The Best Scuba Diving Fins | Fins and Flippers

The Best Scuba Diving Fins | Fins and Flippers

So, I have been diving for around a quarter of a century, 25 years of plonking around, looking at fish, corals and sunken objects. Those years will appear as a drop in the ocean to some crusty old sea dogs. The ones with J valves on their tanks, they fill at the local dive centre and dive around looking for frightened crayfish on the weekend. Alternatively, I may appear a bearded barnacle living on a whale’s ass to those fresher faces in the scuba world.

But whichever your point of view, I have spent two and a half decades with bits of rubber, plastic and carbon fibre on my feet. Diving into and with some hair-raising currents, poking around in sub-aquatic holes and caverns, navigating wrecks and chasing errant dive students or recreational divers around. 

I have taught scuba diving in swimming pools and jumped into blue depths in the middle of the ocean when the boat’s sonar showed a pinnacle rising from 4000 metres. I have rolled back off dhonis and dive tenders and even tried that freediving thing, where you go down a rope and then up it again.

Considering this, I can reasonably offer my two cents about scuba diving fins, flippers, frog feet, and palms de plongée. 

With many new scuba divers out there about to purchase one of their first pieces of dive gear or ‘kit’ ( as some techies love to call it, kit for me is Nightrider). They will be pondering what to purchase, as they hear the plethora of opinions on what to attach to their feet. 

In my experience, it generally does not matter a fish’s cloaca or a caudal peduncle ( that bit of muscle in between the anal fin and tail fin that makes tuna and family go really fast) what you wear on your tootsies as long as they work for you. It can be tough to ignore the calls for what is cool, but just maybe a one metre-long pair of pink carbon fibre free diving fins is not what you need for your next tropical dive excursion or wreck diving course.

Types of Scuba Diving Fins and Flippers

As scuba diving equipment has evolved, fins have been reimagined repeatedly. From wooden planks attached to the feet with a bit of rubber to fancy duck-shaped things held on by a spring, someone starting their diving or snorkelling career is bombarded with shapes, colours, sizes, and attachment methods, so here I will elaborate on those. 

While I do this, I will use the term flippers to please those dive professionals who like to go on and on about flippers being ducks’ feet. Scuba divers use fins. I’d be well pleased if I could swim like a duck, so let’s flipper in.

Open Heel Fins | Open Heel Flippers

Open-heel fins are the ones you will need to wear booties with. They are open at the back where the heel is and will have an adjustable band to hold them on your feet. The most positive attribute of open-heel fins is that you can adjust them to fit. Adjustable means they make great rental gear for dive shops/resorts and liveaboards; they can fit many feet. The downside is that you need a lot of booties to accommodate the plethora of podos. The upside is that booties don’t typically cost too much, and the fins last longer.

These fins are generally more comfortable. The negative aspect, according to some, is that you supposedly generate less power with open-heeled fins.

Open-heel fins are also more expensive than their closed-heel cousins, so for a new diver, this may be prohibitive. Regarding the power dilemma, I have used many types of open-heel fins and have never had problems generating enough power for those moments when you need it, i.e. kicking into a blizzard of a current at Koh Tachai Pinnacle in the Similan Islands. (I know, I know. It’s only acceptable to say that Raja Ampat, Socorro, or similar have the ‘real’ currents.)

Full Foot Fins | Full Footed Flippers

These flippers are the kind where you squeeze your feet into a foot pocket and hope for no blisters, which may happen when wearing your new pair for the first couple of dives or snorkels. This variety is, on the whole, cheaper, and most dive operations will stay clear of them as they require a large number to fit guests. The outlier I found is Koh Tao, Thailand, where closed-foot fins are the norm and dive instructors enjoy pulling fins onto students’ feet.

Full-footed scuba fins are purported to create more power for several reasons, not least because they really do stick to your feet. Yet again, it is all about how you use them. Some could wear the most powerful fins ever invented and barely propel themselves through the water column.

Learning to kick properly is a valuable lesson and something worth focusing on when learning to scuba dive, even more so than using your GoPro or 360-degree camera underwater. I know it sounds wild, but it is true.

