Aqua Sphere Masks

[NotDeadYet]

Hi Folks,

I use an Aqua Aphere Seal mask for swimming, it's a sort of low volume wraparound mask with no nose pocket. They also do a version with a nose pocket (the Sphera) which I was thinking of trying for diving. Because the wrap round the face rather than sit in front of it, they have a very low volume, lower than a normal scuba mask. Just wondering if anyone has used one, the lenses are plastic and I was a bit worried about how much they would get scratched in normal use.

Cheers,

Stuart

[scubadoguk]

Originally Posted by NotDeadYet

Hi Folks,

I use an Aqua Aphere Seal mask for swimming, it's a sort of low volume wraparound mask with no nose pocket. They also do a version with a nose pocket (the Sphera) which I was thinking of trying for diving. Because the wrap round the face rather than sit in front of it, they have a very low volume, lower than a normal scuba mask. Just wondering if anyone has used one, the lenses are plastic and I was a bit worried about how much they would get scratched in normal use.

Cheers,

Stuart

scratches easy and not to good plastic lens the distortion would make you feel sick and all.
Dacor did the bandit mask, small but not wrap round I would not use plastic for diving we had a guy bring back a plastic water proof box that imploded at 70 ft/22 mtrs that was on a lanyard in a pocket he heard it crack! it had his keys and cash in he was very pissed cause it failed but that was never made to do diving but it cured me of plastic and diving.

[Janos]

Fella down the club has one of these and he loves it. It's the only mask he could fine that didn't leak on him. Of course your face might be different

I can't help much on re: scratching, but I can't remember Paul mentioning it.

Janos

[Rob Evans]

I had one for ages, then lost it off the side of a RIB one day. Loved it to bits with a few caveats....


Some people felt there was distortion and it put them off - personally I never noticed. A mate of mine has one also, and is happy with his.

The biggest issue is fogging. In warm water the mask is luuurvely. In cold water it fogs like a b@stard - presumably cos of the plastic lenses and the greater temp differential between the air space in front of your eyes and the surrounding water.
No rubbing spit around the insides with your finger either - scratches 'em.


Soooo.. To get round these minor issues, I used to do the pre-dive gob with a tiny bit of sea water mixed in and swilled the resulting mixture round. Worked pretty well, but when it didn't I'd dive with a tiny wee bit of water in the bottom of the mask. Any fogging, face down and swill it around.

Took ages to get the hang of the anti-fogging thing, but well worth it. You get a really wide field of view, much better than normal masks, and the very very low volume means that mask clears are just a short blast out of the hooter.

Makes you look a bit odd though, sorta like a batman mask. I look a bit odd anyway, so it just added to the ensemble