Fiberglass blades comparison, DiveR, Edge & Waterway

My last three dives I've been using the DiveR blades. First thing I did is take off the mermaid logo which came off cleanly, it's just a sticker. The blades fit well into my generic footpockets which are sporasub copies. I reshaped the back edge of the blade to have rounded corners, and was then able to push the blade about 1cm deeper into the footpocket. Before that the back edge had a square cut.

As evident in the picture of the translucent blue blade below (same blade as the camo in the previous post just different color) it's made by bonding together layers of fiberglass of different lengths in a stepped fashion to create a gradual decrease in thickness and consequently stiffness from the back of the blade to the front. This decrease in stiffness is what creates correct flex in the blade. Like a fish's tail that is thick at the base and thin at the outer edge. This method of creating flex in the blade works well in the DiveR. You can test the flex pattern by putting up and down pressure on the front tip of the blade and watching the curvature. The curve should be more pronounced at the front rather than be the same throughout the length of the blade.

A significant difference between the DiveR and other blades is the angle, by far it is the biggest at 30 degrees. The blade is robust and appears well put together and durable. It's built like a heavy work horse. The camo pattern is pleasing to me personally as it seems to match well with our often murky greenish reefs. The rails are the same throughout the length of the blade. That is to say the same rail that fits into the footpocket tendons is the one that provides water channeling. When I first saw this I thought it was going to be a problem because I'm used to wider water channeling rails.

The Edge blades appear to use a criss cross fiberglass layup, as seen in the first pic, to achieve graduation and a flex pattern. This criss cross layout doesn't seem to be as good for the purpose of creating flex in the blade as the stepped layout, probably because it doesn't allow a gradual decrease in stiffness nor precision of where the flex points are going to be. When flexing the blade by putting pressure on the front tip the whole blade curves in a linear fashion, as if it was a solid piece of fiberglass. In the case of the edge blades it is the additional support of the footpocket tendons at the back of the blade, which creates somewhat of a flex pattern.

The angle of the Edge blades is significantly less than the DiveR. I didn't measure it but it appears to be the standard 20 degrees or about there. I didn't pursue taking a closer look at the edge blades because when I saw that the correct flex was not present I lost interest in them.

The Waterway blades achieve correct flex by slicing off overlapping layers from the bottom of the blade in a specific pattern. This is a precise and cost effective way to control the thickness and consequently the stiffness and flex of the blade. At this time tooled fiberglass blades such as the waterway do not come with a built in angle. I think they're good durable fiberglass blades, just the lack of angle makes them more difficult to use.

Now some observations about the performance of the DiveR fins. My first dive with the DiveR blades was a beach dive. The depths not exceeding 30ft. I found the DiveR to be absolutely stress free on the ankles. My ankles are normally the first thing that starts to give during a dive, no such thing here. The blades are quiet on the surface, every kick not breaking the surface and very easy to maintain good straight form. Bear in mind these observations are made by me having used the straight waterway blades for years. This is where all positive things about the DiveR end.

One of the simplest observations to make was the following, the blades are too damn long. Being used to long fins I plan my movements underwater ahead of time to be able to maintain proper form. Still there are times when position changes are necessary that require sculling and other leg movements that are not consistent with a streamlined form. The DiveR proved to be a chore in that case. It was a PITA to maneuver them underwater in any way that wasn't perfectly linear. Now everything is relative. I'm not saying that they're not usable, but I definitely don't want to deal with that aspect of it. After this dive I was about to cut 5" off the front of the blade but then figured they would completely lose any resale value and changed my mind. I also wanted to see how the blades perform on deeper dives from a boat.

Another interesting observation on that dive was that later in the day my hamstrings hurt. I'm using the word hurt for lack of a better term to describe the sensation. I'm talking about what you get after not having worked out for a long time and then going to the gym and doing ham curls. A numb sensation that appears later that day or the next day, that is somewhat pleasant letting you know that you did your work. Only it was surprising for me to get it from swimming with fins, I've never had that before. More about this later.

The next dive was from a boat doing depths from 45-60ft. I was surprised to see that as long as the DiveR blades are the propulsion on the ascent wasn't very good. I had all the psychological confidence in the blades but they felt heavy and slow. While my form was good the ascent was slow and draining. Keep in mind this is all relative. If they were so slow and draining as to not be usable I wouldn't have made it up. Having confidence in the blades though kept me relaxed which diminished the effect a little. Trying to increase the rate of ascent by kicking harder and faster did not increase the rate of ascent in a way that was proportional to the effort I was exerting. All this I felt, and had an idea of some of the factors that caused it, but didn't see the big picture until I compared the DiveR in a pool with these new carbon blades that I was testing.

