Spring or Rubber Straps?

[Raiderswim]

I have a pair of Apollo BioFins which I love.  After 4 years with them, I had a rubber strap break.  Now I'm considering spring straps.  One Strap is 22.00 for rubber, but 63 for a set of springs.  How well do the springs straps hold?  How long do they last?  Any problems?  Spring or Rubber?  Please give me your input on either side of this issue.

[Vtach]

Spring.  They hold very well and should last just as long as the fin itself.  Just make sure that they are sized properly.

[Raiderswim]

Is there a better manaufaturer?  Which spring system is best?

[Chris H]

Another vote for spring straps.  There were some DIY instructions a few years back, but I think there are some reasonably priced options around.  I use the Scubapro/Halcyon straps on my current fins and had some home built ones on my Turtle fins.  If you do a search on this site, I think I posted pictures of the home built straps.

[Vtach]

I think that your best bet would be to use the straps that attach to the "pin" and require no modification of the fin itself.  The Manta brand comes to mind but I'm sure there are others.  I believe that they are pretty reasonably priced also.

[systematic.entropy]

Pretty sure I have some sets of new Salvo spring straps left. Let me know if you're interested. They attach with no modification to the fin, have line inside the spring to prevent over stretching. Let me know.

[dfreeman]

I have springs for my dry suit fins.  Only way to go.

My daughter Megan has springs for the tropics and loves them.  Especially for shore diving in Bonaire

She thinks I am an idiot for not having springs for my tropical diving.  Just cheap, the straps have not broken yet.

Go springs.

Doug

[jasondbaker]

Springs without a doubt.  I remember being totally geared up in my drysuit, climbing over tricky rocks on the Lake Michigan shoreline only to break a fin strap when getting in the water.  I had spring straps the next week.

My advice is to make the straps yourself.  You can build custom spring straps for less than $20.  And these straps will be better than the ones sold by vendors.  I built my first pair of straps.  I decided to buy the straps (Manta?) for my tropical fins and regret the decision. 

I use quattro fins for the tropics.  The problem with the commercial straps is the way they mount to these types of fins.  They have a metal sleeve/buckle which slides over the hard plastic "knob" on each side of the fin.  This metal sleeve doesn't stay attached very well. The manufacturer usually includes a couple zip ties to help hold the buckle in place.  : Trust me, this doesn't work well.  I ended up removing the standard buckle and building my own using some stainless steel parts from home depot.  My attachment is significantly more secure.  An additional incentive to building your own straps is you can custom fit them to your foot and boot.