I have used many Full-footed fins, and I love them. The Mares Quattro has been a favourite of mine for the last 20 years, and my first pair would have lasted that long. I would still be using them if it had not been for an errant dive equipment crate and some poorly applied glue.

So Many Fins Not Enough Time

Having chosen whether to use open-heeled or closed-heeled fins or flippers, your next challenge is to decide which kind. There are numerous varieties, long, short, channelled, negatively or positively buoyant, black, pink, blackpink, or many other styles of the frog-foot. Let’s dive in.

Jet Fins or Jet Flippers

The Scubapro Jet fin epitomises these flippers. Think short, black, and heavy, negatively buoyant chunks of rubber. Usually, with some venting or holes to reduce drag, the design has been iterated by many dive equipment manufacturers and remains a standard for ‘dive kit’ divers.

One of the positive aspects of this fin is that you may just look a bit ‘tech’; apparently, this has also become a bit ‘cool’. But don’t fall for that unless squidging through a dark hole underwater is your cup of tea, and practising a frog kick for years mitigates any worries about not looking good during your dive.

The jet fin is powerful, great for small spaces, and one of the most durable fins. It also now comes in some pretty fancy colours. 

I have owned a couple of pairs of jet-fin-style scuba flippers, and I enjoyed them. It was nice being able to change the back strap to a spring. However, they do tend to weigh a lot on your legs, which may not work for some, and are not good if you are likely to drop them over the side of the dive boat when clambering up from a dive. Being negatively buoyant, they will sink to Hades and may have you considering deco time to go down and find them. There is a reason the devil wears a jet fin.

Also, don’t go lugging these babies around on your next dive holiday unless paying excess baggage fees appeals.

Travel Fins and Flippers

In retaliation for airlines charging previously unheard-of and patently unfair amounts of money to carry passengers’ luggage to the destination they were travelling to, scuba diving equipment was forced to evolve. BCDS, regulators, and fins got a paring down in the weight department.

Almost the direct antithesis of the jet fin, the travel fin is light, flexible, and often neutrally buoyant, so there are no chases to the bottom of the ocean to search for them. They come in both the open-heel and full-footed styles and are often shorter. The Apollo fins, for example, have been a divisive design. They are small and great for travel. Most divers hate them, but quite a number swear by them.

Scubapro, Aqualung, Hollis, Mares, Cressi and Tusa all produce excellent examples of travel fins.

Will this group of flippers produce less power than the weightier or longer variety? Probably. Will they be easier to carry around, more agile, quicker to don, and more useful for in-water activities? Also, probably.

Will they look great? Who cares? But in case that is a significant decision breaker for you, Scubapro developed a groundbreaking fin design that evolved from both their jet fin and the split fin (perhaps the most derided flipper style out there), and these became the Seawing. This fin is lightweight, agile, and provides plenty of power, provided you learn how to use them. They come in loads of funky colours, and I have even met some tech divers, against all fears of getting expelled by the community, who have applauded them.

If you plan on travelling to dive, travel fins are certainly worth considering.

Freediving Fins | Does Length Matter

I am not a freediver, so unable to write from a freediving perspective. That said, there was a time back in and around 2007 when wearing freediving fins for scuba started to gain traction. Boy, did it look swell underwater. You stood out from other scuba divers, looked a little more experienced, and let people know you were a freediver. 

Full-footed, extremely long, loads of pretty colours, and some constructed with new-age materials like carbon fibre, they are excellent for going down and returning, or horizontally in a hurry. When it comes to scuba diving, you hover, spin, frog kick and occasionally get yourself between rocks or in other tight spaces. They just are not that practical. They have the added benefit of lengthening your legs, making them look elongated and slim, which is excellent for the burgeoning population of merpeople.

I had a pair. I carried them away on several liveaboards and strongly wish I hadn’t. But again, if the free-diving fin fits, wear it, by all means. However, I would not recommend them for beginners, as the learning curve to use these flippers can be steep.

Never Split the Difference | Split Fins

Nothing has divided the scuba world more than the split fin. Designed to reduce drag when kicking and in current, they are easier on the legs and allow you to turn more efficiently than a solid fin blade. These scuba fins have received nasty comments from many haughty professionals in the scuba diving world, ‘tech’ divers, and mermaids.

