I've not been on the computer much lately, thought I'd drop in and finish this thread. I ended up going for the WW Glide, I can't even begin to describe how happy I am with this fin the improved performance over my old monos is substantial-the effort i would use for a medium to slow cruz speed on my other fins yields sprint speeds with this fin, it glides substantially better, much less energy expendeture I would say. Foot pain is minimum-about what you would expect with any new open heal pocket, I remember a similar cramping when I first got my model 1, the pain I expect will go away after a few weeks use. I went with the soft blade but it handles like a medium I think because the bend initiates in the pocket insted of the blade I cant overpower it easily as I can with a soft nemo. If I hold the glide blade next to the model 1 they are identical which I was very happy, I love the model 1 blade and had read complaints of some of the earlier glide blades, as you can see from the photos it is layeres a bit diffrent even from the other soft nemo. I cant see any visible v bend but havnt gotten any real good video of it yet. The only thing I would change on this design would be the footpocket, you can see that the pockets tapper in towards the opening of the pocket(really the only source of discomfort) I have short wide high arch feet so it squeezes very tight at this point but then is too roomy towards the toes(I use 5mil half socks to solve this and keep my toes snug) I would also have liked the heal strap part of the pocket to be tighter maybe taken in about a half inch, but in all very very happy, I ended up going with waterway because I knew they were fairly consistent but most imortant, because I could order it through P.F.I. and Kirk and Mandy would handle any problems should they arrise. Ordered it before I saw Fondueset's review on the tropol, looks like a great fin. I've also started work on my own fin, my only complaint on any fins is pockets don't fit my feet right. My brother is a sculpture teacher so he cast molds from my feet, working on something similar to the tropol pocket as far as being a one piece molded pocket but custom cast for our feet, heres a few initial picks not had much time on this project lately but will start a thread for it when it advances, its been difficult making a blade as good as the waterways so we might end up just using A waterway and putting our own pockets on them, the pink blade in the picture looks pretty but way to stiff.
