I can't wait; I'm gonna get in trouble over this gear review thing, but if my suppliers don’t want me saying anything bad about their stuff, then they better fix it. This ain't Rodales and nobody is paying me for this @#&*!, so be prepared for some HONEST reviews.

Scuba Max Mach II fins

Personal dive gear (fins, mask, ect) is not something a diver wants to be changing all the time. Once you find stuff that fits good, or is comfortable a diver tends to stick with it. Just ask anyone who has just lost their favorite mask or a fin, this is known as the “new mask blues” well that’s what I call it anyway.

Recently while camping with my daughter I left my mask behind at the campground and had to grab a new one off the wall when I returned home to work. The same thing almost happened with my fins a couple years ago. When we first opened our store back in 2003 we were a IDI dealer, and one of the few good products they had were the Mach II split fins. Unfortunately IDI went the way of the dodo bird in just a few months and I thought those great fins went with them.

A year later while at the DEMA show in Las Vegas I saw the fins at the Scuba Max booth and was very happy to see they had picked up the marketing rights.

Years ago I had injured my Achilles tendon in one of my ankles playing hockey, an injury I carry with me to this day. I had started using split fins back then to relieve the pressure off my wobbly pivot and retired my giant Mares Quattro’s. As every dive shop owner/instructor knows: it's counterproductive to wear anything that their shop does not sell, but I loved my fins so much I wouldn’t give em up! I wore those fins for the whole time logging 300 or so dives on them.

So when Scuba Max told me that they were going to be discontinuing the Mach II I was not about to lose them again. At the Orlando DEMA last November I met with them and obtained the marketing rights for the Mach II fins for all of Canada. After seeing what potential these great sea wings had the president followed suit by obtaining the exclusive mold and marketing rights for the fin in the United States (Tilos and H2o both were previously selling the fin also). I really think that these fins are the best cold water fins ever made. Why ?

First they are made of rubber and neoprene composite in just the right amounts to make them really flexible and yet super tough like the rubber fins of old. There is a reason why every one has a pair of old scuba pro jet fins lying around in their closet from 20 years ago, rubber lasts not going brittle like plastic.

Next they have superior design, the fin is what I call an “easy kicker” but not floppy like conventional split fins. They have the perfect combination of flexibility and control, capable of the frog kick or side kick that regular splits can’t.

The Boot pocket on the Mach II is big enough to fit up to size 14 dry suit boots for today’s modern slip on dry boots from the leading manufactures (Whites, DUI, Bare) and we haven’t even got to the best part yet!

The fin is slightly negatively buoyant so there is less of a need for ankle weights to keep your feet down. Even the fin strap itself is better than our competitors, the easy gliding adjustment and finger hole at the rear to don and doff the strap easily when your hands are cold at the dives end. They really thought of everything!

We are in the process of making a light weight warm water version of the fin right now, this model will be unveiled at DEMA, again only at Scuba Max. It will not be black but royal blue in color and made of a slightly altered combination of the fins composite materials.

Want to try a pair out ? come down to the store for a demo and see what over a hundred other local divers are experiencing.

“Breathe Continuously”

Dan Bauer

(Also known as: Dan Bauer)

Sidney Dive n Surf
111a-2506 Beacon Avenue
Sidney, BC, Canada
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