fred herman:
I recently bought a X-vision mask and corrective lens. Can anyone describe to me how to open the mask to get the lens in? Thanks.
Frustrated Fred
Hi Fred--
I had the same problem a few months ago with a Mares Opera mask (bought at a local dive shop) and corrective lenses (mail-ordered), and posted the same question here that you have. I didn't get any responses, which (believe me!) meant that no one knew or had an opinion to venture.
There are exploded views of several Mares masks here (
http://brunosdiveshop.com/optical.htm), but they unfortunately don't included the X-Vision. But you can se that all these masks have external frames holding the lenses in place from the front, that pop out. Looks like they're all held in place by rather small tabs.
Trick is, I suppose, to know where the tabs are on the X-Vision before prying carefully. That's if you want to risk breaking a tab; I'd doubt that the frames are easily replaceable. Someone suggested to me putting mask into warm water first, to make everything more flexible.
With me, I ended taking that mask back to the shop where I bought it, and they tool it to the local Mares rep to have the lenses installed for free -- I had given them a fair chance at getting the lenses for me, and they weren't been able to. They strongly advised me not to risk it myself.
Good luck!
--Marek