Mask for UK spearo

[Mr. X]

Masks for UK spearo?

Having bought a really nice clear silicone mask with hi-vision 1 piece glass (with box), I now notice spearos much prefer black! I would have though clear gave better peripheral vision and camoflage. Is this black just a retro spearo trend (clear no longer being new or unusual, or to differentiate themselves from scuba divers), or does it offer some real advantages?
(e.g. camoflage, less glare on bright days,...)?

Any brands, models or features (e.g. binocular, low volume, ultra low volume, mirrored, camo, colour) that you would care to recommend?

I have been quite pleased with my mask. I guess, on a bright day, a dark top mind have been handy, although it might have made no difference. The volume is pretty good but could be lower. The seal was fine until recently -- tightening the head strap is usually enough to fix that ...annoying though. Once it started fogging up, I tried cleaning the inside with white colgate toothpaste but it did not help at all. What did help keep fog at bay was cleaning it with dish washing liquid then applying a very thin coat of glycerin (about 1.25 from Tesco).

 

[miles]

Hiya

Masks are a personal item. Everybody has a different shape face and therefor a mask that works brilliantly for one won't neccessarily work for another.

If you're diving less than 15m deep, i can recomend a frameless mask. They have GREAT peripheral vision, but a large internal volume. Not a big deal if you're hunting shallow.

For deeper diving, a low volume mask is preferable. There are many makes available, with everybody having their own favourites. Some models worth looking at is the venerable Cressi Super-Ochio (pretty sure almost ALL divers have used one or own one of these!!) and the newer generation, Omer Alien. The downside to these low volume masks is their limited vision (or "Tunnel Vision")

Steer clear of the mirrored or tinted lenses. They do work, but when the water is dirty or the day is overcast, they aren't as effective as a clear lens.

Your mask fogging up is easily cured. Clean the inside of the mask with tooth paste, especially if it is a new mask. The toothpaste, which is abrasive, will remove the protective coating on the inside of the lens. Now when you dive, simply spit into your mask and rub the spittle over the inside lens. That'll take care of all your mask fogging issues. If you're not keen on spitting, most dive shops sell anti-fogging products. Most divers how-ever simply spit!!

Regards
miles

 

[takeshi]

I think a black silicon mask gives clearer sight. At lest I read somewhere that not only spearos but also underwater photographers prefer black silicone. I guess screening out light from the sides gives clearer details in the light coming through the lenses. Off course it also looks much more rambo hehehe.

 

[portinfer]

Cressi SUperochio - seems to fit everyone strangely enough (well I'm sure someone will write in and say it doesn't fit them but they must have a funny face )

 

[Huan]

Another method that I have heard of to clear the silicone from the mask is to run a lighter flame over the inside of the lens.
then wash with dishwash liquid.
Black skirts stop too much light getting to your eyes causing your pupils to contract.
Do you ever dive and find that it takes a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to the reduced light level?Thats your pupils adjusting.
However some guys like the clear skirts claiming that they get better peripheral vision, so I guess its horses for courses.
I would recommend Mr X that if possible you go along to a spearfishing shop in the UK you will get good advice and access to good gear as well, plus they sell what works in the UK.

 

[Ted Budion]

Spearfishers use black or dark skirted masks to prevent reflexes on the glass from light coming from the sides, while on the surface. It's really annoying. This problem can happen in shallow and clear water. Ask yourself why photographers prefer to shoot models with clear masks. If you're a hunter, having fish seeing your eyes is the last thing you want.

As for the type, the first priority is to seal over your face. If diving deeper than 20m, prefer masks with the lowest internal air volume possible.

IMHO, Cressi have been the best mask designers for 50 years. Their list of milestones are the envy of the industry, no wonder they're so copied.

My bets now are on the new Lince. Amazing field of vision in a very low volume design.

Ted
Rio

 

[Mr. X]

...IMHO, Cressi have been the best mask designers for 50 years. Their list of milestones are the envy of the industry, no wonder they're so copied.

My bets now are on the new Lince. Amazing field of vision in a very low volume design.

Ted
Rio

Ted are you really in Rio?

Thanks for all the great advice everyone. I see what you mean about Cressi Ted. Seems like everything mentions the Lince will fit small/narrow faces -- does if fit regular/large faces too, or is the Matrix intended for that?
... has anybody tried the CRESSI MINIMA:
http://www.divingdirectshop.co.uk/acatalog/CRESSMASK.html
- looks like a pair of swim goggles hot-rodded into a mask. It is available in black too. I have been doing a lot of lap swimming in the pool recently, so I thought this might be worth looking at. [That said, my mask (Visulator-style) gives a *much* better view than my swim goggles!]

Cressi Penta?

