Amphibian Navigator fins

[Michael Nelson]

If you have leashes for your fins, put the leash around the entire back heel strap, not just on the little rubber loop. Depending on your boot size and the bulkiness you should be able to kick your toe box into the fin then pull the leash and that heel strap will pop into place.

Good tip, thanks!

Do you still use the adjustable force fins? I found them much more comfortable on my foot (high instep) than the origionals.

No, I sold them when I sold my float tube and switched over to the pram.

[Michael Nelson]

this might be a good week to rent "Young Frankenstein again and enjoy the madness of Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, teri garr, Peter Broyle, Gene Hackman, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman and others. The chuckles are still good after all these years. What a cast)

My absolute favorite movie! "Poot.... ze kindle.... BECK!". "He has an enormous schvantzstucher!" ... it goes on an on.

"What hump?"

[Michael Nelson]

My Navigator fins arrived, size men's XL (12-14). They are supposed to fit up to size 14, and are supposedly designed to go over wading boots.

My Simms G4 Vibram soled boots just looked at that opening in the fins and laughed. I tried my Orvis felt soles and they went in a little. Enough so the fins were basically extensions of my toenails. Since the Orvis boots are cheap ones and I don't use them any more, I took a serrated blade kitchen knife and narrowed them by cutting the soles down some. I narrowed the boots by probably 1/2" total. They fit in a little better now, but they don't go in as far as I think they should.

These are not really big boots. The Orvis is size 11. I think I figured out that the strange little removable plastic insert is probably supposed to go over your boot before you put your boot into the fins, and it should theoretically cut down on friction... am I on the right track with this? Do you have to grease your boots?

[Ed Call]

My 11-12 boots seem to fit into my XL's pretty easily, even the really bulky simms g3 boots slide in fine. I'm not sure what plastic insert you are referring to, mine don't have anything inside the foot cup but space for my boots to slide inside. My boots also slide in all the way until the toe area contacts the front of the foot cup.

[Michael Nelson]

I'm not sure what plastic insert you are referring to, mine don't have anything inside the foot cup but space for my boots to slide inside.

Well, my excuse is that I am old and feeble-minded. Upon close inspection with my reading glasses on and in a good light, I saw some small writing molded into the inserts that I thought I was supposed to be using: "REMOVE THIS INSERT BEFORE USING".

Doh!

Without the inserts, my size 11s slide in far enough that the sole on the bottom of the flipfin butts up against the heel of the wading boots, which is about as far as they could go in any case.

Sorry, senior moment / false alarm.

[Michael Nelson]

I got to try these fins out Saturday morning on a local reservoir. First I put them on, then flipped them up and walked over and into my Scadden Outlaw Renegade. Pushed off and once I was in deep enough water tried kicking to get them to lock down. No amount of kicking would make them lock, no matter how hard I kicked. So I decided to do it manually with my hands.

I was able to get one up past the footbar on the boat and went to work trying to snap them in the down position. Because I have a big gut this was difficult too, but after about 10 minutes of trying different things I managed to get them locked down. I paddled with them for a couple hours. Yes, they do come up and create a lot of surface disturbance and noise, but if I am really careful and concentrate I can keep them pretty much under the water. I found they provide great propulsion, but with more effort being required both on the up and downstrokes than the ForceFins. They put more strain on my legs, for sure.

I decided I wanted to row for a while instead of finning. With the fins locked down I could barely get them up behind the footbar... I had to cross my legs and grab the fin and pull it back to clear the bar. The sole of the flipfins is so slippery (although it's treaded, the treading doesn't help on that round footbar) that I couldn't keep my feet on the bar for rowing while wearing them. I couldn't release them into the up position either. In frustration, I beached the boat and took them off.

I don't like them much. I will probably go back to the ForceFins, even though they were frustrating to put on. IMO, the ForceFins work much better than these things with far less effort (once I have them on).

[Michael Nelson]

Well, I really hate these fins now after several abortive attempts to use them. I can't make them lock down unless I stand with one heel right in front of the latch on the other fin, and that only works on hard dry ground. I can't release them into the up position without walking in them on hard dry ground. They are cojmpletely unusable for me, and I have written to Omega Aquatics to let them know my experience. If they won't do something to make good on them, I will likely throw them away and buy some more Force Fins, which aside from the difficulty in getting them on and off worked worlds better than these things.

[Alex MacDonald]

Pity they're not split like the Force Fins. The split design does work much more efficiently.

[Old Man]

I had some of those Creek Co fins. Had the same problem getting my foot to fit. So I went out and got some of those things people wear when swimming in a cement pool, Aqua socks. These work wonderful with my flippers. You don't need to put on those heavy boots. These slip on your feet like a glove.

[Michael Nelson]

The problem isn't so much in getting them on (I have some neoprene booties I got from NRS now), it's that the Flip Fins don't lock down and release easily enough for me to be able to use them.

[Ed Call]

Michael, I found my navigator flip fins latch/locking mechanism pretty stout at first. Having used them a few dozen times now and gotten more used to them (and they have worn in a bit too) I can now step down on them with the other foot's heel to easily lock them into place and also can drag my heel across the locking mechanism to release the fin. I can now do both of these actions pretty easily while on land, standing in the water or even floating in the tube or toon. Ed

[Kaari White]

I own a pair of the Scadden Omega flip fins which I'm thinking are the same fins you guys have, but sold under the Scadden brands. I couldn't be happier with mine. It took about 5 minutes when I first put them on to get comfortable with them and then probably another 3 minutes when I came back to the launch to figure out how to flip the fins up. I was fishing out of Fat Cat tube and had no trouble paddling around all day. No soreness like I'd have with my caddis fins at the end of the day and it definitely was more efficient/easier/faster paddling vs. the Caddis fins.

I didn't have any issues with surface water disturbance, but I'm also a lot lower in the water than someone in a pontoon.

One thing that I didn't really expect, but really like about these fins is how tight they fit to my shoe. In mens shoes, I wear a sz 7, but I was able to cinch these down tight to my boots. I didn't experience any wiggle or loosening over time with the Omega's. It seemed like there was nothing I could do with my old Caddis fins to get them so there wasn't some amount of sloshing around.

[Michael Nelson]

Michael, I found my navigator flip fins latch/locking mechanism pretty stout at first. Having used them a few dozen times now and gotten more used to them (and they have worn in a bit too) I can now step down on them with the other foot's heel to easily lock them into place and also can drag my heel across the locking mechanism to release the fin. I can now do both of these actions pretty easily while on land, standing in the water or even floating in the tube or toon. Ed

On mine, if I push the latch thing all the way back until it is hard against the toe area of the foot compartment, I can clearly see that the two halves of the engagement surfaces are still overlapping by about 3/16". No wonder they won't unlatch and are so hard to latch!

[Michael Nelson]

I just got off the horn with the tech support guy at Omega Aquatics. After having me check a couple things he said that my pair was mistakenly assembled with the boot section for the military version of the fins, which has a different latching mechanism than the normal Navigator fins. He said that has happened before "a few times".

He gave me an RMA number and asked that I ship them back to them in Illinois, and when they receive them they will send me the correct fins. So off they go via the Brown Santa.

I *knew* there must be something wrong with these!

[Ed Call]

Michael, that is good to hear they are swapping them out. I was certain that yours were not performing the same as mine and wondered why we'd have such a difference in opinion. Hope they get turned around fast and your next go around with them is a lot better.