparison to the stiff, it looks like in the Fondueset pics his rigid supports extend all the way to the front of the pocket.Power transmission seems better on the tropol, I dont know if thats all in the design-some if it might just be because it fits my foot better. I think the tropol blade itself is slightly softer than the waterway but I would say that the practical reality is that its actually a slightly stiffer fin than the glide the shorter blade and farther reaching and stiffer pockets would make it very hard to overpower this fin. As for video the nice olympic pool I had been swimming in shut down lap swim caus of budget cuts, so now I have to swim in a 24 hour fitness pool If they paid any attention to what I do in thier pool they would probably kick me out so cannot attract attention to myself bringing cameras, but I'm going to bahamas in july, one week on the dolphin expeditions liveaboard in bimini a week straight freediving with atlantic spotted dolphins and then a week in nassau diving with sharks so I plan on having a series of very nice youtube videos when I return so eventually you'll get plenty of video of the fin in action.

 

[monkeyhatfork]

Forgot to mention I wear a u.s. 9.5 shoe size as you can see the size offered by makers is irrelevent 240mm by tropol will be nothing close to 240mm by waterway, but the tropol pockets seems a bit more true to size if you go by thier pdf chart of how to measure your foot for thier pockets, I largely made my choice based on compairing to Fondueset's foot and pocket size. I did not want a big size I wanted something that would fit snug barefoot and that is exactly what I got,

 

[monkeyhatfork]

I should also note that glide I refer to is a standard glide circa 2007-08 not the newer 30 degree versions

 

[Fondueset]

MHF - I can echo your observations regarding performance and stability in the water relative to both my hyper-style fins -which are similar to the Glide.

When I was doing depth in the Bahamas this fin also seemed easier to keep behind me during the glide phase. My theory is that my upper body became heavier than the fin at 25 meters or so - whereas the fin remained constant due to the non-compressible foam filler.

Having spent a few months swimming with my other fins - then switching back to this one - the differences really jump out.

I also like how the blade and pockets are color coordinated And I think the lighter colors are a real plus for your dive buddy keeping an eye on you - something I noticed when mine was using the C4 monoflap - with it's electric yellow pockets.

Nice video, Kars!

 

[cdavis]

Can you guys go slow with these fins? One of the things I like best about Fondue's monoflap is low speed. I can go much slower with this fin, efficiently, than I can dolphin kicking with bifins. It makes reef cruising much more practical .

Its also pretty quick. The electric yellow got me a few gibes from the guards until I banged off a few speed runs.

Connor

 

[Fondueset]

That's where the monoflap really shines.

 

[Gera]

I can film you next weekend at the pool, Chris~

 

[jome]

Just a quickie from a Tropol m4 owner, since my last updates I've actually grown quite fond of the fin. The unspeakable has happened and either my foot or the pocket has given a little and it is pretty comfortable for half an hour or so, so it will do, but still for next christmas I'd ask santa for +1 size footpocket and a little more angle would not hurt.

I was able to try it in open water for the first time a couple of weeks ago and that's where it truly shines IMO. Also surprisingly warm although I could only wear socks on the outside (tips cut off, rolled over the footpocket).

At first I thought that controlling the tropol was tricky, but after I've tried other fins after it, I find having trouble to keep them stable. Is that a fault in the fin or the man, I cannot say.

 

[Fondueset]

I've noticed the directional stability seems really good with the Tropol - compared with other non-axial (hyper) fins too. I'm not at all sure why though.

 

[trux]

Well, I did not test any of the monofins, but having seen some, the footpocket design of most wing monofins looks like the rubber of the footpocket allows a bit more elasticity than the PU footpockets of the Tropols. It might explain some instabilities. To me it looks like at the Tropol fin it is practically exclusively the blade that works, while at the other fins the rubber between the footpockets and the blade makes some work too.

 

[Fondueset]

Hi Trux,

The Tropol stuff is actually pretty flexible. I think it depends more on how stiff the reinforcements they mold into it are - but the pocket definitely does flex - though you may be right about it flexing less, depending.
I'll try and get some pictures of my Triton and Tropol flexing so we can compare.

 

[trux]

I did not mean the elasticity of the footpockets as such, but rather the part between the tips and the blade - it looks much wider, not so tall, and more rigid than at the rubber footpockets.

 

[Fondueset]

I wonder if more blade angle contributes to the feeling of instability? Sort of counter intuitive - since 'pulling' generally feels more stable than 'pushing'.. but still.

It also may be that its just a matter of being used to one or the other.

 

[TimoP]

About the footpocket issue...I think Tropol is solving some problems.
Some of my pictures about a new Russian big angle monofin (a Andronov monofin, I was told by the freediver who brought them from Moskow):

These Russian big angle footpockets are bending a lot. (Also the blade has some V-bend). I think this is not a problem with Tropol.

These new footpockets are so buoyant, that extra weights (self made) 400-600 g/foorpocket are needed for pool DYN. Not a problem with Tropol I think.

But the Russian monofin is gliding quite good like other big angle monofins (Btw here is Veera's first deep dive EVER, in UAE after the recent Dubai competition, where she was the 5th among international "pro"-men and Sara-Lise):

As you see, it's not so easy to make a good big angle footpocket. It's good thing that Tropol is working with some new ideas.
WW Glide with 30 degree angle is working really good and it's feel very "natural" in kicking and gliding. But Tropol is very promising, too (I haven't tested it).

 

[Fondueset]

Wow! HUGE footpockets!

I think, at the very least, the m5f will be a very good all-round freediving fin - but Tropol needs venture capitol right now - to retool so they can build it.

I wonder if it would be better to build some bend into the blade - so the footpockets could be a little lower.

 

[TimoP]

To say something good: this Russian blade has the most beautiful structure I have ever seen in any monofin:

 

[Fondueset]

That is extremely cool looking.

 

[monkeyhatfork]

I think the molded pockets help the stability as well they are perfectly uniform, with the hand made pieced together pockets as close as they might get the left will never be exactly the same as the right. I also think they have more of a forward momentum from the weight and negative bouyancy.

 

[polishpower]

Tropol don't know when th M5f will be done? Whats gonna be the difference between the M4 and M5?