Early in 2018 I was looking for my first pair of fins, and there were so many different options! Full foot, open heel, paddle, split…it was getting a little confusing for a first timer. But I knew what I really wanted – a reasonably light, travel-friendly fin that was still able to provide some power and control, and I decided on trying out the TUSA Hyflex Switch, which also happened to be the Scubalab tester’s choice 2017.
I won’t spend time talking about the technical features of the fin such as the “purimax” polyurethane material or “vortex generator” because honestly, that’s all marketing fluff and sounds nice but doesn’t really mean much to the average user.
Power & control
The most important aspect of any fin is the power and control you get out of it, and the Hyflex Switch delivers in droves. I had no problems with flutter kicks, frog kicks, helicopter turns and backwards finning. To me, it was the perfect mid point between the very heavy but precise & poweful jet fins and the light but “low gear” feeling of the Atomic Aquatics splits. In normal, recreational use, I had no problems keeping up with dive masters or swimming against current. Small adjustments were possible with just a small flick of the ankles, giving the fins a good sense of control.
Design & comfort
To me, the fins don’t just have to perform well, they have to look good and feel comfortable too (which is why the indestructible workhorse-type jet fins was never that attractive to me, despite all the hype about them). Along with a pleasing design and several colours available (black,red,blue,white,yellow), the TUSA Hyflex Switch had a pretty comfortable foot pocket, and secures your feet to the fin with an adjustable rubber bungee. I found that the adjustment clip cover tended to unbuckle itself once or twice at the surface, but it was just a minor adjustment of snapping it back on and it never happened in the water.
A travel-friendly design
One of the main reasons I purchased this fin was because it was really travel friendly. It isn’t the lightest fin at 1.9kg but the fact that it can be separated into 2 pieces to about 40cm in length meant that with the right BCD, you would be able to fit your entire dive kit into a carry on bag or small suitcase. I was however always afraid that I would lose the tiny screws that secured the fin blade to the foot pocket, as it seemed proprietary and not something you can just buy from a DIY store. Losing those screws would destroy the use of the fin completely.
Value for money
The main problem with these pair of fins is that they were expensive. On the TUSA website, the MSRP is USD199. This is in no way a budget fin, and costs much more then the jets I was talking about earlier. You are essentially paying for the technology and travel-friendly aspect of the fins. Since there literally wasn’t much choices when it came to fins that could collapse into a small size, I guess TUSA knew their pricing would still entice people like me.
So was it worth the price?
Yes, I think so. I certainly feel that the fin isn’t lacking in the important bits, and the fact that its so convenient to travel with was a massive plus for me. Even if I could turn back time, I would probably buy these fins again as there really isn’t a similar product in the market right now that ticks all these check boxes.
