05-10-2010, 06:35 PM
I have had a pair of the Omega Navigator Flipfins for several months now, and I am very disappointed in them. These are the same as the ones NFO sells, but instead of yellow plastic they have olive green plastic:
![[Image: flipfins.jpg]](http://flyanglersonline.com/prorevw/flipfins.jpg)
Omega Aquatics positions these as float-tube and pontoon boat specific. The materials and workmanship are excellent, but my problem is that I simply cannot unlock them from the up position while in the water and I cannot lock them in the down position while in the water.
Omega says they'll lock down with a few strong kicks. Mine won't even lock down if I hold the fin over the edge of a table and push down on the foot part as hard as I can, enough to deform the blade to about a 90 degree angle. The only way I have been able to latch them down is to put them both on and step with he heel of one foot on the area just in front of the latch with the other, on hard dry ground. Not something I can do in the water.
They also say you can release them into the flipped up position easily, simply by pressing the heel of the opposite boot against the latch. I can't do that either except on hard dry ground.
I have written to Omega Aquatics to express my frustration and to see if there is something I am doing wrong or if there is something wrong with the pair I have.
One guy on another board says his work great "after several dozen trips to break them in". Well I can't use them at all if I can't flip them up and down, so how can I get several dozen trips on them to break them in? I have worked with them a lot at home, and I can see that the two parts of the latching mechanism are still engaged even when the latch is moved as far to the release position as it can go (it runs into the toe of the foot compartment. I guess if Omega won't take them back or show me what's wrong I may need to do some surgery on them.
Does anyone else here use these or the ones NFO sells? If so, how do they work for you?
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Omega Aquatics positions these as float-tube and pontoon boat specific. The materials and workmanship are excellent, but my problem is that I simply cannot unlock them from the up position while in the water and I cannot lock them in the down position while in the water.
Omega says they'll lock down with a few strong kicks. Mine won't even lock down if I hold the fin over the edge of a table and push down on the foot part as hard as I can, enough to deform the blade to about a 90 degree angle. The only way I have been able to latch them down is to put them both on and step with he heel of one foot on the area just in front of the latch with the other, on hard dry ground. Not something I can do in the water.
They also say you can release them into the flipped up position easily, simply by pressing the heel of the opposite boot against the latch. I can't do that either except on hard dry ground.
I have written to Omega Aquatics to express my frustration and to see if there is something I am doing wrong or if there is something wrong with the pair I have.
One guy on another board says his work great "after several dozen trips to break them in". Well I can't use them at all if I can't flip them up and down, so how can I get several dozen trips on them to break them in? I have worked with them a lot at home, and I can see that the two parts of the latching mechanism are still engaged even when the latch is moved as far to the release position as it can go (it runs into the toe of the foot compartment. I guess if Omega won't take them back or show me what's wrong I may need to do some surgery on them.
Does anyone else here use these or the ones NFO sells? If so, how do they work for you?
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