Lunocet 2014 monofin on Sale!!

[spottedcatfish]

Check this out!! the 2014 Lunocet is now on sale for the next three days, instead of the regular price of $599 it's on sale for $299 for the next three days (till sunday the 22nd) !! omg!! It was on sale for $400, but I'm glad he lowered the price. I really want one!

http://caw-designs.com/?page_id=460

(http://caw-designs.com/?page_id=460)http://caw-designs.com/?product=lunocet-gift-card

[Mermaid Tula]

Maaaaaaaaaaaan I wish I had 300$ on hand!

[Seatan]

Man, if I lived ANYWHERE near an ocean, I would so get one, LOL. Darn my land locked life!

[spottedcatfish]

Thay can be used in a pool too. or a river. Basically any body of water that you can swim in.

[Seatan]

Yeah, but I don't know that I would get the full joy out of it--the lakes in Central Texas have mud bottoms and you cannot see ANYTHING if you swim beneath the surface, and a pool just wouldn't be big enough to be worth the money. I do wish I lived near nicer bodies of water!

[MerMel]

hmm... anyone have one of these in their tails?

and SeaVanna, what about Dripping Springs north of San Antonio

[MerEmma]

WOW! Incredible. I REALLY hope someone grabs one!

[Anahita]

Can you use it without the cycling shoes? Those are my only issue with this monofin (both for a tail and on its own... idk, I don't like the idea of cycling shoes in the water, and especially not in a tail - seems like it could cause a lot of problems)

[spottedcatfish]

Can you use it without the cycling shoes? Those are my only issue with this monofin (both for a tail and on its own... idk, I don't like the idea of cycling shoes in the water, and especially not in a tail - seems like it could cause a lot of problems)

That's the idea. The fin is i guess interchangeable, can be used by those who have cycling shoes, and the cycling shoes are to provide an exact fit. For this reason alone i don't see this being used in a tail, it also requires a different kind of swimming technique than one which is used with a monofin. These style of fins are relatively new on the market, but they are aimed at freedivers and for use with scuba divers to give more propulsion in the water rather than using bi-fins. It's an interesting type of fin.

[Echidna]

The shoes are also my gripe with this fin.
I already dislike wearing neoprene socks in water, cannot imagine how uncomfortable cycling shoes would be :<


it also requires a different kind of swimming technique than one which is used with a monofin.
From their description, I didn't gather this.
Whales and dolphins, who have lunar shaped fins, use the dolphin-kick movement too after all?

Anyway, if someone has such a fin, please do tell how it swims, and how it differs propulsion-wise from regular monofins!

[spottedcatfish]

You still use a dolphin kick to swim with it but the fin moves through the water differently than a traditional monofin does. With a monofin there's propulsion and drag with every down-kick you do, with the lunocet because it's sort of a suspended fin, you also have an up-kick which propels you, but it requires more of your body to move around rather than just your legs. I think there's a lot less drag too, it just takes less power to kick as the fin is more hydrodynamic.

[Echidna]

Sounds great!

Now if only the shoes weren't involved :P

[spottedcatfish]

I think the whole reason for the shoes is that the maker needed something more sturdy to mount the fin on and something that would hold your feet in place.

[MerMel]

ok yea, instead of cycling shoes, I'd rather have on water shoes like my Skele-toes or five-fingers. and from what i read about the design, it sounds like your ankles become another knee, and your feet become the ankles. the ultimate goal is being able to swim more as a real dolphin, which reminds me of this guy's project http://www.wind-water.nl/dolph_0.htm
16474

[Azurin Luna]

The latest one does look very nice, but to place it in a tail would be difficult I think. Mainly because the rapit change of feet to a small base were the fins are connected. Maybe if there was more lenght between the feet and the fins it would be easier to make a gradual change between the two. Also you can't cover the fins as it would destroy the efficiency of the fins.