Omer Alien looks pretty good. I am not normally into camo but the green camo Alien looks good (actually I just noticed www.apnea.co.uk are selling the green version for less than black or blue mimetec -- I wonder why? May be better suited to local conditions ...or can't shift them!). I generally prefer Omer's blue mimetec scheme -- unfortunately the sea is quite green/brown here! (I need a trip to the Carribean or Hawaii!). The Omer Excite looks like a possibility too.
http://www.omersub.com/catalog/masks/index.htm

Re. visiting a spearo shop, I think I will have to sooner or later. Seems like a good idea for masks (& fins). Also, black masks still seem to be surprisingly scarce (even my scuba diver friend has been complaining about it & he visits dive stores). I plan to checkout Portland Oceaneering at some point, they seem to have a good reputation among the Dorset spearos, but it seems a shame to waste valuable dive time shopping when down at the coast.

Re. CRESSI PINOCHIO, I think I will give that a miss. I used to own a high volume, rubber mask and have no great wish to return to that era! Oh..my bad, SuperOchio is more modern, & low volume. Yes that looks very familiar -- featured in many spearfishing pictures. I will check it out -- yes, it looks like it would offer a fairly narrow field of view tho'.

 

[portinfer]

Just buy one and try it then work out what you like - scubastore.com in Spain have fair prices and good service/postage - I live on an island and so use them - either them or Apnea - I dont think you will go wrong with the cressi superocchio - or any cressi for that mater.. Let us know what you buy - good luck.

 

[Ted Budion]

Yes indeed, I'm born, raised, and in live in Rio, 50m from Copacabana beach (no big deal if you're a native, trust me). However I'm dry-docked for 5 more weeks due to a femur fracture (bicycle crash), :vangry .

The new Lince fits me well and I don't have a narrow face. OTOH, I've feeling that my face contour is on the limit of Lince's sealing. Since you're diving in british waters--where you'd rarely dive under 15, 20 m, I reckon you don't need a low volume mask. You should go for one with greatest field of vision with lowest possible volume. Cressi Matrix and Omer Alien are good options (if they seal over your face).

As for cammo finish, IMHO, as long as the mask (and frame!) is dark and dull, it doesn't make a difference.

Ted
Rio

 

[Fondueset]

I use an Omer Alien and a Cressi Matrix. I've had prescription lenses put in both. The Matrix has a wonderful field of vision - and is fairly low volume. It's a great mask for dark water or if you are feeling paranoid Peripheral vision is really nice.

The alien is very comfortable and compresses nicely. It lacks the peripheral vision of the Matrix but gets better at depth because you can let it compress - which brings the lenses closer. The Cressi compresses also - but not quite as comfortably.

The Alien has softer silicone and is probably a better bet for fit - though you never know.

I had a clear matrix and the reflections on the lenses from the surface drove me nervous.

I don't dive much below 10 to 15 meters - mainly because that's mostly where the bottom is - both are quite comfortable at these depths and require little to no air. The Alien being the less demanding of the two in this respect.

 

[Ted Budion]

Fondueset, my Lince has presciption lenses too. In fact this whole mask family started with the BigEyes, which I used for a while. It has a medium volume but its field of vision was unreal, compared to any mask, freediving's or scuba's. However, for any dive under 15 m it was like having a toilet plunger over your eyes :hmm

In between this time, I started to need prescription lenses, but couldnt get them here for the Big Eyes, so I returned to the Picasso Void for a while. I almost bought the Matrix, but being in the industry I figured that Cressi would eventually release a freediving mask from the same family. And they did with the namesake of one of their milestones, the Lince, the first extremely low volume mask in history released in the mid 1960s. his new Lince is great, like my old time favorite, the Mares Viso (mid 1970s), sold in the US as AMF Balboa (I think). :thankyou

Ted
Rio

 

[Fondueset]

I picked up a lince as well - It simply doesn't work on my face
Vis wise it is very close to the Alien - I think in my tests the alien had a leg up in peripheral vision - and compresses better - but it was a very close call and I didn't pursue it because the lince won't seal for me.
The matrix is lower vol than the Bigeyes - if I give it a puff at the surface it needs nothing till 30 feet or so - and then not much - once again I didn't get the bigeyes because I couldn't make it seal.

FYI- The alien has the softest silicone I've ever experienced - I got the green one as a fashion statement.

I agree - peripheral vision really seems to matter more in cloudy waters! Big things creeping up a meter away to one side freaks me out - even if they are just rocks!

 

[Ted Budion]

So you spearfish in fresh water, up in the Great Lakes? Where at and what do you shoot? Many years ago I turned down a job offer up north because I didn't know you could spear in th Great Lakes :duh But that was before internet, when info on such subjects was very hard to get. We've a lot people that spears in inland waters in Brazil and they do get some nice fish. Almost none of them use extremely low volume masks. Cressi Focus (and its many copies) is popular among them and now the Matrix.

Ted
Rio

 

[Mr. X]

So you spearfish in fresh water, up in the Great Lakes? Where at and what do you shoot? Many years ago I turned down a job offer up north because I didn't know you could spear in th Great Lakes :duh But that was before internet, when info on such subjects was very hard to get. We've a lot people that spears in inland waters in Brazil and they do get some nice fish. Almost none of them use extremely low volume masks. Cressi Focus (and its many copies) is popular among them and now the Matrix.

