CHEN BIN Monofins

[Waterenthusiast]

It seems that the chinese Monofins producer bin fins upgraded there Website.
BinFins Web Site

Now you can watch the site in different launguages and have an easy online order form as well as a pdf version of there product catalog. In speedswimming these fins have quite a reputation, and guillaume Néry also wears them. It seems that they are aware of the freediving junkies always on search for better equipment as they offer different types of Monofins, like a special version for women, and a speciel version for freediving.
By the way, are there any Bin fins user outhere who wants to give a review on there Monofins? I only found some comments on french freediving forums till now

Have a nice day,
Christophe

[jome]

I've tried them a couple of times. Not long enough to give a detailed "review", but at least making similar dives back to back with my current fin (hyper), the performance was pretty close. I think I was a little faster with the chen bin, but it was not very comfortable to wear. It was also clearly stiffer than mine, which obviously affects performance.

At least the fins I tried feel a little different from the popular russian design. The main difference is that the heel is completely open, kind of "traditional" style. The russian fins have a "semi closed" heel.

How does this affect performance? I couldn't say, I didn't try them long enough, but I prefer the russian type in terms of comfort, which for me is important in open water diving (what good is a fin if you cannot wear it?)

But in all honesty, I have to say that the fin I tried was not nearly big enough for me, so that may affect my perception as well.

As a summary: I think they are a fine option and I've heard good things about the quality. Not a silver bullet, but it works. One thing I've been warned about is that they tend to make their footpockets really tight. I think the example was that a french guy had to order size 47 before it was comfortable for his size 42 foot, or something like that...So if you order, do agree that you can send it back if the size is wrong.

[demasoni]

I have a Bin Fin from Chen Bin and have been using it in the pool and the ocean. I got it from the old chen bin website and dealt directly with Chen, who was very friendly and helpful during the entire process.

I bought the fin because I wanted a higher performance mono as the only fins I tried prior were a Finis Competitor and a Leaderfins Freediving with wings. I heard only good things about the Bin Fin, so I took a leap of faith and bought one.

After talking with Chen, there weren't any models per se to choose from, all I said was that I was NOT a finswimmer and that this fin would be used for apnea in the pool and ocean. I provided my height and weight and my CWT PB at the time as requested, and about a month later, I got the fin. BTW, I had to pay Chen with bank transfer, which was kind of a hassle because my bank assumed that since I was dealing with a Chinese merchant, that it must be a scam of some kind. I paid $570.

The fin arrived in one piece in a handmade cardboard conglomeration of a slapped together box, kind of like make you own box out of cardboard.

My first impression after looking at the fin was that this fin was definitely handmade!!! The rubber on the Bin Fin I received looks nothing like smooth nicely contoured rubber like the ones on the website. Instead, it looks like it was made from car inner tubes! Seriously! Look my attached pics, you can see the blue stripe and the rubber ribs - like the rubber came off lawn mower tire inner tubes! HA! Another DB member I consulted prior to buying also has the same rubber construction with his (he has 2). However, it was very well put together considering...

Also, the fin is quite heavy - Chen put ALOT of rubber on this fin. According to my imprecise bathroom scale, it weighs about 8 lbs. I have held it next to a WW Glide and the Bin Fin fin is definitely shorter - the length is 68.5 cm from the end of the heel on the footpocket to tip of the blade and is 78 cm wide. I am 170 cm tall and weigh 145 lbs (66 kilos).

The blade itself seems to be fiberglass and quite thick. An interesting feature about it is that if you hold the blade up to a light source, you can see the tapered layers of the fin where it is thicker at the base of the blade and thinner towards the edge. The hand tapered blade design is supposed to be a trademark of a Bin Fin. As far as buoyancy, the fin is negatively buoyant. In the pool, as the fin is quite heavy, once you get the momentum of the finstroke going, inertia takes over and actually helps you out. There is an angle on the footpockets, I don't know how many degrees, but it's not as much as say a WW Glide. I found that additional angle was created by the SUPER tight footpockets that actually fold your feet to create an even greater angle.

Regarding sizing of the footpockets, this fin seems like it was originally designed for finswimmers. I had to send my fin back to Chen to enlarge the footpockets - which he did free of charge. So, definitely add two or three sizes to your normal shoe size when ordering one. The entire feel of the footpocket is one of unrelenting tightness, so tight that I need to put my feet in plastic bags in order to get them in the pockets - forget about wearing any kind of sock... Once inside, my feet and toes DO NOT move at all. This fit comes at a price as I can only wear the fin for about 15 min at a time - at least right now. So, I only use it for my target dive. The upper portion of the pocket is lined with neoprene and the bottom of the pockets slope upward, which is what I suspect creates the angle - in addition to the actual bending of your feet.

