Two Greenough 4As hang on the wall. Same outline, same sizes, one greenish and a little heavier in the hand — and depending on the size, $10.00 to $14.50 apart. Prices are ours, taken 12 August 2026: at 9" it is the standard 4A at $100 against the Volan at $112.

So what is the difference, and is it worth twelve dollars?

The short answer

Yes, if the 4A is the fin you actually ride — your daily single fin, the one that lives in the board. Upgrade your go-to size and leave the rest of the quiver alone.

No, if you are still working out which size or template is yours. The standard 4A is the same outline and the right place to do that work. Nobody should buy the premium version of a fin they have not settled on.

One template, two panels

Start with what is the same, because it is most of the fin. True Ames opens both product pages with the identical paragraph: the 4-A "works extremely well on just about every type of surfboard," has been their "bread and butter for over 40 years," and "is still the most popular single fin design there is." One template. The premium buys a construction, not a shape.

What the construction changes, in their words — this is how True Ames describes its Volan range, the 4A included: the panels are "meticulously hand-laid and templated ensuring optimal weave orientation and superior strength, with flex coming more from the body rather than just the tip. This enhances speed and projection off the bottom and through turns."

Body is the operative word. A standard panel gives mostly at the tip; the Volan layup moves some of the bend down into the fin, so it loads through the whole curve of a turn rather than hinging at the end. If you have read our hull fin guide, this is the same tip-versus-body distinction that decides fins there — bought here for $10 to $14.50 instead of as a different template.

And Volan is not the floppy option. The same maker, explaining why another of its flex fins is built from it: "It would be far too flexy made of any other material, but with Volan it retains a stiff and powerful flex." The premium panel is the controlled one — it bends further down, returns harder, and that return is the projection their copy is naming.

The visible difference is the glass itself: the standard 4A comes in a shelf of colorways, the Volan in its one green-tinted weave, and it is heavier in the hand. Come by and hold the two — the weight is the panel, and the panel is what you are paying for.

The spec sheet you will be quoted does not exist

Ask around and you will hear numbers — panel thicknesses, flex ratings, which layup the template was "designed around." True Ames publishes none of it. Not a thickness, not a flex figure, for any fin in the catalog: across all 469 of their product pages, re-checked 12 August 2026, the number of numeric flex specs is zero. The maker's prose above is the entire published record of what the Volan panel does. Anyone quoting you more precision than that made it up — and that includes an older version of this page.

How to decide

The 4A is your fin and you know your size. Pay the premium once, on that size: 4A Volan — $112. The difference is not dramatic on the first wave; it is the load-and-return through every bottom turn for the life of the fin, and the fin outlives boards.

You are still finding your size, or the board is an occasional one. Standard 4A — $100. Same template, same sizes, and the one to experiment on. It is also the one to ride where the bottom is rock rather than sand — a dinged fin hurts less at the lower price.

You are not sure the 4A is your template at all. Neither construction settles that. The Greenough guide is the page that does.

The template question was settled forty years ago, by their account and by everyone still buying it. The only question the premium answers is how much of that fin you want to feel — and twelve dollars is the cheapest that question gets.

Sources

True Ames product pages, read 12 August 2026: https://www.trueames.com/products/greenough-4-a, https://www.trueames.com/products/greenough-4-a-volan. Prices from our catalog, 12 August 2026. Flex-figure count re-derived the same day; method and corpus on file.