7 Factors When Buying A Scuba Mask

Hi guys welcome to Divers Ready! my name is James and today we're giving you seven factors to think about when buying your next scuba mask. So if you're a newly qualified open water scuba diver, welcome to the channel. please hit the subscribe button, this video is for you. If it's been a while maybe you're just coming back into the sport and you're looking to upgrade some of your gear and you're starting to think about buying a new mask. This video is for you. When I worked in dive retail it was one of the most common questions we get about any piece of gear. Which mass do you recommend? Which mask is right for me? What mask do you dive? And it's tough question to answer because everyone's face is different and it's such a personal piece of equipment. But without a doubt buying the right mask is a make-or-break decision as to whether you enjoy your dives or not. There is nothing more irritating when it dive than the constantly leaking mask. Actually you know what guys I've been in the office all morning so I think a field trips in order, follow me... I've come down to one of my favorite dive centers in Miami, Ocean Safaris and we're gonna go inside and check out their mask selection. So why buy your own mask? Two reasons specifically, number one you're gonna get a perfect fit. You get a perfect fit that means there's less chance you're gonna get leakage which is going to give you better confidence when you dive and just make for an all-round better experience and number two rental masks really do you want a mask that somebody else has been sneezing into? No, buy your own mask. So point number one, does the mask fit your face? Without a doubt this is the most important criteria. If the mask doesn't fit it doesn't matter about any of the other characteristics of the mask it's not right for you. So how do you fit a mask? Well the first thing to do is ignore the strap. What you want to do is make sure that the silicone skirt fits around your face. Hold it up to your face, position the nose cap, breathe in lightly through your nose. So I can't feel any air getting in from the side there and it feels like this good fit all the way around. That's step one done on that. Step two for fitting the mask is once you've got it in that position, you want to make sure that it's not touching the nose or applying any pressure to the eyebrows or to the sinuses here . In that case once you go diving and the pressure increases that's gonna get worse it's going to lead to headaches. Once you've got the mask positioned on your face there make sure that there's enough silicone all the way around the sides here and under the nose on the lip part here. If you have not enough silicone on the sides if it comes too close to where your eye socket cuts in or if you don't have enough silicone below your nose those are the points at which the mask can leak. Number two is lenses, the main decision when picking what lens you want for your mask is do you want a mask with a single lens or would you prefer a mask with two separate lenses. Two lenses sit closer to the eye which means you get more peripheral vision below you which is great for looking at other gages. A single lens allows more light to come through it. The more money you spend on a mask the better quality glass you're going to get and by better quality I mean less impurities and that means that the colors that you see underwater are going to be truer. In any case the minimum standard is that the glass should be tempered and it should be marked as such. Tempered just means that they've added a lot more silicate to the glass blend so that if the frame were to break it's not going to shatter into shards especially so close to your eye. It will actually crumble. In addition to that you can find masks these days that have mirrored coating that make you look like maverick from Top Gun when you surface. You can also find ones that have a yellow or purple tint that are going to change the colors as you see them under water add the red back in. You can also find masks that have UV filters so that again when you surface your you know your eyes are protected in the same way that sunglasses would work for you. All those things are optional extras that are really down to your personal preference. Point number three, mask volume. This really depends on the type of diving that you're going to be doing. But first what do I mean by volume, volume is the size of the bubble of air that is trapped between the lens, the skirt and your face. Iin other words, how volumous is that space. So when a mask is has like a normal volume to it it means that the lens is going to be a little bit further away from your face than a low volume mask. Obviously, the bigger the bubble is there if your mask does flood the more that you have to clear and also the greater the amount of air in there obviously is the deeper you descend and the pressure increases the more you have to equalize. Something like my buddy Bob here is wearing will be considered a low profile mask. If I just show you that from the side you can see how close the mask sits to Bob's face. So the skirt is