Performance wise, this fin is definitely better than the two previous fins I've tried. In the pool I save around 4-5 kicks per 50m. However, for me, this fin really seems to shine in constant weight. For some reason the added mass of this fin coupled with the short blade makes for a kick that is powerful and easy to turn over quickly. I feel that when I kick, I'm really going somewhere - especially when I'm negative coming up from depth (I have taken it to 70m and the ascent took 55 sec-arms down). I've included a pic that my buddy Kurt took that shows what the fin looks like in CWT when I tried it with arms up, but you get the picture.

If you have any reservations about this fin, feel free to e-mail Chen, he was great to deal with and was truly helpful.

BTW, included with the purchase of the mono was a Chen Bin monofin bag and a pair of neoprene half-socks. Also, when I sent the fin back to Chen to have the pockets enlarged, he sent me another monofin bag with the newly enlarged fin.

[Waterenthusiast]

Thanks demasoni,
somehow i hoped this fin would be a bit lighter than the typical andronov wing type Monofin. I have a leaderfin hyper and i love it, but i hope that someday a monofin with similar performance and a lot less weight will come out. Would there be any alternative to rubber with similar material properties and less weight, to create the wings?

Christophe

[miopalmo]

Hello
You have contributed good infomación.
I´m thinking about buying a Bin Fin to finswimming in long distances (more than 6 km) in open water. The objective is to achieve the best performance, but I have doubts on the pain and wounds that would be able to cause that model. I just have used leaderfins, waterway and mat-mas. Someone has antecedents, opinions, comments......?

Thanks
Andrés

[efattah]

I have monofins from mat-mas, finis, and a leaderfins hyper, chen bin fin, and I have used a waterway glide and also hyperfins.

Without any question, the hyperfins monos are the most comfortable BY FAR and the only ones (other than finis) that are suitable for long swimming and long usage.

The Leaderfins Hyper and Chen Bin are not comfortable. Their performance seems very similar. I think the chen bin has a slight advantage for sprinting and ascending under heavy negative buoyancy.

The waterway glide crushes my big toe so badly that I can't really use it. However it also performs very similarly to the leaderfins and the chen bin.

All these 'second generation' fins (hyperfins, leaderfins, waterway, chen bin) are much better than the older classic style fins.

Users of the hyperfins complain that the blade buckles and gull flexes way too much. Mullins says on hard ascends he gets a 90 degree gull flex (full fold). He is trying to follow the example of a world champion finswimmer who took a waterway glide blade and attached a hyperfins footpocket to it.

It is also possible (sometimes) to order a custom fin with a bigger angle.

[apneaboy]

Interesting you say the leaderfin Hyper and Chen Bin perform similar.

Is that for Constant weight? What about dynamic?.

If you could say i'm going to get two fins and want one perfect fin for deep constant weight and one for dynamic which would two would you go for Eric?

And anyone else obviously

[Jon]

Eric,

If you're not talking about the Leaderfin's HYPER, which company makes the one you like?

Can you give a little more info about those Finis footpockets? I like the blades, but have never used those pockets. I think they have a reputation for being more comfortable than the Watery.

Thanks,

Jon

[monkeyhatfork]

the finis pockets are very confortable, I can wear 5+ hours, no cramps. they are very stable because of how they sandwich around the blade-the rubber on the bottom of pockets is also very stiff, the blade is just a ww model 1, I just wish it had angle

[efattah]

With the waterway glide, leaderfins hyper, and chen bin, I can cover 25m dynamic apnea in 5 strokes (kick/glide).

But, like I said, they all suffer from comfort problems. If you consider that Stig did his world dynamic records with a hyperfin, and Mullins has done 109m with a hyperfin in CW, then clearly the hyperfin is very good, and also comfortable.

The finis footpocket is very comfortable, but not very efficient. However I have swam 10km in it before.

[Mullins]

I might try putting a WW blade into my Hyperfins pockets, but I'll try the WW Glide pockets first. I've asked them to make me a Glide fin with heaps of angle and hard rubber that won't compress so badly (like a leaderfins hyper freediving). They've assured me it won't fold like the hyperfin does. However it seems to have been lost in the post somewhere between the Ukraine and the Bahamas!!

[Fondueset]

Just subscribing - been looking at the Leaderfins Free Flyer. I know the Omer pockets are not terribly efficient - but my Waterway Nemo - Hard - is a comfort monster for recreational diving. I've done 6 hours with a 15 minute break in the middle. I wonder what more blade angle would be like.

[miopalmo]

Hi
I have visited Hyperfin´s page some time ago, I wrote to them, but I’ve never received any answer. What kind of way have you used to deal with them?

Andrés

[Stuart]

Unless you bump into them personally, it is virtually impossible to get in contact with Hyperfins. Leaderfins and Bin Fins are all very good at responding.