Ted
Rio

Ted, while the mid-West may have its charms, surely it can't compare to Rio? I saw a few huge fish, maybe 2-3 feet long floating dead around one of the tour boats that berth down by the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago(perhaps they were shot while escaping?!). L. Michigan used to be very polluted, apparently much of that was fixed by reversing the flow of one of the rivers, even so..... the water has a lot of floating boat fuel, there used to be red plumes of something pumped in further north & Gary, Indiana further south, is heavily industrialised; I would think twice about eating anything from L. Michigan. The water is cold & often choppy (the waves can be surprisingly large) -- and the shoreline freezes solid in winter (when the cold actually hurts, -57F with windchill, ouch!). I used to swim at Oak St. & Evanston beaches occasionally in the warmer season though.

 

[Ted Budion]

The water is cold & often choppy (the waves can be surprisingly large) -- and the shoreline freezes solid in winter (when the cold actually hurts, -57F with windchill, ouch!).

Indeed. I once wrote piece of the most famous Great Lakes wreck, the Edmond Fitzgerald We're so off thread that I'm over and out.

Ted
Rio

 

[Fondueset]

I new a guy who went down with that boat - he was a student at the maritime acadamy here. Had a strange dream about him the very night it happened. - Lake superior wasn't it? That's allways been a very clean, clear lake - but cold.

Two words for those who think Lake michigan has crap visibility - Zebra Muscles. These razor sharp little monsters have easily tripled visibility and cleaned out alot of the bad stuff. Average visibility around here in Lake Michigan is probably 30-40 feet. Most days I can at least see sillouettes at close to 50. The worst day I've seen it was down to 12-15 - that was right after a very heavy storm. Water temp is still comfy in a 3 mil suit - okay in a swimsuit for short periods. Last year my daughter and I dove without suits until October 1st.

Toward the bottom of this site Lake Michigan Freediving Pics I have a few of the pictures I've taken in Lake Michigan near here. Most of the rest are from a Marina in Grand Traverse Bay - which is, on average, less clear than the big lake - but still pretty good.

No doubt it's worse down near Gary and Chicago - but thats a few hundred miles south of here - and prevaling winds are generally out of the west-northwest.

It is best to stay away from the big apex predators - salmon and lake trout - the bigger they get the worse they are - smaller ones are still pretty safe though of course in Moderation.

Rio, however, it ain't.

 

[Mr. X]

Back on thread....
I dry tested a few masks belonging to a friend this week. Sporasub Samurai --- v. like the Cressi SuperOcchio -- fit very well ... although the field of vision seemed very poor after my clear Visulator-style mask. A new v. low profile French mask (possibly a Beuchat Mundial?) -- sealed but then leaked both times I tried it. I forget what the third mask was.

I was quite taken by the Lince mask, offered at a reasonable price in DeeperBlue's store but, having read the Lince 2 thread, I am having second thoughts. I am now thinking of getting one of the Omer masks -- probably a mimetec, not for the colour but for the reputed softness. Can't make out which to go for though -- can anybody comment on the difference between the Omer Alien and the Omer Bandit? Both seem to be aimed at spearos, both appear to be low volume/2 lens, both seemed to be based on the Abyss. I am inclined slightly more towards the Alien which looks like it might provide a wider view -- although the Bandit looks more like the proven design of the Cressi SuperOcchio/Sporasub Samurai. Anybody use either (I see Fondueset seems happy with his Alien & Matrix masks)? Anybody tried both?

Also, anybody tried the SPORASUB, COMFORT?

By the way any comment on brand/model quality. I have seen comments that Cressi's although innovative & with good lens, can have problems (not sure if it relates to not lasting well or initial build quality).

 

[Fondueset]

I haven't used the bandit - but I understand it has a smaller field than the alien. The lince also has slightly less peripheral vision than the alien - and is a less flexible mask. (the alien compresses better). I have both the black and green alien and cannot honestly tell any difference in softness or fit - despite what I thought earlier.

I've now used the Alien quite a bit - and it has become my primary mask with the matrix as backup.

 

[Mr. X]

Think I will probably get an Omer Alien. Although I have seen a couple of good deals on Superocchio-like masks -- & tried one that seemed a good fit (although the tunnel vision effect was more pronounced than I expected) -- an Omer Abyss & Spetton Mask. Is apnea.co.uk the best bet for the Omer masks (their mask prices sneaked up a bit recently )?

BTW my spearing partner recently picked up a black mask called an Atom for 11 GBP inc. shipping. Appears to be excellent value: single glass lens yet very low volume, good seal & comes with a "Tupperware"-style mask box. Good deal.


Hoping to get down to the coast a couple of times over the next couple of weeks so I may get a chance to visit a dive store, then again...

 

[Mr. X]

I finally got to try the Matrix & Alien last week in a store. The Matrix is much better -- for me anyway. THey both seem low volume but the Matrix was a nice comfortable fit with a superb field of view (98-100%?), whereas the Lince seem cramped with the side view compromised. Just need to decide between the Cressi Matrix & Omer Alien now!

I gave my existing Visulator style mask a clean and it seems to be sealing again now -- it too has an excellent field of view. Not such a low volume but good for surface & fine down to 10ft+. I like it now that it is sealing again!