EDIT - July 1, 2015
A review consistent with my conclusions from another diver Speardiver blades repowered with Beuchat foot pockets.
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EDIT - November 5, 2013
After my extensive experience with Pathos foot pockets (I was the first to bring them to the US and make them available through FreediveStore.com starting in 2009) I've come to the conclusion that they're not good foot pockets. The Pathos foot pockets are light because they're made of synthetic rubber, and there's significantly less material in them than with other more robust foot pockets. Consequently the Pathos foot pocket tendons do not offer enough support for carbon blades. The fin ends up flexing too much in the area immediately past the foot pocket toe plate, resulting in less power/propulsion, and at worst (too often) carbon blades breaking at that spot.
It appears that with Pathos' minimum material design, it's impossible to find a middle ground where the foot pocket tendons have the stiffness to offer the carbon blade adequate support, but remain flexible so as to not negatively affect the blade flex pattern (more mass/material is needed to achieve this).
I'll attempt to describe what it feels like using carbon blades with Pathos foot pockets. If the carbon blades are medium stiffness, as long as the fin stroke can be light, like in flat water no current conditions, or going up and down with not much weight on, the fin will perform fine. But the moment you need to power up, such as when fighting a big fish, going against current, or simply trying to go faster, the fins are immediately overpowered and you feel like you're kicking but not advancing.
If to compensate for this you switch to a blade that on its own is stiff enough to not be overpowered, you'll feel more pressure on the top of your foot about 2" up from the toes. It's as if the foot pocket is too small to dissipate the force of the fin stroke over your entire foot, and the blade has too much leverage on the foot resulting in fatigue.
Some new carbon fin blades manufacturers continue to opt for the least amount of work assembling fins (with Pathos foot pockets the blades are easily glued right in and don't require rails to be installed on the blade) and the easy sell aspect of the Pathos foot pockets, divers seeing a such a light fin for the first time are quickly impressed into buying it. Some carbon fin blades manufacturers who don't have our experience, are not yet aware of the weakness with the Pathos foot pockets. Others who know of the problem try to address it by making their blades stiffer, this approach results in a cumbersome fin. Instead I choose to no longer recommend/offer the Pathos foot pockets, on their own or with carbon blades.
For those who insist on choosing Pathos, fit wise they are suitable for a wide foot, but are quite flat on the top, resulting in most of the pressure of the fin stroke being felt about 2" above the toes. Pathos foot pockets are not suitable for divers with a high instep, you will not get your foot in the pocket. Because of the material (or lack of) the Pathos foot pockets tend to split on the sides. This happens much quicker, 1 season of repetitive diving, if used in cold water.
The original post is below.
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Pathos came out with the 3rd generation foot pockets.
A brief history of the Pathos foot pockets:
- Pathos are the lightest most compact foot pockets available.
- One of the reasons for this is that blades get glued directly into them without rails. See this thread for an explanation of fin rails Fin blade rails, water channeling and tendon rails explanation
- Gluing blades in foot pockets this way makes for a permanent installation and an overall lighter and more reactive/faster fin.
- One of the Pathos foot pockets notable advantages is a stiff sole that allows a direct transfer of power to the blade.
- 1st generation Pathos foot pockets had very soft tendons.
- The combination of lack of blade support by the tendons with the stiff sole caused some carbon blades to break. This information I got from my European sources not as a result of my experimenting, because by the time I found the Pathos foot pockets the 2nd generation was already out.
- In response to the problem 2nd generation Pathos foot pockets were made with very stiff tendons.
- These tendons were so stiff that it was difficult to combine the footpockets with blades to make an overall moderate stiffness fin.
The 3rd generation Pathos foot pockets now have moderate stiffness and can be combined with medium stiffness carbon blades. The rubber over the foot near the ankle and the toe area is now much softer and more comfortable. I think the some guys with a high instep that previously found the Pathos to be uncomfortable may now be able to use them. The 3rd generation foot pockets allowed me to go down a size from a Pathos number 44-46 to my normal 42-44. A customer that previously wanted to use Pathos foot pockets with Speardiver C90 blades, and couldn't because the current largest size 46-48 was too small for him, now found the 46-48 size to fit right. To be clear the 3rd generation foot pockets are exactly the same as the previous ones, except for the grades of rubber used in the different parts of the foot pocket. I think the difference in the rubber is visible in the picture for those familiar with the previous production. Pathos footpockets are available in the US from FreedivStore.com
