Scared Silly
Contributor
Recently I purchased the Atomic Split Frame and wanted to share my experience with trying the Rx Lenses that Atomic puts in. First, my prescription is a -3.75/-3.5 with a slight astigmatism, 0.75.
With a slight astigmatism in the past I have been able to use the standard off the shelf lenses that dive stores can put in. (Many people who have an astigmatism that is less than 1.0 can wear std lens that do not correct for astigmatism) This set up worked great on my old mask - a Sherwood Genesis IV which uses the Tusa lenses. I did this with two different Rxs and it worked great - especially because I did not have to resort to buying Rx specific lenses at a much greater cost.
However, when I tried this with the Split Frame it did not work. I do not know all of the reasons other than I believe part of it was because the lenses are much closer with the Split Frame than with Sherwood Genesis. I found that close up vision was just blury enough that it was bothersome enoguh that I did not trying to dive the mask.
As such, I had the Atomics lens supplier, Aquatic Optics put in my full Rx. The lenses ran $70 each (versus $40 for the std off the shelf lenses). With the full Rx things are much much better and I plan to get the mask wet this weekend.
The reason I post this is because a the present time the std. Rx lenses are installed by Atomics into the mask and then sent to the shop. So for those who may have a slight astigmatism who in the past could use the std. Rx lenses may not know if the std. Rx lenses will work until you get the mask. I knew that there was a problem before even getting the mask wet. Fortunately Aquatic Optics credited me the cost of the std. Rx lenses when I bought the full Rx lenses so it worked out it in the end.
With a slight astigmatism in the past I have been able to use the standard off the shelf lenses that dive stores can put in. (Many people who have an astigmatism that is less than 1.0 can wear std lens that do not correct for astigmatism) This set up worked great on my old mask - a Sherwood Genesis IV which uses the Tusa lenses. I did this with two different Rxs and it worked great - especially because I did not have to resort to buying Rx specific lenses at a much greater cost.
However, when I tried this with the Split Frame it did not work. I do not know all of the reasons other than I believe part of it was because the lenses are much closer with the Split Frame than with Sherwood Genesis. I found that close up vision was just blury enough that it was bothersome enoguh that I did not trying to dive the mask.
As such, I had the Atomics lens supplier, Aquatic Optics put in my full Rx. The lenses ran $70 each (versus $40 for the std off the shelf lenses). With the full Rx things are much much better and I plan to get the mask wet this weekend.
The reason I post this is because a the present time the std. Rx lenses are installed by Atomics into the mask and then sent to the shop. So for those who may have a slight astigmatism who in the past could use the std. Rx lenses may not know if the std. Rx lenses will work until you get the mask. I knew that there was a problem before even getting the mask wet. Fortunately Aquatic Optics credited me the cost of the std. Rx lenses when I bought the full Rx lenses so it worked out it in the end.
