Dive Buyers Guide > Fin Buyers Guide

Fin Buyers Guide Buying fins is an important choice - they need to be suitable for your leg strength while also being powerful enough to keep you going in tough conditions.

Fin Buyers Guide
Buying fins is an important choice - they need to be suitable for your leg strength while also being powerful enough to keep you going in tough conditions.

Fin Style
There are two main styles of fin - full blade and split fins. Full blade fins are traditionally more powerful however require more effort to use, which can cause cramp in some people. Recent advances in split fin technology means that the difference between split and full blade fins is smaller, and it comes down to personal choice which type you prefer to use. Some fins dont really fall into either style - most notably these are the Poseidon Force Fins and the Scubapro Seawing Nova - we advise you try these different styles out before buying as they can feel different to regular fins.

Adjustable / Full Foot Fins
Adjustable fins are by far the most common fins, and suitable for cold water diving or any diving that requires you to use boots.  Full foot fins are best suited for tropical and pool diving.

Strap Type
Most fins come with rubber fin straps which are suitable for all diving but some fins come with "spring straps" - these straps can be pulled back to fit your foot and dont need to be adjusted.

Buckle Type
One final consideration when buying fins is the buckle type - you can choose from locking or non-locking buckles. The locking buckles can be locked when diving to make sure that they dont fall off.
 

	Style	Adjustable/Full Foot	Strap Type	Buckle Type
Mares Avanti Quattro	Full Blade	Adjustable	Regular	Locking
Mares Avanti Superchannel	Full Blade	Adjustable	Regular	Locking
Mares Explora Fins	Full Blade	Full Foot	Regular	N/A
Mares Plana Avanti X3	Full Blade	Adjustable	Regular	Locking
Mares Quattro Excel	Full Blade	Adjustable	Regular	Locking
Mares Raptor	Split	Adjustable	Regular	Locking
Mares Volo Power	Spring Full Blade	Adjustable	Regular	Locking
Mares Volo Race	Spring Full Blade	Full Foot	Regular	N/A
N.Diver Power Fins	Full Blade	Adjustable	Regular	Regular
Poseidon Force Fins	V-Shaped Blade	Adjustable	Spring	N/A
Scubapro Jet Fin	Vented Full Blade	Adjustable	Regular	Regular
Scubapro Jet Sport	Vented Full Blade	Adjustable	Regular	Regular
Scubapro Potenza Fins	Full Blade	Full Foot	N/A	N/A
Scubapro Seawing Nova	Articulated Joint Blade	Adjustable	Spring	N/A
Scubapro Twin Jet	Split	Adjustable	Regular	Regular
Scubapro Twin Jet Max	Split	Adjustable	Spring	Regular
Scubapro Twin Speed (Full Foot)	Split	Full Foot	Regular	N/A
Scubapro Twin Speed (Adjustable)	Split	Adjustable	Regular	Regular
Scubapro Veloce Fins	Full Blade	Adjustable	Regular	Regular
Tusa X-Pert Zoom	Split	Adjustable	Regular	Regular