Just my 2 cents

[Seatan]

hmm... anyone have one of these in their tails?

and SeaVanna, what about Dripping Springs north of San Antonio

San Antonio is about four and a half hours away from me. The downside of living in Texas is it is so HUGE that even IN the Dallas/Ft Worth Metroplex it takes two hours to get from the far West side of DFW to the far East. Possum Kingdom lake is relatively clear with a visibility of maybe ten feet as opposed to one foot (it is pretty much the only lake that is clear in DFW that wasn't built specifically for SCUBA divers--and those lakes are more like large ponds), but it is an hour and a half away from me, so I don't go much. Especially since I have a lake cabin on a lake called Palo Pinto (yet another "black" water lake with one foot or less visibility.) There just aren't many clear lakes in Central Texas, or in Texas at all, really. Lake Travis in Austin is the next closest (three hours), but it's still not very clear.

[spottedcatfish]

I still want to see some more reviews before I decide to get one though. However I will be saving up for an ocean swimming monofin/ bi-fins as I for-see a need for them in the future. Also a recreational (pool only) monofin, as I miss my foil which is now permanently in my tail. Nothing wrong with that, but I miss just having a regular monofin to swim around in too. The speed and propulsion was amazing on it's own.

[Azurin Luna]

Here is a review I found about the lunocet 2014 http://www.deeperblue.com/review-2014-lunocet-monofin-part-1/
He writes that there will be a part 2, but I couldn't find it yet. It does look promissing though, but how to get it nicely in a mertail, I dunno

[Echidna]

I wouldn't use it in a tail most likely.
All commercial monofins are designed to be used without covering, and I feel the loss of propulsion rather acutely when I put them in a tail :/
That said, after reading the finomenal review, while I'd love to get one, I can't get over the shoe part.
It feels just wrong to take shoes into a pool (also I don't have cycling shoes :rolleyes:), let's hope people doing so don't use said shoes outside :p

[spottedcatfish]

Here is a review I found about the lunocet 2014 http://www.deeperblue.com/review-2014-lunocet-monofin-part-1/
He writes that there will be a part 2, but I couldn't find it yet. It does look promissing though, but how to get it nicely in a mertail, I dunno

Thanks for that direct link Azurin Luna! I can't wait to read part two of this review, once it's posted.

[Azurin Luna]

No problem :)

I think it might work with a kinda sleeve tail, were the fins stay exposed to the water. I made my first tail that way and it worked very nicely. The only problem would be the shoes, they make a weird shape when covered with fabric, I guess

[AptaMer]

Hmm. I wonder if you could get some bicycle shoe mounts and mold your own "foot pods" with a shape that would look really natural inside a tail?

[Anahita]

Hmm. I wonder if you could get some bicycle shoe mounts and mold your own "foot pods" with a shape that would look really natural inside a tail?

That's a really good idea! I wonder if/how easily that can be done.

[Soulstrifer]

The Lunocet requires you to use your core. It's a complete undulation motion from the tips of your fingers all the way back. I've noticed a lot of people cheat with regular fins. The surface area of them allows you to simply use hip and knee to propel yourself forward. That doesn't work with the Lunocet. I have one of the first ones they came out with and I've replaced my blade so many times it's not funny. I was an experienced monofinner due to swim training for the swim team in high school a properly demonstrated dolphin kick will work with the Lunocet ... it originates from your core and involves only a slight bend of the knees.

[topsider]

Anyway, if someone has such a fin, please do tell how it swims, and how it differs propulsion-wise from regular monofins!

I purchased one of these in November; it wasn't delivered until mid-January so I was a little upset when the Christmas sale occurred and I hadn't yet received mine. (It was in the search to see if any other paying customers had received one yet that I found this thread and was introduced to mernetwork).

