by
Olivier Poirier-Leroy
The Sporti Floating Fins are a budget-friendly long blade fin perfect for competitive and recreational swimming. Here’s our in-the-pool review of how they perform in the water.
Affordable, comfortable, and built for swim training, the Sporti Floating Fins are the best option for swimmers looking for a long blade fin for swimming.
Designed with a long blade that helps swimmers remain buoyant and horizontal at the surface of the water, these fins are a great option for swimmers looking to build leg strength and a more powerful kick on a budget.
In this review, I am going to share my experience swimming with these bad boys, offer some key pros and cons, list some competitors, and help you figure out if they are right for you.
Water’s warm—let’s jump on in!
Here is quick run-down of the most important features of the Sporti Floating Fins:
Next, we will look at how these swim fins perform in the pool and demonstrate how they can help swimmers improve specific aspects of their kick and by extension, their swimming.
Here are the things that really stood out for me with the Sporti Floating Fins:
The Sporti Floating Fins are just over $20 for a set, which makes them a bargain for swim training fins. Compared to other swim fins, which can retail as high as $95 in some cases, these are priced to win.
Swimming is an odd sport in the sense that it looks very inexpensive. Add goggles, a swimsuit, and a pool, and off you go. But the mesh gear bag fills quickly with all the different types of gear and aids, including training fins.
The Sporti Floating Fins are the best budget-friendly long blade fin for swimmers, and that $20 price point is tough to beat.
Swim fins tend to come in either rubber (as is the case with the Sporti Floating Fins) or silicone (as is the case with more high-performance oriented short blade fins like the DMC Elite Max and Arena Powerfin Pro II).
Both have their respective advantages, with the rubber fins on the inexpensive side. The lower price point can sometimes mean you are getting uncomfortable, stiff rubber fins that don’t flex or have any give (like the original Zoomers, which was like kicking with cement boots on).
Not the case with the Sporti Floating Fins.
The rubber is soft enough that a proper fit won’t result in blisters or painful chafing, particularly when kicking at high speeds and your feet are creating a lot of torque against the fins.
The long blade design is a good choice for swimmers looking for this type of fin (there are many benefits to a short blade fins, too).
The Sporti Floating fins are more lightweight compared to other training fins that are made of silicone, so this makes them a good choice for beginner and developing swimmers who don’t like the added weight of short blade fins (which, ironically, even though they are shorter tend to weigh more).
It’s also a versatile training fin for experienced competitive swimmers who prefer the large blade as it gives more buoyancy and added “oomph” with each downbeat of the kick.
If you were paying attention, you noticed that the Sporti Floating Fins, well, float! This matters for two reasons.
First, the added buoyancy means swimmers will retain better body position when swimming. The fins act as a cork, in some sense, helping the hips and legs stay high when swimming up and down the pool.
This is handy for swimmers who are naturally dense and struggle with hydrodynamic body position when swimming.
And second, this means if you push off powerfully, and a fin falls off, as they are prone to doing on occasion, when you circle-back to fish it out of the water it won’t be sinking like a rock to the bottom of the pool.
Long blade swim training fins help to strengthen the legs because they force swimmers to displace more water with each beat of the kick.
Not only do swimmers “feel” more work on the down beat of the kick, but also on the upkick, a phase of the kicking motion (both in freestyle and dolphin kicking) that is almost criminally underused.
A strong upkick helps swimmers to retain some of the vortices created when kicking through the water, and a long blade fin can help swimmers build the endurance to recapture vortices and use them for increased propulsion.
Fit is everything when choosing a set of swim fins. Too small, and your feet get lashed with blisters. Too loose, and it feels like you are swimming inside the foot pocket of the fins.
Short blade fins are superior for mimicking your normal kick tempo, while long blade fins are better suited for building general leg endurance.
While a solid choice, there are some drawbacks to the Sporti fins. They include:
As mentioned in the Pros section, the long blade on the Sporti Floating Fins is great for building general leg and kick endurance. When it comes to higher kick tempos—like when you are sprinting—not so great.
Among the many effects of swim fins on technique and swim performance, the large blade means it takes a while to get up to maximum velocity when sprinting with them. Hardcore sprinters will want to opt for shorter blade fins that allows them to train at more relevant tempos and speeds.
While my set of Sporti Floating Fins didn’t crack, there are a few rumblings about durability in the other reviews I’ve seen online about them. This is part of the deal with cheaper fins, however.
Rubber fins are more prone to cracking and splitting with aggressive use compared to silicone short blade fins. It will be up to you to decide whether the lower price point makes the shortened lifespan of the fins worthwhile.
The Sporti Floating Fins has a very, some would say almost exact competitor in the FINIS Floating Fins. The design is the same. Colors are the same. Materials are the same. To the point that I suspect that they are made in the same factory overseas.
See also: 7 Best Training Fins for Competitive Swimmers
The main difference being the price, with the Sporti fins $5-20 less expensive depending on the size you choose.
Other training fins that are similar include the Sporti Essential Training Swim Fins, Dolfin Swim Fins, Speedo Long Blade Fin, and the TYR CrossBlade Training Swim Fins 2.0.
Sporti Essential Training Swim Fins are a short blade version of the floating fins for swimmers who are looking to progress to a budget-friendly short blade fin without paying the premium prices of DMC, Arena, or TYR fins.
The Sporti Floating Fins are an excellent pair of fins for swimmers looking for an affordable and effective training tool for building stronger legs in the pool.
The large blade gives swimmers lots of buoyancy, improving technique and body position when swimming.
Ideal for beginner to novice swimmers, the fins are budget-friendly and surprisingly comfortable.
Get yourself a set, power up your legs, and happy swimming!
5 Swim Workouts and Sets with Fins. Looking for some sets and workouts that are fin-centric? Here are some guided sets for a stronger kick and faster swimming.
Olivier Poirier-Leroy Olivier Poirier-Leroy is the founder of YourSwimLog.com. He is an author, former national level swimmer, two-time Olympic Trials qualifier, and swim coach.
✅ Free shipping on Orders over $49
✅ Price Match Guarantee
✅ Best selection of gear for training and competition
✅ Fast and Easy Returns
“This is the best book I have ever seen concerning mental training.” — Ray Benecki, Head Coach, The FISH Swim Team
Swim fins are one of swimmers’ weapons for faster swimming. Here’s how to use them smartly for improving technique, power, and speed.
In the market for a new swim bag? The Speedo Teamster 2.0 carries on the tradition of the original along with some snazzy new features in this review.
Learn how to properly use swim paddles for speed, strength and technique in the water while avoiding common paddle mistakes. Swim on! Swim paddles are one of the most popular tools that swimmers use to go faster, get stronger, and build better and more efficient technique. They are also a
Looking to add the FINIS Swimmers Snorkel to your training stack but aren’t sure? Here’s how it performs in the water and compares to other swim snorkels.
The DMC Max Elite Swim Fins are a high-performance swim training fin for competitive swimmers. Here’s my hands-on review of these comfortable and lightning-fast fins.
The kickboard is one of the most common swim tools on the pool deck. Here are seven ways to get the most of the old school kickboard for improved swim workouts and faster swimming.