molded to sit very very close into the face and the actual lenses well, they're almost touching his eyebrows they're up on top. So the bubble of air that's trapped inside that mask is going to be considerably smaller. Free divers especially prefer low volume masks because the only air they have to equalize that mask space they're carrying down with them in their lungs. So that's a very important factor if you're doing a lot of free diving. Point number four, is to frame or not to frame. A lot of modern masks these days have dispensed with the frame. What do I mean by the frame? Well the frame is the plastic part that holds the lens to the skirt and acts kind of like a clamp. The trouble with these is as you can see from the different colors they're made of lots of different components and the more different components you have the more failure points you're adding to the mask. So this would be an example of a frameless mask, the main body of the mask is only made of two components. You've got silicon skirt and the tempered glass lens, and the silicon is actually molded around the lens. I also like the fact that if you don't have a frame there's less failure points. So factor number five, what color skirt do you want on your mask? Now by color, I mean you've really got two choices do you want clear skirt or do you want a dark non transparent skirt. Reason this is important, a clear skirt will allow light to come in from the side which some people say alleviates claustrophobia. Gives you more of a sort of wide open feeling. I personally prefer a dark silicone mask, I find that it cuts out that peripheral light which allows me to focus on what I'm looking at. I think you'll actually find most photographers and videographers prefer a dark skirt a mask. Regardless the skirt is an important choice you want one that's soft and supple and it's generally where your money goes when buying a mask. The more money you spend on a mask you can expect to have a higher grade of silicone most of the producers of masks have their own proprietary blend. You're looking for softness, if it's got a double skirt such as this one has, which means that the part that's in contact with your face is wider, that's brilliant because it means it's going to give you a better fit. Number six. Straps. Silicone mask strap. Nylon velcro mask strap. Silicone mask strap. Ladies I know what you're thinking, hair tangles, I get it, but what you can buy is the neoprene strap cover that's going to cut all of that kind of tangling out. The trouble with the nylon and velcro straps is nylon expands when it gets wet. Anyone who's ever worn a weight belt knows that. You get the mask sufficiently tight when you're on the boat and then when you're in the water the nylon is going to expand and your mask will loosen. That doesn't happen with silicone straps always silicone straps. Factor number seven. When buying a scuba mask beware of gadgetry. What I mean by gadgetry? Unnecessary side lenses. You can't see out of that side lens. Put the mask on try it. You can't see out. Does it let more light in yes, but the chances are it's actually going to create glare inside the mask and you're also adding failure points along the edge there. So I don't care for things like that again it's adding to the price but it's not adding to the quality of the mask. The little hinged buckles here, yes they provide some kind of comfort, but ultimately again you're adding a failing point. You're adding a failure point. And it's just more ways that your mask and break and they're gonna add 10, 20 dollars to the price of this mask because it's got this little hinged buckle. But really it's not necessary a good mask with a solid buckle is gonna be perfectly adequate and perfectly comfortable. Every dive shop needs a dog as cool as Mia. So ladies and gentleman I hope that demystified some of the factors you should think about when buying your next scuba mask. I'm gonna head back to the office so I'll see you there. Okay ladies and gentlemen that's all for this week. Thank you so much for watching. It would really help us out if you would make your next die with your index finger right on that subscribe button, that would mean the world to us. Feel free to click the bell, which will give you notifications whenever we drop a new video and please let us know in the comments below did this video help you what mask and you decide to buy what videos would you like to see in the future. Until next time, I'm James, thanks again for joining us. Dive safe. Dive often.

Channel: Divers Ready

Views: 51,990

Keywords: james blackman, scuba diver, diving, dive gear, dive equipment, padi, open water, scubadiver, scubadiving, diver advice, new diver, girls that scuba, scuba gear, scuba review, diving hints & tips, dive master, dive mask, fitting a mask, scuba diving mask, diver mask, mask, scuba mask full face, best scuba mask 2019, navy seal dive mask, scuba mask, best scuba mask, dive mask amazon, cressi dive mask, scuba mask with purge valve, polarized dive mask, florida state, fsu

Id: ZpNq_mf0hRw

Length: 10min 10sec (610 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 25 2019