The only monofins I had used before the Lunocet were all Finis Rapid (two black, one yellow). I had a difficult time swimming with the Rapid because the up and down strokes produced vastly different thrust and the foot pockets seemed to flex so much that a lot of my energy was wasted. I often opted to do a dolphin kick with a pair of stereo fins because they seemed to work much better.

I sold off two good Rapids and gave away a partially broken one last fall (likely to someone in this group though I didn't know it existed at the time) and used the funds to go towards a Lunocet when the new model came out. I've got to say, it's a night and day difference. The Lunocet gives good even thrust in the up and down strokes. It seems to be very adaptable. If I want to swim lazily on the surface, face up or on my side, a very light undulation will propel me quickly and with little effort. If I want to go for speed, I duck under the surface and go into a full dolphin kick. Yes, the stroke is different than the knee bend and pump that I seem to see for those in tails, but for someone who is used to doing a dolphin kick with or without fins, it is a seamless transition.

The first time out of the gate, on the lightest tension settings, I crossed a 25 yard pool in under 15 seconds, it may not be an impressive time, but it's the fastest I've been underwater (by comparison, the same distance doing the crawl takes me 30 seconds). There is a distinct difference in force between light and stiff settings. I found the stiffest setting enticing as I could accelerate much faster, but it requires more core and leg strength than I have right now.

If I had interest and time to put into making a tail, I would find a way to adapt the Lunocet rather than going with a traditional monofin. It is a rather mechanical device, the frame being machined out of aluminum, and the shoes (purchased separately) bolted to the frame. Someone with a little ingenuity could adapt it for use with a tail and make their own foot pockets (or other attaching means) that bolt or are molded to the frame rather than using the bulky shoes. That being said, the cycling shoes do give you a very tight connection to the fin. Also, if you want to keep the performance, you'd probably need to leave the flukes bare; being made of a flexible black rubber (I don't know what type), they may not take paint well, and there probably isn't much that will adhere to them.

FYI, Ted Ciamillo has recently announced a second "pro" version with a larger fluke that is going into production now and selling for less than the original 2014 model (grrr!) http://caw-designs.com/?page_id=1250

[green52]

I came here to ask if anyone had used a lunocet. Can you tell me any more? How does it affect your speed and endurance?

[topsider]

I came here to ask if anyone had used a lunocet. Can you tell me any more? How does it affect your speed and endurance?

I can swim at a higher speed with less effort with the Lunocet than I could with the Rapid monofins I owned previously. As a result, I can swim longer. The stiff bottom of the cycling shoes, as well as buying a properly fitting pair, gives a tighter connection to the fin than you'd get from molded rubber foot pockets on other fins, transmitting more of your swimming effort to the fin. I've found that on the easiest tension setting I can lazily dolphin kick my way across a pool or sprint at a higher speed than I could with a Rapid monofin. I need much more conditioning before I can use it on the higher settings for continuous swimming, but for a short burst, I can get a much higher speed. It does require a standard dolphin kick, with an undulating motion, rather than kicking from the knees.

From an exercise standpoint, what I like the most about the Lunocet is that it has an even up and down stroke making surface swimming much easier, especially on my side or back. Surface swimming ability allows me to swim underwater for one pool length, and "rest" as I swim back on the surface, then repeat. With my old monofin, I'd swim underwater, then have to rest standing on one side of the pool, then swim back underwater. I never found a comfortable way to surface swim with the Rapid.

While I don't have a tail, if I did try to make one, I'd find a way to adapt the Lunocet. With some ingenuity you could probably hide the shoes by modifying them, building up some bulk around them, or even making your own foot pockets and bolt or mold them to the Lunocet frame. Also I'd find a way to transition from the tail to the black rubber fluke rather than trying to cover the fin as any covering would likely degrade the performance.

As a side note, one of the things I like about the Lunocet is the ability to take the fins off and fit it into my normal mesh swim bag.

[merman108]

Anyone have a lunocet pro monofin they'd like to sell? Particularly looking for the 2015+ pro model, but would be interested in any.