yet another swim critique please

You have a solid foundation from which to build. 

I would suggest not getting caught up in the details of what your arm looks like during recovery or even what you hand looks like on entry. Those things are the difference between :58 and :52 seconds per 100.  You are not quite there yet.  Even the cherished early vertical forearm is a somewhat advanced technique which is dependant on some fundamentals being in place first.

What looks best to me in your swimming is you have a fairly well formed 4 beat kick going on. 1 and 1,2,3... 1 and 1,2,3 .... It is somewhat properly synched to your upper body as well. In the first video you can see than one bigger kick with the left leg occuring as the left arm is finishing the pull. That is a very good thing.

The single biggest thing you can do to improve your catch, crossover, feel for the water and pulling in general would be to "lead with your head".  That is, after your breathe, get your head back in the water and facing down BEFORE you begin the next pull. This may put a slight hitch in your giddyup at first, but it should also give you a completely new sensation of what that after the breath stroke can do for you.

There are many details that any semi-competent observer can (and soon will) pick out of those videos and attempt to correct. And they will be mostly right. What they don't realize is that a properly timed kick combined with head lead swimming will address most of these issues.

I would like to hear your impressions of this one change if you decide to give it a shot. Best of luck with your season.

You should not feel like you are getting less air. You may feel like you get a more complete breath. Finish the breath, don't rush it. Let the hand wait for the head, don't make the head try to keep up with the hand.

For kick sets, just kick. There needs to be pulling going on to be able to define a kick as 2 beat, 4 beat, 6 beat anyway.

One other thing you can do is practice some "beat kicking" with a kickboard. That is 1,2, pause or 1,2,3, pause or 1,2,3,4, pause.  Make the pauses quick but noticeable. Pause in position, don't bring the legs together. Beat kicking is good because it will introduce your body to the idea that different kick rhythms indeed exist, while giving you practice at counting and being aware of the individual kicks.

Be advised before you begin that beat kicking is probably the all time slowest way to get from one end of the pool to the other, but highly useful down the road when you may want to alter the timing of different kick rhythms. It is another skill to be developed. A word in the physical vocabulary of swimming. Learn enough words and you will soon form your own sentences.

Fins are fine 50% of the time. For kick sets and most drills.

Thanks Adventure Bear.  Funny you mentioned those drills.  The last time I was at the pool I tried a few of those, (hard to remember all of them), just from reading your previous posts.  I do like the aspect of the visual information to lead to better awareness of what is going on.  I will work on them again, along with Dave's suggestion to get my head position better for the next level.

Pause....is that enough time for me to digest.  I am ready for more help when ever you are.  My type a/B personality likes to overload every now and then. 

Excellent, thanks for the tip, I will give it a try today.  Great video comparison!