Just got mine last night and tried them out today. One very cool feature is one size fits all so arctic to tropics, you are good to go. Or lend to a friend. Got the Originals (biggest) instead of the ProSurf model. Original’s blade about as long as Duck Feet to toes but the working part extends back under your foot so it is really longer. It also varies from 2-3 inches wider.
Took them out in the surf and first thing I noticed was it is definitely burlier than the Ducks. I need to get stronger to fully utilize it; that’s what I was after in a new fin. Definitely easy on the feet but since it’s a bigger/stronger fin, moving more water, it is harder on psoas and quads. Takes more umph to get them moving and keep them moving. Caught a couple waves I might not have w/ the DuckFeet and really noticed the lightness of the flippers for lifting them out of the water once up and running. Seemed easier to initiate dolphin kick with the Flips. Since I try not to use my feet to steer I didn’t notice if they were much different there.
Only negative was that the straps kept loosening and I had to reach down every once in awhile and pull them tight. Easy to do though and that may stop happening once the strap material is broken in a bit.
Had a few calories and some water and then hit the pool w/ kick board and stop watch. Pretty tired from surfing so just did a few laps but alternated Flips and DuckFeet and also large amplitude kicking vs small amplitude rapid flutters. Have to do more extensive testing some time when I’m not already beat but preliminary results suggest the flips averaged any where from 15-20% faster.
Oh, one other negative on the flips was that they are so light that I had trouble doing the small amplitude rapid flutter kick; couldn’t keep them submerged. The Ducks stay in the water easier. Likely for this reason, the Duck Feet beat the Flips by little in the rapid small flutter kick.
I’ve never used UDTs (modified or not) so can’t make any comparisons there.
The two women I was sharing a lane with hated me Hah-hah!
DrStrange- Good review.Much more scientific than mine. Good to hear someone else’s opinion. Makes it easier to come out and say I really like my Flips. I’m also surprised that someone else knows what the psoas is LOL.
Dr. S - thanks for the write-up. Being a typical surfer - bulging shoulders and bird legs - I have the smaller surf style ones. Sounds like I made the right choice, too. Have fun with 'em
Well I jumped right in after seeing only a few posts about these and my Originals arrived yesterday. Tonight I put them on and went out in 2 foot waves and was pretty impressed. They’re reasonably comfortable and pushed me through the water really well after about ten minutes of use. I too had to keep tightening the straps. The front toe strap is a little loose and seems to be at it’s tightening limit. Some attention will have to be paid to those things. I really like how light they are. Sand and gravel flushes right out. I like them.
re: straps loosening–talked to John Piatt last night (Flips maker). He said to prevent this from happening adjust front strap and slide foot out. Fold extra length of strap toward toes and then back UNDER the strap and insert foot. Tighten upper strap to where you want it, unbuckle it and do the same with the extra length–fold it toward toes and then back under the strap and snap the buckle. This way, foot pressure on the loose end locks it in place.
The wrap around method is easy and more versitile. If you had velcro on the straps it would limit adjustability and they need to slide for different sizes i.e barefoot in Bali, 7 mil booties in Alaska, lent to your wife…one size fits size 3 womens to size 16 men’s!
Mahalo for the review. My wife (she dose not know it yet) just ordered me a pair for my birthday! I’ll tell her how much a respect her taste in gifts and how much I appreciate the fins!
In my haste today I put them on the wrong feet. Recommended w/ buckles on inner/medial side. I put them outside. No dif kicking as they are symmetrical BUT they didn’t come loose; or at least not much. Also, much harder to tighten when they did loosen a bit.