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Old 04-21-2016, 07:46 AM   #1
humpinit
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Soft, Medium, or Hard?

I am looking into upgrading my fins. Everyone says to go carbon fiber and I might or I might go fiberglass. What I am not sure of is what stiffness to get.

I have been using cressi garas for the past couple of years now.

Does the stiffness affect how hard you work versus how much propulsion you get?

I would rather kick easier, more often if that make any since. Does that mean I need a soft blade?
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Old 04-21-2016, 09:26 AM   #2
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Re: Soft, Medium, or Hard?

How big are you?

Strong legs?

How deep are you diving?


The fin distributor may be there best option as far as getting the right stiffness as different companies blades of soft, med, stiff may be different. i.e. one companies medium may be the same stiffness as anothers hard fin.
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Old 04-21-2016, 10:18 AM   #3
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Re: Soft, Medium, or Hard?

The trend now is to use as soft as possible while they still move you. The there are other factors like how much do you swim, if you dive from a boat or from shore, your weight, etc.

Which color of Garas were you using? If black, those are stiff. If gray, thos are medium/soft.

But even more important than blade stiffness is footpocket fit. If they don't fit right to you, it would be a nightmare to swim with them.
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Old 04-21-2016, 11:28 AM   #4
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Re: Soft, Medium, or Hard?

SBlount, Im 5'9" 205. legs are like tree trunks.

I usually dive from a boat. 50/50 scuba and free diving. When free diving its a 50/50 mix of blue water and reef. Probably 60' max on the depth. I have the grey garas. I feel like they bend too much without any propulsion.
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Old 04-21-2016, 04:11 PM   #5
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Re: Soft, Medium, or Hard?

get gara 2000s. Fiberglass or carbon are gonna suck for scuba diving unless you get super stiff ones.
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Old 04-21-2016, 04:46 PM   #6
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Re: Soft, Medium, or Hard?

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Originally Posted by humpinit View Post
SBlount, Im 5'9" 205. legs are like tree trunks.

I usually dive from a boat. 50/50 scuba and free diving. When free diving its a 50/50 mix of blue water and reef. Probably 60' max on the depth. I have the grey garas. I feel like they bend too much without any propulsion.
I have the Moana Med stiffness fin. Im about 250lb now but used to be closer to your weight. I think they are great but a bit stiff for just freediving. However that being said they may be a great fit for the 50/50 mix you are doing. Ive done plenty of scuba diving with them and they are certainly stiff enough for that. Hatterasfreediver is right though. A soft freediving fin sucks for scuba.

I think they are a stiffer medium and are comparable to a hard (40) C4 carbon fin.

I hope this helped some.
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Old 04-21-2016, 05:02 PM   #7
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Re: Soft, Medium, or Hard?

I have gara 2000 now. I will keep them for scuba because I get down and dirty scraping the hell out of them. Plus I already have my trim down with the cressis. Those moanas look really nice but too pricey. I have a son that can't make money yet so everything I buy is in pairs.
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Old 04-21-2016, 05:10 PM   #8
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Re: Soft, Medium, or Hard?

For your description, I would get mediums.

Leaderfins make great/unexpensive carbon fins. My older son has them for two years now and they're going strong. I think that Mako sells them.
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Old 04-21-2016, 05:30 PM   #9
humpinit
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Re: Soft, Medium, or Hard?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco View Post
For your description, I would get mediums.

Leaderfins make great/unexpensive carbon fins. My older son has them for two years now and they're going strong. I think that Mako sells them.
And it seems that mako actually sells them cheaper.
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Old 04-21-2016, 08:43 PM   #10
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Re: Soft, Medium, or Hard?

I'm no expert by any means but I have the Med Carbon Mix leaderfins and I love them. The Neo Gold camo blends in good with the reef I got these because I was limited in fins I could try on. The Leaderfin foot pocket was perfect for my foot. If I could have tried Mako foot pockets I would have got the Mako Leaderfins since I like doing business with them.
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Old 04-21-2016, 09:12 PM   #11
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Re: Soft, Medium, or Hard?

Quote:
Originally Posted by humpinit View Post
I am looking into upgrading my fins. Everyone says to go carbon fiber and I might or I might go fiberglass. What I am not sure of is what stiffness to get.

I have been using cressi garas for the past couple of years now.

Does the stiffness affect how hard you work versus how much propulsion you get?

I would rather kick easier, more often if that make any since. Does that mean I need a soft blade?
The gara 2000's are very nice fins - rugged, comfortable footpockets and pretty stiff. If you feel they are too soft, then I think i would look at a medium blade. I have a few different pairs of fins, but I most just grab my MAKO Fiberglass medium blades for both scuba and freediving.

I tried out the same blades in soft and in the Bahamas with all day swimming, relatively shallow dives, I would prefer the soft blades. But for my normal diving - i am very happy with the mako FG medium blades.. the pockets are very comfortable.
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