See our video on How to Properly Fit a Mask. For most people, the problem in choosing a mask is deciding which one they like best rather than finding the right mask with the perfect fit for your face. Masks with a purge valve is a one-way valve built into the nose of a mask to facilitate clearing water from the mask.
It eliminates the need for a diver to look up when clearing his mask. While some divers love this feature, many feel it is unnecessary. Purge valves can make it more difficult pinch the nose during equalization.
They add an extra failure point to the mask, because if they break which is uncommon the whole mask will flood. A purge valve is an additional luxury or a unnecessary excess, depending upon your point of view.
Many folks love them. The store will not work correctly in the case when cookies are disabled. Scuba Mask Guide. September 27, Buying Guides. In the market to purchase a Scuba Mask? Check the diving mask for a proper seal to your face. Do not use the strap. Look up and take your hands away Inhale gently through your nose. If it fits, the mask will colapse onto your face and stay there without leaking and without continuous suction through your nose.
Choose from the ones that fit Features to look for: Enclosed nose - Your nose must be within the nose pocket so you can adjust for pressure changes. This is why swim goggles cannot be used for scuba diving. Tempered glass - Plastic fogs up and standard glass is hazardous if accidentally broken. Featthered, d ouble skirt - Makes a seal more reliable and comfortable Wide strap with touch buckle adjustment - Mask adjusts quickly, easily and stay adjusted during the dive.
Shaped Lens panel - for maximum viewing angle up and down and side to side. The lack of a thick rigid frame means frameless styles can be folded up very flat and easily stowed in a pocket as a 'backup' mask. Most people find that the traditional rigid frame designs offer the most stable and secure fit. Select a framed design if you are one of those rare individuals who have difficultly finding masks with a good fit. Single vs. Double Lens: Single lens styles will normally offer a somewhat less obstructed view compared to double lens styles because of the absence of the nose bridge.
However, single lens masks are typically heavier than double lens mask because there is simply more glass. Double lens styles are also usually lower volume than single lens designs. The extreme tear-drop lens shapes offer better 'look down' vision, but at the expense of increased volume. Low Volume vs. Snorkel: Divers should never use the typical 'snorkel mask' because it holds such a large air volume that it requires excessive effort to clear of water and as well as being wasteful of breathing gas.
There is no 'perfect' mask, but all the masks we offer are suitable for diving and have been carefully selected to be relatively low-volume designs with good field of vision. Some low volume masks we offer are very low volume and sit very close to the face, making them a poor choice of you have a large nose or facial hair.
Clear vs. Reflective Lenses: Some spearos will tell you that reflective lenses keep the fish from seeing your eyes. We're not fans of reflective lenses when diving, mainly just for safety reasons.
Your eyes are very telling and are one of the first things your buddy will look at when they think you might be in trouble. Reflective lenses keep a safety from recognising this important sign of hypoxia.
Frankly, the differences of frame and lens styles are very subtle in the high-quality masks offered by The Scuba Doctor. Choice is largely a matter of personal preference and your experience. Clear skirts on masks are popular because they minimise the claustrophobic feeling some people get when they wear a mask. Nevertheless, clear skirts and even coloured frames actually interfere with vision.
Extraneous light entering through the clear skirt makes it more difficult for the eye to focus and causes reflections that obscure vision. Demonstrate this by looking out a window from a lighted room at twilight. You will see better by cupping your hands around your eyes as you press your face to the window. Brightly coloured glossy accent frames can also cause annoying colour halos around the lenses.
For these reasons, knowledgeable divers seeking the best possible vision prefer masks with solid black skirts and frames. A good Freediving or Spearfishing mask will be very low-volume. As you dive down to depth the air in your mask compresses, which you need to equalise.
This means you'll need to blow air from your lungs into your mask, where you're not able to use that air to utilise the oxygen in it. It's best to keep as much air in your lungs as possible, which is most easily achieved by using a low-volume mask!
This will also reduce drag and will help with equalising your ears as well. Now that you know all the things to look for, you've got to actually find the snorkelling, scuba diving, freediving or spearfishing mask that's right for you. Here's a step-by-step method:. When choosing a mask, three sets of criteria are critically important: fit, fit and fit. As no two heads and faces are alike, proper mask fitting needs to be a careful undertaking. No matter what the price or aesthetic value of a mask, do not buy a mask if it does not fit correctly.
Bring your regulator and snorkel on your shopping trip because these can affect the mask's seal. A poor fit means not just an uncomfortable mask, but a mask that leaks, or presses uncomfortably on your face. Too many divers who completed Open Water training at a cracker jack course on vacation have not received basic pointers on how to test a dive mask for a good fit. Thus they buy a poor-fitting mask, and try to compensate by tightening the mask straps. Make sure the mask is comfortable — there's nothing worse than diving with a mask that digs into the bridge of your nose, eyebrows or upper lip.
If you are going to be wearing gloves underwater, check that your fingers still fit around the nose pocket for equalisation. Need help finding a well-made scuba diving mask that's perfect for you? Consider these features when shopping for your next window on the underwater world.
Read our step-by-step guide for getting a good mask fit while you're in the store. All mask skirts are made out of silicone, and these scuba-gear-manufacturer marketing terms are designed to tout the comfort of a particular mask. The thickness and suppleness of the silicone varies from mask to mask, and the only way for you to know if a mask skirt is going to be comfortable against your facial skin.
Some skirts mold to your face like a second skin, creating a comfortable, watertight seal. Others hurt your face, with stiff edges that dig into your skin.
Some manufacturers add different surface textures in the forehead and cheek areas to further increase comfort and improve the seal. Avoid masks that have plastic skirts, like those found in big-box stores. You may think the price is right, but your comfort will suffer. Clear skirts allow a lot of light in, creating an open and airy at-depth effect.
So, what should you get? Clear skirts can be a real plus for divers who feel claustrophobic or when you're diving in murky or green water.
However, when diving in bright tropical waters over a white sand bottom, all that reflective light streaming through a clear skirt can be blinding. Black skirts, while a bit more claustrophobic, are great at blocking this reflective light, which is why underwater photographers love them. And what about the rainbow of colors offered by mask manufacturers? That's purely a matter of personal preference.
What do manufacturers mean when they say a mask has a good field of view? Optimizing your field of view, both horizontally and vertically, is the primary goal of a good mask.
When you try on a different masks, you'll notice that they'll differ in how much you can see side-to-side and up and down, when you're looking straight ahead.
A good downward view is nice to have — after all, when underwater, you look down to find your gauges, buckles, D-rings, BC pockets and weight-ditch handles. Also, if you feel at all claustrophobic when trying on a dive mask, you may find selecting a mask with oversized lenses can help you feel less hemmed-in. Mask volume refers to the amount of air space inside the mask.
Like a clear skirt and expansive field of view, a high-volume mask can make it seem as if you're viewing the underwater world through a giant picture window think bay window vs porthole.
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