The way I reasoned the lack of propulsion with the DiveR blades is this. Apart from the heaviness/length combination there had to be another reason because if the heaviness/length was the only factor then by exerting more effort I should have been able overcome it and create more propulsion. The problem is with the angle. Increasing the angle for more comfortable surface swimming has a trade off. This is obvious if you consider that the angle can't be increased forever. It can't be increased forever because the energy transfer on the down stroke starts to lag more and more behind your kick and the up stroke becomes more and more difficult just like doing a ham curl. This is why I worked out my hams the first time I used the DiveR blades. There is a sweet spot where ankle comfort, energy transfer to the blade and the discharge of this energy into the water are at correct balance. The DiveR IMO passed this point. There is a reason why all blades on the market maintain an angle less than 20 degrees against the DiveR 30 degrees. After the first day using the DiveR I thought it might work out. I figured I can never increase the tendon strength in my ankles but my hams will get stronger eventually and I'll be able to handle the blades. This idea flew out the window when I realized how far the blade lags behind on the down stroke. This is when I made the decision that I don't want to use these blades any more.

Comparison to the angled carbon blades; Swimming lengths in a small pool I counted the number of kicks with both the DiveR and the carbon blades. I must have changed fins back and forth 20 times to make sure the results were consistent. With the DiveR I was able to swim the pool consistently with 9 kicks and a few times with 8 kicks. With the carbon I was able to do the same length consistently with 10 kicks and a few times with 9. On average the DiveR needed one less kick than the carbon for the same pool length. Initially I did this on the surface one pool length at a time. The DiveR were silent and forced me into a slow steady kick maintaining what felt like perfect form. The carbon were so light I didn't feel like I had fins on. They were noisier on the surface and the kick felt much faster than the DiveR, but the forward advance was proportional to the effort I was exerting.

Now here is where the most interesting part came in. I started doing two pool lenths underwater. So it was a pool lenth, turn around at the wall, and back to the beggining all along the bottom of the pool. Consider that the dive went shallow - deep - shallow along the bottom. On the first lenth there was no problem with the DiverR. On the way back towards the end I was feeling that the DiveR blades were draining me of oxygen. On the way back with the carbon blades I felt no such thing. I could increase my kicking effort and the carbon blades would get me to the end of the pool faster without taxing my air. These results are consistent in my mind with what I felt using the DiveR on the deeper dives off the boat. The descent is nothing, you kick slow and soft and glide the rest of the way down. It's on the ascent when you need the propulsion and for the blades to transfer energy in an efficient manner, and it was on the ascent when the DiveR were taxing me just when I needed the air most.

The carbon fins need to be tested further on deep dives. I will then post more results.

I tested the carbon fins yesterday, wonderful fins. The only drawback was they were too soft. On the deeper dives I switched back to the DiveR just to have the security of a stiffer blade. I was able to confirm again all the conclusions I posted previously about the DiveR. The carbon fins were so fast and light. Whatever they lacked in stiffness for propulsion was made up by the ability to kick fast and effortlessly. The next stiffness up which I'm waiting to try should be perfect and will be labled medium.

Thanks. The DiveR I tested are medium.

I think it would be good if you post here. Also please post a pic of the new Mares footpocket with the blade installed.

Quote from LOMartin

Surface swimming is the first thing that hits you, its effortless and forward movement is surprisingly fast.

That was my impression as well when I first tried the DiveR blades. Try them in depth and current/condition that requires fast finning and please post back, I'm interested in what you find. Thanks for the report.

Quote from LOMartin

the only other foot pocket I have found that fits my foot properly are the mares and [C4 pockets(minus there stupid price tag and limit to only being able to use their blades)]...

...The SPETTON foot pockets always leaves a big red sore spot on the top of my foot and the rubber is very stiff.

What is it about the C4 footpockets that only allows C4 blades to fit? If I understood you correctly.

I don't see Spetton footpockets in the pic. Did you just mention that as a BTW? Which blades did you try the Spetton footpockets with?

When I see you I'd like for you to try the carbon blades and then switch back to the DiveR. For that we need an extra pair of footpockets in your size. I was looking at your pic to see which pockets you could bring. You have there what looks like Picasso footpockets. If you like separate them from the blades and bring them. If you're foot size 42-44 then I have extra footpockets here.