Mares Avanti Quattro Power Full Foot Long Blade Fins

The best I tried

I have owned these fins for a couple of years now, before that I used the Mares Avanti Tre (a weaker, cheaper version) for freediving and spearfishing. Prior to shelling out more than a hundred bucks I decided to go scientific about it. I purchased: an Esclapez with a plastic blade, a [$] fiber Omer Pegaso and compared them with Avanti Tre and Quattro. Esclapez had an excellent footpocket but it was a mismatch with a plastic blade that felt like something out of place. Omer had a universal fo...otpocket with removal blades; it was stiff and uncomfortable, not recommended for people with high instep. Mares footpocket was excellent, albeit sizing between Tre and Quattro was different. If you are size 11 and wear a 3mm neoprene sock, go with the largest size for both Tre and Quattro. So my test consisted of two parts: an all out 50 yards diving with registering time an a pulse rate and a 1000 yards surface swimming. For 50 yards diving Esclapez an Tre were out of contention, so the fight was between a fiber Pegaso and rubber Quattro. Pegaso gave 1/10th of a second advantage and about 5 heart beats more per 10 seconds interval. That tells me - you will be burning way more oxygen with Omer Pegaso. Not to mention the comfort level, but that is individual. Of course, the stroke technique is quite different with fiber/carbon blades - more of an ankle work versus rubber fins where an almost all foot is engaged.For the second part (distance swimming) it was no comparison - both Tre and Quattro are way more comfortable than Pegaso and Esclapez. Pegaso is not suitable for surface swimming due to a blade angle - it is a 'vertical' fin for boat drop-offs. So I stopped torturing myself pretty quickly with Pegaso during a second part of the test.So at the end it was no-brainer - Quattro is cheaper, more efficient (for me!), suitable for surface and vertical and way lower maintenance - fiber/carbon blades are fragile. I went below a 100 feet in Quattros and Tres and fins have NEVER been a limiting factor for me. I also swam more than 2 miles during my spearing sessions.For reference: when I was doing my tests, I could do a 1000 yards butterfly kick with a kickboard and no fins in about 20-21 minutes (I was a competitive swimmer for many years), so people with weaker legs might find fiber/carbon blades better. So do your own tests if you can. But if you go off the shore, and especially if you need to swim a long distance to your point(s) of interest, Quattro is by far your best bet. This model has been in production for many years and for a very good reason!Hope this helps, happy hunting!

Great Underwater Sport Fin

If you are an underwater sports enthusiast and have strong legs and ankles I would recommend these fins to you. I have used softer/shorter fins for underwater hockey and almost invariably my kick would bend them out of shape. With the Quattro I can use a full dolphin kick to get the most out of my legs work. I have been using these fins daily for the past month and I am very satisfied. Whenever your ankle tires out, give it a rest as the fins are rather taxing on the ankles. I would recommen...d paying special attention to flutter kick, in particular when doing surface swim, because the fin will not fully go underwater and you will be hurting your ankle if you let it fully extend. As an anecdote, I tried playing with softer fins and the feeling was of being barefoot. The Quattro really give you a lot of thrust and end speed, so if that is what you are aiming for, I would say, go for it. I am going to test these fins in the ocean in a few months and will update the review then.