Hollis Mod-1 Mask - Thoughts For Tech Diving?

[Scubidu]

Hi guys,

I stumbled upon the Hollis Mod-1 Full Face Mask and I was wondering about your thoughts on that mask? I have found almost no information or user reviews about this mask in the web and I was wondering if anyone here tried it, especially while tech diving?
By the way I am NOT a vendor nor do I get paid by Hollis or anyone to mention this product. But I was generally interested in full face masks, however the lack of ability to switch gases or 2nd stages underwater always kept me away from them. But I saw this video about the Mod-1 (for some reason only on Hollis's facebook page) and it seems like a pretty solid mask for rebreather as well as tech divers with many tanks and second stages.
What are your thoughts and how safe or well do you think it would perform during tech dives?

Here is the link to the video:

Cheers!

 

[DA Aquamaster]

It's an evolution of the Kirby Morgan KM-48.

Kirby Morgan developed and sold the KM-48, and then Oceanic started marketing it as the JMC Super Mask, as part of their Jean Michael Cousteau line of higher end / technical equipment.

That line basically became the Hollis brand. Not surprisingly Hollis is now marketing a version as the Mod-1. They've beefed up the make frame a bit (it didn't need it though) and appear to have made the skirt wider (which is also not a big or important change).

-----

I still have my JMC Supermask and I used it extensively for Great Lakes technical diving in very cold water where you got the advantage of a full face mask for warmth at depth, but could easily switch gasses during ascent. I also used it for ice diving where it offered warmth and eliminated the risk of losing the regulator from cold lips, as well as allowed you to gear up with the mask on and then clip on the pod just before dropping through the hole to prevent breathing off the regulator before the first and second stages were fully immersed (to prevent cold soaking them).

The mask is separated into upper and lower sections. The upper section is basically a standard scuba mask and is cleared the same way. The lower pod is "de-watered" by exhaling not the lower pod while opening a tilt valve. The lower pod accommodates the mouthpiece from pretty much any second stage and incorporates an extension so that you can breathe directly off the second stage even if the pod is flooded. The pod volume is small so that the unswept volume is limited, which helps prevent CO2 buildup, but for hard working situations you can again breather directly off the second stage via the mouth piece. You'll note the slight bellows type action of the pod, which allows the pod to be pressed in to the bring the mouth piece within easy reach.

 

[Scubidu]

Thank you for that detailed response. I can see the similarities in the M48 and the Mod-1, however I don't like the fact that the M48 is not made out of glass but plastic. I feel like that actually does make a big difference.

 

[Rich Keller]

I have not tried this mask but I have been diving Kirby Morgan products for decades. You will not find a better manufacture anywhere! If you are going to go with a full face mask you want it from someone who makes masks for commercial divers for a living. This area is just a small sideline for scuba manufactures.

 

[Scubidu]

So do you think that Kirby Morgan was actually part of the development team for the Hollis Mod-1 or they just used his name to sell better?
If he was part of the dev team than this mask should be good is what you're saying right? Since he creates good commercial masks in general.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Thank you for that detailed response. I can see the similarities in the M48 and the Mod-1, however I don't like the fact that the M48 is not made out of glass but plastic. I feel like that actually does make a big difference.

My first reaction to this is"Huh?...What is he talking about?"

Then of course I realize that you have no idea what you are talking about since you've never owned a M48 and you have no idea what happens when a company like Hollis takes the base product and adds some cosmetic "improvements" so they can sell it under their own banner.

The glass in the M48 is tempered glass just like the Mod 1. And the frame in the Mod 1 is plastic, just like the frame in the M48, or for that matter the EXO-26.

Now, I don't own a Hollis Mod -1, in large part because I don't think it offers any substantive improvement over a M48, certainly not enough to prompt me to shell out $900 for one.

Based on what I saw of the Mod 1 at DEMA, it's a M48 that is substituting a heavier looking frame for the smaller frame mask of the M48, then adding a gigantic nose pocket with a purge valve in the end and something that isn't quite a nose block. It is however giving up some streamlining and it's giving up the wider field of vision of the KM-48 in exchange for more weight and bulk.

I'm not impressed. If I wanted a mask with a heavier frame and a larger form factor with a wider seal, I'd get a real one, like the EXO-26 that I used for inland commercial diving but eventually sold because it's just too large and too heavy for recreational or technical diving. The Hollis Mod 1 strikes me as an effort to make a version of the M48 that just appears to look heavier duty than it really is, and in the process is really making it heavier and bulkier than it needs to be.

Functionally, you are not going to find any difference, other than more weight and bulk, a more restricted range of vision and a rather useless purge valve in the overly large nose pocket.

So do you think that Kirby Morgan was actually part of the development team for the Hollis Mod-1 or they just used his name to sell better?
If he was part of the dev team than this mask should be good is what you're saying right? Since he creates good commercial masks in general.

You have it backwards.

Kirby Morgan, the company, developed the "M48 Supermask". Oceanic sold it in it's original form as a rebranded "JMC Supermask", and Hollis is now selling a mostly cosmetically altered version of the mask as the "Mod-1". It's still an M48, except for the things Hollis has modified.

Now that may or may not be a good thing, and as noted above I just don't see any advantage in the changes they have made, but they probably haven't managed to screw it up either.

 

[PfcAJ]

I'm not sure I'd consider a FFM 'hogarthian'

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Definitely not.

But I suspect if Bill Main had spent a great deal of time doing Great Lake wreck dives with 35 degree bottom temps it might have been.

It's all about using equipment appropriate for the dive.

 

[Rich Keller]

So do you think that Kirby Morgan was actually part of the development team for the Hollis Mod-1 or they just used his name to sell better?
If he was part of the dev team than this mask should be good is what you're saying right? Since he creates good commercial masks in general.

From what I can see it is just a Kirby Morgan mask with some cosmetic changes.

 

[PfcAJ]

Definitely not.

But I suspect if Bill Main had spent a great deal of time doing Great Lake wreck dives with 35 degree bottom temps it might have been.

It's all about using equipment appropriate for the dive.

Makes you wonder how the Mars guys managed.