Quote: (Originally Posted by
ssimps)
Anyone used them and can offer their opinions
Yes, I tried some for a few minutes on a dive at Mal's DIR have-a-go day a couple of months back. One of the have-a-go-ers brought some, and since I'd never tried them, I borrowed them.
The first observation was that they were very very light and I couldn't use them at all to adjust trim as I can jetfins. Second observation was that my standard modified-frogkick which gets me along nicely with jetfins did absolutely nothing with force fins - they appear to need a completely different finning technique which didn't match mine at all. Third observation was that moving my feet I couldn't really feel the fins, and using them to balance in the water didn't work for me at all.
(And then I discovered how much they cost - they looked so basic I had assumed they were along the lines of 'a tenner from Lidl' dive kit).
I would very strongly recommend that any DIR divers curious about them try someone else's force fins in the water before even spending a couple of quid on a pair from a car boot sale, unless you're sure you can find someone else to sell them to at a profit.
In summary, I gave them my best shot, I was extremely uncomfortable with them, they didn't suit my (fairly GUE-esque) use of fins, and I disliked them greatly.
Tim