Eight years ago I shot a gear review of the Deep Six Eddy fins (Flippers) on my YouTube channel. I had 20 dives. I was diving out of the UAE, coming off an atomic aquatics split fin, and I was already convinced these were the best fins I'd ever put on my feet.
I wasn't wrong. I just didn't know yet how right I was.
Today I'm a RAID Tech Trimix Sidemount Instructor. I've logged thousands of dives since that video — caves, wrecks, open water technical work, student evaluations, sidemount configurations with deco bottles — and the Deep Six Eddy is still on my feet. It is the only fin I will ever use again. That's not hyperbole. That's eight years of evidence.
Here's the updated review.
What I Said Then
In the original video, I was a new diver trying to articulate why I'd moved away from split fins. The core observations were solid even if my experience was limited: the foot pocket fit like nothing else on the market, the frog kick was natural and powerful, the spring steel strap was included at a price point that made no sense for how good the product was, and Chris at Deep Six was genuinely engaged with helping me get the right fit remotely.
The minor complaints I had — needing to check the spring strap screws occasionally, the foot pocket draining slowly if you held the fin flat — are still technically true. They're also still irrelevant. I mentioned them to be fair. Eight years later I'd barely bother.
What Changed: Everything Else About My Diving
The real update isn't about the fin. The fin is the fin. The update is what I now ask of it.
When I was doing that original review I was frog kicking recreational depths in warm water. Now I'm running sidemount configuration with dual cylinders, doing back kicks to hold position in current, helicopter turns in confined spaces, modified flutter for debris-sensitive environments, and teaching students to do the same. The Eddy handles all of it.
The Foot Pocket Is Still the Standard
I've tried other fins over the years, not because I was unhappy, but because instructors get handed things to try and you stay curious. Every time, I came back to the same conclusion: nobody else has figured out the foot pocket the way Deep Six has. Most fins are designed around a generic mold. The Eddy is designed around an actual human foot, rounded where your foot is rounded, supportive where you need support. After a full day of diving, your feet aren't fighting the equipment. That matters more at depth, on longer dives, and when you're focused on your students rather than your fins.
The Frog Kick Is Effortless
For sidemount and technical diving, the frog kick isn't optional, it's foundational. A fin that fights your frog kick costs you gas, costs you trim, and costs you precision. The Eddy's blade stiffness is tuned exactly right: enough flex at the tip to load the stroke, enough rigidity through the center blade to release power efficiently and boy do you get power! After eight years I don't think about my kick anymore. That's the goal.
Back Kick and Helicopter: No Compromises
This is where fins get separated into two categories: fins that work for recreational diving, and fins that work for technical diving. The Eddy back kicks cleanly. The blade doesn't fold, doesn't cavitate, doesn't give you that mushy, ineffective drag that some softer fins produce in reverse. When I need to hold position against current or back out of a confined space without disturbing silt, the Eddy does exactly what I ask it to do.
Durability
The original pair I reviewed eventually retired, not because they got worn out but because I left them behind when I moved back to the U.S. during COVID. But I picked up a new pair and have been diving the heck out of them in South Florida, Bali and now in Florida cave country. The blade material holds up, the foot pocket doesn't degrade the way softer rubbers tend to, and the spring steel strap has never given me a real problem beyond the occasional screw check I mentioned back in 2018. I did add some Loctite to them to mitigate the regular checking of the screw.
The Price Point Is Still Absurd in the Best Way
When I reviewed these originally they were $110 a pair. Pricing shifts over time and they are now $229..95 from Deep 6 directly, but the value proposition has always been the same: you are getting a technically capable, instructor-grade fin at a price that should make the competition uncomfortable.
I've seen divers spend more on fins that don't frog kick as well, don't fit as well, and don't hold up as well. The Deep Six Eddy has never once made me wish I'd spent more money.
Who These Fins Are For
When I made the original video I positioned these as a great choice for newer divers on a budget who wanted to grow into technical diving. That framing was correct but undersold the fin. Let me be more direct now:
These fins are appropriate for any level of diver. Recreational divers will appreciate the comfort and ease of the frog kick. Sidemount divers will appreciate the trim neutrality and back kick. Cave and wreck divers will appreciate the precision. Technical divers will appreciate all of the above plus the durability under sustained use.
The only diver these fins might not suit is someone doing extremely long surface swims with no option to descend, the blade stiffness that makes the frog kick so effective is less forgiving for a full flutter kick on the surface over distance. I mentioned this in the original video and it remains true. For the diving I do, it has never once been an issue.
The Bottom Line
Eight years ago I had 20 dives and a strong hunch. Now I have the dives to back it up, a few thousand in fact.
The Deep Six Eddy is the best fin I have ever used. It is the fin I teach in, the fin I cave dive in, the fin I recommend to every student or new instructor who asks me what to buy. I have no plans to change that.
If you want to see where I started with these, the original video review is still up on my YouTube channel. It's a good time capsule; same fin, very different diver.
Some things don't need to be upgraded. You just need more dives to appreciate them.
Note:
Deep 6 now offers a heavy version of these fins in a very cool dark grey with an orange pull tab for those diving in aluminum cylinders and drysuits. Also, to be totally transparent, I am now the Deep 6 Brand and Customer Experience Manager. However this does not influence my review in anyway. I actually accepted the position because of how strongly I believe in this product as well as the Signature regs that I use. If you know me, you would know I have a strong moral compass and refuse to recommend gear that I do not fully believe in.