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Leaderfins, the absolute value!
Leaderfins is today a very important reality in freediving and spearfishing. This is thanks to an excellent line of fins, with blades made of glass fiber, pure carbon fiber and a mix of the two. Moreover, Leaderfins designs and produces also its own foot-pockets, the Forza. All this, with a mix of quality and affordability which has no equal on the market.
Born in 1988 from the passion of 2 friends and athletes and based in Estonia, for the first 10 years Leaderfins has focused on producing monofins for finswimming. After that, the range has gradually grown. Today Leaderfins, with its very complete line of fins, covers all types of needs for “Spearfishing“, “Freediving“, “Finswimming“, “Rescue and Lifesaving” and “Underwater Games“. On top, the fascinating “Designer Corner“ by the Estonian company offers astonishing graphics and colors for the different blades.
Pure Carbon, Carbon Fiber Sandwich and Fiberglass
The blades offered by Leaderfins go from fiberglass, to sandwich (glass and carbon fiber) to pure 100% carbon fiber. The fiberglass and pure carbon are offered in 20° and 33°, while the sandwich are available only in 22°. Blade length can be chosen between 60, 70 and 80 cm. Hardness available is Soft, Medium and Hard. With such blades line, one can choose exactly the characteristics and the performance mostly adapt to one’s needs.
Fiberglass
Leaderfins Fiberglass fins are the most affordable of the spearfishing and freediving lines. They are evidently 100% glass fiber with special high quality mixture of epoxy resins. The performance is good, resistance in time excellent, and the cost very low. On the Leaderfins website you can buy a pair of complete Fiberglass fins, with Leaderfins footpockets, at only 120 euros. Such price is comparable with, or even lower than, the best polymer blades fins on the market. You can also order a pair of glass fiber blades for just 80 euros, amazing! There is no other producer on the market that can be so price competitive on glass fiber blades and complete fins!
The Fiberglass fins by Leaderfins are offered in black, in semi transparent color (the Ice version) and in various camouflage solutions.
Carbon Fiber
The Leaderfins Carbon fiber fins are a very interesting offer that balances well performance and cost. The internal part of the blade has in fact various glass fiber layers depending on the stiffness of the blade. Externally, the blades have one layer of carbon fiber on each side. This solution is also called Sandwich. Looking at the blade thickness it is in fact possible to see the white area between the two black carbon fiber layers. This is true especially in the harder versions where the glass fiber layers are more.
The performance of these blades is very good, with a high return of force at every kick. The durability and resistance of the blades is also very good. On the Leaderfins website the cost of a complete pair of Carbon fiber fins is only 150 Euros, while the pair of blades is sold at 110 Euros. Once more Leaderfins is the most competitive company on the market price-wise.
Carbone pur
Les palmes en carbone pur Leaderfins sont fabriquées avec voilures 100% fibre de carbone. Ce modèle de palmes est le haut de gamme par la société estonienne. Elles offrent le meilleures performances grâce au retour de puissance maximal à chaque coup de pied, bonne résistance et bon prix. Les bi-palmes Leaderfins pure Carbon peuvent être achetées en ligne pour seulement 165 euros, complet avec chaussons. La paire de voilures coûte 125 euros dans la version noire et 130 euros dans les versions camouflées . Ainsi, également dans le secteur des ailerons 100% fibre de carbone, Leaderfins « est en tête » avec le prix le plus compétitif.
The Carbon fiber Leaderfins are offered in black and in camouflage color.
Pure Carbon
The Leaderfins pure Carbon fins are made with 100% carbon fiber blades. This model of fins is the top of the line by the Estonian company. They offer the best perfomance thanks to the maximum power return at every kick, good resistance, and good price. The Leaderfins pure Carbon bi-fins can be bought on line for only 165 euros, complete with foot-pockets. The pair of blades cost 125 Euros in the black version and 130 Euros in the camouflage- colored versions. So, also in the 100% carbon fiber fins sector Leaderfins “leads” with the most competitive price.
Flaps and water rails
The design of the 3 models of Leaderfins blades, the Fiberglass, the Carbon Fiber and the Pure Carbon flap is the same. The final tip of all the blades has a concave shape which helps to avoid lateral shift during kicking. This is also helped by the water rails, which also channel the water from the tip of the foot all along the blade, increasing thrust. The water rails have a maximum height of 1.6 cm, but are asymmetrical. This means that on the upper part of the blade the water rail is 1 cm high, while in the lower part it is 5 mm. This helps balancing the the positive and negative kick. The difference in height to reach 1.6 cm is evidently given by the average thickness of the blade. The length of the water rail in its full height is 30 cm from the tip of the blade moving towards the foot. The remaining 36 cm to reach the foot-pocket tip have a much lower water rail. They are mechanically cut leaving just a rubber shock protection profilr to the sides of the blade. Finally, this profile connects with the short lateral rails of the foot-pocket.
The connection between the blade and the foot-pocket is designed with the two traditional clips on the lateral rails. In additional plastic pads and two screws are connected to the tip of the foot-pocket. The colors of the clips and pads all match the ones of the foot-pockets and blades, red, white, black and so on. This is a nice aesthetic solution, but there is more. Leaderfins sells its fins with additional spare clips, pads and screws, which is a very useful solution…well done Leaderfins!
The Leaderfins Forza foot-pocket
Leaderfins blades can be mounted on Omer Stingray, Picasso, Pathos, Mares Razor and Cressi Gara. Still, evidently, Leaderfins indicates the best performance of their blades with the Leaderfins Forza foot-pockets.
These are made of one single type of rubber, with differentiated thickness. In particular, the instep of the foot-pocket is thicker (practically twice the value) than the rest of the upper part of the foot-pocket. This is a key solution for many foot-pocket designers and manufacturers to help force transmission from the foot to the blade. The base of the foot-pocket is particularly stiff to avoid deformation and also help force transmission. The rear of the heel has three nerves to increase stiffness. The lateral rails are only 11.5 cm long with the new philosophy of leaving to the blade all the elastic work.
The excellent aspect of the Leaderfins Forza foot-pockets is that they are offered in an amazing number of sizes, which go from 31-32 to 49-50. This makes additionally the Leaderfins fins offer a record holder. On the Leaderfins website there is a useful size chart to understand easily which size foot-pocket to choose.
Dimensions and weight
In the Soft versions we received, the weights are the following. The Fiberglass fins with 43-44 foot-pocket weight 810 grams per fin. The Carbon Fiber fins with 45-46 foot-pocket weight 790 grams per fin, while the pure Carbon weight 775 grams with the 45-46 size foot-pocket.
The blades are all of the same dimensions. The length is 63.5 cm centrally and 66.5 cm laterally, while the width is 19.4 cm internally to the water rails.
Stiffness and bending curve
As anticipated the Leaderfins Fiberglass, Carbon Fiber (Sandwich) and pure Carbon fins have blades offered in Soft, Medium and Hard stiffness. Still, bending the three different blades in the Soft solution, it is evident how the Fiberglass feels anyway considerably softer than the Carbon Fiber, which in turn feels significantly softer than the pure Carbon blade. The curves have all a parabolic profile, but differ slightly in the shape.
The reactivity of the three different solutions, the Fiberglass, the Carbon fiber and the pure Carbon solutions, can be well seen in the below video by Leaderfins company.