My reply to them is, get off your high horse and try a pair. My first pair of scuba fins were Atomic Aquatics split blade fins. They were followed rapidly by the Scubapro split fin, similar to the jet fin, a chunk of black rubber but with a very forgiving split blade.

The Scubapros were hard-wearing, open-footed fins that accompanied me through most of my dive education and my time teaching many dive students. They also went with me on my first liveaboard, where I was roped in to lead some dives. I was informed that split-fins were no good, not up to muster, and I would never survive in the current. I wouldn’t be able to kick enough to help guests if need be.

They Were Finomenal

Again, they were wrong. I loved them; they worked great, and air consumption in currents was almost mermaid-like. I could turn and hover on a dime and had plenty of power when needed, even when towing divers around. Another significant thing was that my legs never tired, which was welcome when diving four times a day, for over an hour each time.

The trick is making them work for you. For scuba divers with leg injuries, muscle strains, or a bit of age is kicking in, split fins may very well be the ticket. I recently had a wonderful dive guest looking to buy some split fins as her calf muscles would ache easily. The dive pro in the shop she visited looked down her nose and told her that no self-respecting scuba diver uses them anymore. We can’t all be mermaids.

If you are an underwater macro photographer heading off to dive the black sands of Lembeh, I cannot think of a better choice than a split fin…for me.

If split fins rock your boat, go for it.

Coloured Flippers | Are You a Merperson

Which coloured fins should you buy? It does not matter unless you are also a mermaid/merman/merperson looking for a monofin to match the scales. Colours are absorbed underwater, and the fish do not give a hoot. 

Again, there are some moments when a coloured fin is handy. If you are thinking of camo styles for spearfishing, I happily wish you a manky barb and spike in your body one day; the earlier, the better.

When leading dives, coloured fins can make you easier to spot, and for recreational divers, having their dive buddies wear a pair may make them easier to find. If you are heading to Fuvamulah, Maldives, to dive with Tiger sharks, you may not want to make yourself stick out like a shiny, colourful thumb. Choosing to blend in with the ocean and reduce visibility could be a wise decision.

Coloured fins will not change your diving or improve your air usage. If having a pair of flippers matching your underwater outfit is essential to you, go for it. Just don’t ignore the above; make sure they work for you. I once had a pair of full-footed, red-coloured fins from the ever-popular Japanese brand Gull. I loved them; they matched my zip-up Scubapro jacket.

When the Fin Fits

In my experience, the main types of scuba fin differential are listed above, but there are more classifications. The nitty-gritty of flippers. These are things like: 

• Channelled fins. Another material, usually rubber, is used to make a channel down the blade in these flippers. Channelling causes the blade to flex when kicking, driving you forward more easily. Many of Mares’s fins utilise channels. The Quatro I mentioned earlier is a fantastic, powerful channelled flipper that is great for frog kicking.
• Vents and holes. Some scuba fins have vents or holes somewhere on the blade or close to the foot pocket. These allow water to pass through, or not, on different kicks, meaning less or more resistance. They are better for your standard kicking style, the flutter kick, or the vanilla.
• Hinges. Some fins have a hinge that connects the blade to the foot pocket. These supposedly allow the blade to re-angle itself for greater efficiency. I have tried a couple of kinds. Aside from the Scubapro Seawing Nova, I found the rest quite unusable, but if the fin fits, then wear it.

The Finale

So you have bought your fins. You ignored the noise and purchased the pair that is best for you. What now? 

Getting out and diving is a good idea. If you can’t get into the ocean, practice with them in a pool. 

Take care of them; they will last until you are one with the ocean, just like a mermaid.

Rinse them with fresh water and store them gently. If you decide full-foot fins are the right choice, put them away with something that keeps the foot pocket shape. You will fully appreciate this if you have a pair with a foot pocket that has deformed into an unforgiving, shrunken hole that you can no longer fit your foot into.

Always be sure to wear the correct fin on the right foot.

Written By:

Brett Robertson

(Diver and Vegan)

PADI Platinum Course Director | Dive educator | Dive resort and liveaboard owner | Vegan advocate for conservation projects and plant-based lifestyles, and a burgeoning serial runner.

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