Do you have spare/trashed Sphera lenses/masks

[wes]

I have a sphera mask with the lenses popping out more and more and finally one is lost at the bottom of the pool. I have heard that for some reason this happens yet no ones knows why.

I would like to experiment with gluing in the sphera lenses with black silicone so they stay for sure and the masks last longer. The only thing is I hate to try this on new masks, especially as they are not now being made. So if anyone has spare or trashed lenses or sphera masks without lenses maybe send them to me and I will post my results to see what can work for others.

You can send to my company address:

Wes Lapp
Real Carbon Inc
405 Columbia St
Hood River OR 97031

Thanks - Wes Lapp

 

[demasoni]

Wes,

Sphera lenses have popped out on me numerous times as well. I will send you two Spheras with lenses popped back in and/or just worn out in some way.

I found that once I popped the lenses back in, the masks just weren't the same, and the lenses were prone to popping out in the future. It's like slippers - once the toe strap of the slipper pops out the of the foam sole, they never are quite the same, no matter how many times you shove the toe strap through the hole and back in the sole. Therefore, you just end up buying new slippers and try not to trip as much.

I jumped off a boat into the ocean with a Sphera in my hand and the lens popped out - twice. Both times it was a five foot fall. Another time I sat on a Sphera in a kayak. There were also times where the Sphera magically appeared without its lens(es) or with a partially dislocated lens.

It is because of this unreliability that I have made the switch to the Aqua Lung Micromask for most of my diving, but I still use the Sphera once in a while.

I'll ship the masks on Monday. Good luck with your project - why are they no longer produced?

 

[wes]

Demasoni,

That's great, thanks for your post and I look forward to playing around with the sphera masks/lenses. I will try gluing the lenses in putting glue in the slots of the mask then inserting the lenses (while trying not to make a huge mess of them) and also try and glue the lenses in after they are in to more secure them. Hopefully this will keep the lenses from popping out over time. I will post results as this could be very useful in keeping sphera masks lasting longer.

I don't know why sphera is discontinuing the mask. I assume it is from low worldwide sales. I have talked to many shop owners who have talked to sphera reps begging them to continue produciton. Sphera appears to be unaware/unconcerned that the masks are so popular with freedivers and that dozens, maybe more of world records have been set with them (many of Martin Stepanek's records have been set with the sphera).

Cheers Wes

 

[efattah]

I also was considering gluing my sphera lenses in with a special silicone hybrid adhesive that is ultra flexible (shore OO). Aside from the lenses coming out or leaking, a huge problem occurs in sandy environments, where the seal gets filled with sand -- and that's it -- the mask will leak forever, no matter what you do (even taking the lenses out). Maybe the sand damages the silicone or something.

In terms of the mask being discontinued, it just shows how tiny the freediving market is. The sphera dominates the freediving market, and it still isn't economically worth it to produce the mask, I would assume.

The other possibility is that some people actually try to send their sphera's back in for repair. Given that my spheras generally last about 6 months before I throw them out, I can imagine Technisub being swamped with 'warranty returns.'

 

[Tony Babowicz]

Hi Wes,
I have glued my lenses in with aquaseal. It worked well but it had a pretty bad smell until the glue dried completly. I probably got another six months use out of it. Diving at least once a week. Unfortunatly I took that mask on a beach dive recently and while wading through the breakers, a lens managed to come out and I never found it. Good thing I still have three left. Two of them are clear and are heavily used, the other one black, still new in the box There is a retailer down here that still has plenty of them for sale. Like $60US each! I hope we can come up with a better resource for them before I run out.
BTW, how is the dnf training going?
Tony

 

[wes]

Eric and Tony,

Thanks for the info. On one mask I plan to add a fillet of black silicone all round lens, inside and out with the theory that this would seal in the lens and prevent lens from coming out or sand getting in. I don't think the silicone needs to be particularly stretchy as the fillets will be small and flex with the existing silicone skirt and much harder plastic lenses. We will see.

My DNF training is going very well. I have now very well trained dive response, which is scary sometimes how fast my heart slows down and am working on improved suit and have new improved stroke. I have alot of other things going on in my life (which is great) so the pace of the DNF seems slow. I am training now to replicate my 125m DNF prerformance for the US national record with my existing suit and to work on new suit and new stroke for world record. I think also with in theory with my new suit and stroke it would be better for me to be in 50m pool so am anxious to try that out as I have never done that DNF.

Cheers Wes

 

[Tony Babowicz]

I just found 5 (yes FIVE) black skirt spheras for sale online for $38.75 w/shipping. I bought them all.
Wes, I will send them to you as they break.
Tony

 

[Fondueset]

I've found spheras online for under $30 us - currently I have five Two are new - one is a rare 'super-correcting' model - which corrects my vision perfectly underwater. The other two correct less so I use one in the pool and keep the other one as a spare. Maybe we should organize and all email the aqualung rep - I can dig out an email addy if anybody is into it.

 

[Tony Babowicz]

The technisub website in Europe still has them. . I also found several in England for under $20euros but I can't get them to ship to U.S.

 

[Fondueset]

just google 'sphera mask'

 

[cubapnea]

just out of curiousity... what's the point for taking time and effort to glue a mask when is not even crystal, let's say you are succesfull at glueing.. the plastic will scratch or get messed up from heat, salt etc.....is not meant to last.