Toothpaste, really?

[Charred]

I own a couple different brands of newer masks and the Atomics were really hard to get cleaned.

I used everything from toothpaste to flaming to the 5000 psi mask scrub. Nothing really worked IMO except time. I just keep cleaning after each dive day until they stopped fogging.

I still finger scrub with a dab of 5000 psi each night while on dive vacations just to clean whatever off them. It takes a second to clean them and my masks don't fog so I just keep doing it.

 

[islanddream]

When I got my masks I used toothpaste 5-6 times before using them. When I'm on the dive boat I spray the mask with a mixture of baby shampoo and water which I keep in a small spray bottle and I let that solution (with a little bit of water from my water bottle) sit in the mask for about 20 minutes. When it's time to dive I dump the water out of the mask. Once in the water I do a quick rinse with sea water. Every day after diving I clean my mask with a small amount of Dawn dish soap and rinse with hot water. Works like a charm!

 

[Hank49]

I’ve done the burning thing but it didn’t work so well. This seems to indicate that maybe I didn’t burn it long, or hot enough. Hard to push that on a brand new mask you waited a month for to be delivered.
The most reliable method for me has been to scrub it with toothpaste, let the toothpaste dry on the surface overnight and the clean it.

 

[fullytek]

Never never never use a lighter to burn off the coating . Full stop ever.
The glass is heat treated and using an open flame to remove the residue will change the temper of the glass and VOID YOUR WARRENTY.
Use toothpaste or another suitable cleaner . Do it several times.

Hollis wernt through a big investigation surrounding broken glass and the end cause is exposure to heat from open flame.

 

[northernone]

Never never never use a lighter to burn off the coating . Full stop ever.
The glass is heat treated and using an open flame to remove the residue will change the temper of the glass and VOID YOUR WARRENTY.
Use toothpaste or another suitable cleaner . Do it several times.

Hollis wernt through a big investigation surrounding broken glass and the end cause is exposure to heat from open flame.

If you have the report on that I'd be facinated to see some science behind this.

Tempering glass takes an impressive amount of heat which I would be shocked if that can be produced using the method commonly described by divers for flaming a mask.

 

[kelemvor]

Never never never use a lighter to burn off the coating . Full stop ever.
The glass is heat treated and using an open flame to remove the residue will change the temper of the glass and VOID YOUR WARRENTY.
Use toothpaste or another suitable cleaner . Do it several times.

Hollis wernt through a big investigation surrounding broken glass and the end cause is exposure to heat from open flame.

Tempered glass isn't going to be damaged by the heat produced from a cigarette lighter. Either Hollis is using plastic lenses, non tempered glass or it was just a copout answer. You don't heat the glass very much, I'd be surprised if it got up to 150f and tempered glass can withstand 470f for extended periods with no ill effects. Have you ever watched a video to see how people do it? If you heated the lens to 470f, it would immediately melt the plastic and rubber holding the lens to the rest of the mask.

Like I said, I use an abrasive cleanser sold in most dive shops. It's pretty simple and I've never had to do more than 1 pass at cleaning any of my masks. Since I've already got a bottle, I never investigated any of the other solutions.

 

[ScubaMarc]

why can't the manufacturer clean the class completely and then place a protective peal for protection during shipping?

 

[fullytek]

Don’t Flame Your Mask! (per Undercurrent.org / May 2018 Issue)

 

[fullytek]

You dont need to apply that much heat to change or weaken a temper.or add stress to a section of glass.

Why would any one take a lighter to a new mask.

Stick to burning your nikeys

 

[kelemvor]

Don’t Flame Your Mask! (per Undercurrent.org / May 2018 Issue)

Maybe you didn't read the thread you posted. Manufacturers even posted in that very thread do debunk the myth that using a lighter to clean a mask causes problems.

Sounds to me like hollis has or had a product defect and they were trying to get out of doing a proper recall.