Comments about Mares Avanti Super-Channel Open Heel Fins:

Great fins, accommodates boots easily and is very comfortable, as well as efficient at cheaper price compared to other fins. Highly recommend!

Comments about Mares Avanti Super-Channel Open Heel Fins:

I always seem to have a tough time with surface current on the return to the boat. My fin collection runs from those PowerPlanas, US Divers Blades, Appollo Bio Split fins, Aeris Velocity, Avanti Quatro, and now these SuperChannels; which are the best "fighting current" fins in my arsenal. I'm not a big diver, rather average 5'-7" height and 160lbs, these fins fit me fine. I will have to come up with a strap buckle replacement when it breaks on me. If you don't figure it how it supposed to work before going into the ocean, you'll most likely break the buckle. You may need to use ankle weights to help submerge your fin so you don't just slap the surface water especially if you are just snorkeling.

These are my favorite fins todate!

Comments about Mares Avanti Super-Channel Open Heel Fins:

I've got both the open heel and full boot versions of the SuperChannels. I like them.

The open heel does have one problem...

The quick release buckles [ABS Plus (Adjustable Binding System)] is a great concept that has been poorly executed. Setting the system up and getting in is easy - it's getting out which is the problem>>>

-There are tiny buttons on each buckle that you have to depress to get the buckle to open.

-You have to squeeze these buttons so tightly - and so close to the point where they bottom out - that lots of people won't be able to do it (i.e., no small number of guys, lots of women, women with finger nails, lots of people with dive gloves, lots of people with arthritis in their hands, etc).

-Additionally, lots of divers take their fins off in the water while bobbing behind a dive boat. Try locating the tiny buttons in rough water with the transom of a boat or a dive step swinging up and down near your head.

If you've got any experience with product development (or even if you don't) you can look at the design for about 10 seconds and figure out a number of ways it could have been done better. Too bad.

I can get out of the buckles using them the way they were designed (just barely). A lot of people will not be able to use them as designed.

Comments about Mares Avanti Super-Channel Open Heel Fins:

Overall these are good fins. I have a hard time with the quick release on the heel to get my fins off. (But my husband seems to have an easier time with them).

My husband bought a size Regular Fin and a size 9 of the Tusa Imprex dive boot. He normally wears a size 10 men's shoe. This combination seems to work well.

I bought a size Small Fin and a size 6 of the Tusa Imprex dive boot. I normally wear a size 9 women's shoe.

Comments about Mares Avanti Super-Channel Open Heel Fins:

I bought these fins to replace a different pair I'd used for almost 20 years, and put a lot of research into the purchase. I do a lot of beach dives, so I needed fits that can take me from shore to quite a distance out, and back again. I used them for the first time in Bermuda and they did a terrific job. These are big, powerful fins, and it takes a lot of leg power to get them going, but when you put some muscle into them you can absolutely fly through the water. I had to fight waves and currents for a solid hour of swimming on three different dives and I was very pleased with how the fins did.

The Mares heal release system is fantastic. I cannot for the life of me understand why some people gripe about it, except that they may not understand how it works. The idea is to quickly loosen the heal strap, not to release it from the fin. It's a genius idea, and so simple I can't believe no one else has come up with a similar system.

Because most of my dives start from the beach, I use a boot with a fairly large tread. I used the Deep See 3mm Caribbean Boot and it was a perfect match for the deep foot pocket of the Superchannels. So perfect, in fact, that I'll buy an extra pair of the Deep Sees just to have them on hand.