WhisperFin Review Part 1

[Horton]

I have decided to break the Whisper Fin review into 2 distinct reviews. The first of which is using the fin as per the provided instructions and without calipers.

 

For a large demographic of the skiing population the Whisper Fin is an opportunity to set up a ski without calipers and without a thorough understanding of ski set up. That fact that I was able to set up my ski with nothing more than a tape measure impresses me a lot.

 

The initial set ups improved my on side turns and made my ski generally more forgiving. For 28 and 32 off passes the ski was less technically demanding than the stock fin with my settings. I think this is a testament to the methodology as well as the fin.

 

The tradeoff is that my off side turns were not as comfortable as with my stock fin and thoroughly massaged settings. During this phase of the review my 35s were not as technically sound as I would like. Again I only used a tape measure to get this far.

 

[Chef23]

It seems like most people that spend that kind of money on a fin would have calipers. It certainly would be nice if accuracy on measurements didn’t have to be to the thousandth of an inch.

[JAS]

Would you say that your stock fin settings are set to optimize performance @ 38 off?

[Horton]

@jas yes

[Horton]

So just to be clear about this. The fact that the settings I came to are not ideal for me at shorter ropes is not a negative statement about the products or methodology. I'm praising the product and methodology for the fact that I can get it as good as I got it without tools. I could probably get to a much better setting without using tools but I own the 5 calipers and I want to run short a rope so let's rock and roll.

[BraceMaker]

@Chef23 tell that to the guys who always had the new ski with the boots in the middle hole.

 

Many companies have had the etched lines on the fin like D3 does - I always supposed that quite a few people used those and didn't measure or why else would you bother printing on the fin.

[Ed_Johnson]

One of the reasons the etched lines are there is because after your fin is dialed in, you can view them before you ski to see if your fin has moved. They are a great reference point. If you don't have the etched lines, take a sharp pencil and scribe a line on the base and length of the fin, where it lines up with the ski. That's another way to be able to check for fin movement.

 

[Stevie Boy]

It will be interesting to see what the final conclusion is, maybe overhead video overlayed onto video with adjusted manufacturers fin.

[Horton]

@Stevie Boy I'm going to resist my temptation give you a panda only because I would love for somebody else to put in the amount of work to get you what you're asking for

[Stevie Boy]

@Horton I wasn,t really asking for it, it was something that went through my head, I once saw a overlay of Chris Parrish and Andy Mapple they were different but both came out of the 5 and 6 ball at the same time.

I found it interesting but perhaps I should keep it to myself in future, as I already have a collection of Pandas, I was trying to give them up.

[Swerve200]

@Horton Just put a GPS tracking device on your ankle. While you're at it, please track speed in addition to path! Even better if you can add in torque on the handle throughout the pass(s)!!