Salvimar 4One Footpocket Review

This review is aimed at competitive and recreational Freedivers (deep diving).

Some time ago I did some research to find the best footpockets for a pair of newly acquired carbon blades and although there are quite a few options available on the market, my search was finally narrowed down to two brands. Presently considered amongst many to be the best on the market, the two options were the Salvimar 4One footpocket and the Pathos Fireblade footpocket – which I discussed in a previous review.

 

 

As a full time Freedive Instructor and Freedive Photographer and Videographer I needed something which would be good as an all round footpocket even when doing deeper dives myself. I managed to get some very honest answers from a well known online dive store (from whom I eventually ordered the 4One’s) as they stocked both pairs at roughly the same price. Here is the original email concerning the Salvi 4One’s (the sender is Bulgarian, hence the poor English):

 

“Hey, Jacques…

 

The Salvi is a heavier but much more comfortable footpocket. It’s perfect for student dives at 30m as well as depths and deeper. It’s as soft as the fireblade if not softer. The angle is more or less the same and the pocket could be fitted to any blade.

 

Note that the groove on the ribs is wider (like on OMER). When mounting you glue a separate thin rib on the blade. After that you fit the Salvi with just few drops of glue. When you change the blade you can remove the footpocket without destroying it, which makes it reusable! And this is very important I believe!

 

my recommendation as of this moment is – Salvi, because:

– it’s good for dives to 30m.

– it’s more comfortable

– it’s reusable!

 

Regards”

 

 

As my blades were already drilled and I never used to be a fan of gluing blades into footpockets (that has changed), I settled on the slightly heavier Salvimar footpocket…

 

The Review:

 

I would never have guessed it but mounting the blades turned out to be a nightmare…the rails on my blades were not big enough (although they were the standard rubber profile attached to most blades) to fill the MASSIVE rail cavity in the ribs of the footpocket. The guys at the Dive store were not kidding, the groove was more like a canyon! Definitely much wider than the OMER footpockets and the ‘entry’ to the cavity measures 5mm with the actual rail section inside being almost double.

 

Note the massive gap for the rails. The entry point for the footpocket is so wide that it leads to potential ‘play’ whilst diving…

 

Having mounted a few blades before using Sikaflex (if memory serves me right 291 – marine grade ) as it is easy to disassemble if needed,  I opted to ‘glue’ the rails into the footpocket to make it fit snugly. The part of the footpocket where the ‘tongue’ of the blade enters the footpocket also needed A LOT of padding as the groove was as wide as the rib groove and the footpocket would have way to much ‘play’ while diving which would surely result in a break.

 Quite a large amount of play is visible at the point where the tongue of  a blade (blue) is inserted into the footpocket.

 

Sikaflex is nasty, nasty stuff…no matter how cleanly you try to work you usually end up with hands so black it looks like you strangled a roughneck on an oil rig…only difference is you can wash off oil, Sikaflex on the other hand can take days to remove (quick hint: forget soap…just wait for it to dry and spend your time picking it off). The curing time is also something ridiculous so I usually leave the glued and very well taped blades to stand for at least 3 days before even considering using them.

Sikaflex 291…messy

 

A very important note: If your blades are not secured in the footpocket, meaning the tongue of the blade which slides into the footpocket has too much room for movement (or ‘play’) especially at the point where they flex, the blade could potentially snap due to the stress caused by lack of support beyond the point of attachment.

 

SO

 

Finally I get to start using the blades in their newly fitted Salvimar 4One footpockets and here are the results:

 

At first I was very impressed with how comfortable they felt especially considering they were not the lightest footpockets I’ve ever worn. I tend to dive without socks and was very happy at how comfortably the footpockets fit. The only thing which initially caused me some discomfort was the two little ‘horns’ on the back of the pocket. I never got completely used to them but it might be due to the shape of my feet as I’m sure many other divers don’t feel them at all.

 

Pros:

 

• Quite light (although nowhere near as light as the Pathos Fireblade)

• Comfortable fit and quite soft

• Lots of reinforcement across the bridge of the foot to optimise power transfer into the blades

• VERY well finished (they look beautiful straight out the box with no apparent (keyword!) defects or blemishes

• Nice angle (as stated in the email) which is ideal for deeper dives – nice angle during freefall section of a deep dive.

 

Cons:

 

• The rib grooves are far too wide…actually ridiculously wide.

• ‘Horns’ on the heel seems to serve to practical function and causes discomfort when diving

• Worked well when not wearing socks (apart from the fact mentioned beforehand)

• The Ribs are too thick – This results in a reduction of the intended blade flex characteristics and performance as the thick ribs acts like struts and reduces the ability of the blade to flex the way it they were intended to by the manufacturer. With soft blades they essentially cause them to feel stiffer…(see the review for the Pathos footpockets for more information on this)

The VERY thick ribs of the Salvimar 4One compared to Pathos Fireblade. The wide ribs reduces performance of the blade dramatically and is enough reason for me not to invest in another pair of 4One’s.

 

And then…

 

After a month of use they started to become undone…literally!

Quite soon after I started using them I started feeling something irritating my foot and sticking my finger inside, all I could feel was a bump and some sort of ‘grassy substance’.

 

The threadlike substance which at first appeared to be a small defect until eventually it got worse…

 

Soon I started noticing something resembling a thread starting to appear on the outside of the footpocket (where no friction occurs) and with every dive it became more and more visible. I realised that the thread I was seeing on the outside was somehow connected to what it was I was feeling inside the footpocket.

 

For some or other reason the rubber compound of these footpockets contain some sort of threadlike substance – perhaps to increase strength?…who knows, but there seems to be no logical planning into how it is distributed. My first impression was that it was a piece of string that fell into the rubber mould (its that bad!) leading to a defect footpocket, until we started inspecting a new pair and found the same thing right underneath the surface of the rubber. The only problem is that there seems to be no logical assembly to these threads and this was later confirmed by comparing other pairs of brand new Salvi 4One’s, where when viewed closely a line shaped protrusion is clearly visible in certain areas of the footpocket (in particular around the bridge of the foot) and as mentioned before they never seem to be in the same place.

 

The original image I sent to the dealer to bring their attention to the problem…

 

I was very disappointed in the short time it took for the footpockets to start disintegrating to the point where it was too uncomfortable to dive without socks and it was clear that the largest of the threads would eventually lead to a tear right through the side of the footpocket. The first thing I did was to contact the seller for an exchange which ultimately led to my first pair of Pathos Fireblade Footpockets which was brought to me from Greece.

 

Searching the internet I have found very few reviews on the 4One’s as most people tend to discuss them quite vaguely  (talking about comfort and weight only). I hope this review will help future buyers to inspect their 4One’s closely before paying the ridiculously high prices they sell for or if you have already invested in a pair, to at least to check them closely for any defects. The more people bring this major defect to Salvimar’s attention the more likely they are to improve the quality of their product.

 

Final Thought

 

I would be very reluctant to recommend Salvimar’s 4One to anyone wanting to use them for deep diving and as my previous review of the Pathos Fibreblade has shown the Pathos footpocket is superior in both performance and quality. Given the fact that they are roughly in the same price range its really not that hard to pick one.