180 degree diving mask

[АлександрД]

One more marketing sh!t

I`m already described REAL and usable mask with very wide viewing angle. What is your favorite mask?
I think this (Aquasphere) mask has 180 deg. view.... or nearby it. (good idea to check it on the next dive...)

Also exists Hydro Optics mask Diving Masks by HydroOptix -- Products -- 4.5DD Overview

Offered mask has single glass. ONE Sphere-Shaped glass. And each eye will looking with each side, but not in one point...
like:

 

[Stoo]

Peripheral vision has been a concern in ski goggles forever. Ripping down a mountain at 50 mph with a bunch of other idiots doing the same thing really requires it. In my experience, curved plastic lenses generally come with a certain amount of distortion unless you buy a high end pair.

In other words, I'd be mighty reluctant to fork out my hard-earned money without being able to try this thing on... not to mention the whole fit question.

 

[kelemvor]

I'm not sure it's marketing. The 50 year old mask looks like it's got a curved corner which leads to a flat side. It's similar to my multi lens mask and the mask that @Kharon is diving. When you look out the side window, the angle is different and you're looking at a different place than you expect. It's almost like a tiltshift effect from a bellows camera, and in my opinion is worse than having that area blacked out. This curved mask is one continuous surface that appears to be a gentle slope where your perspective shouldn't change.

The big difference between the newer multi-lens masks and the 50 year old one seems to be the newer ones cut manufacturing costs by including more frame and not melting the side windows together with the front window.

I'm not cheer-leading for this mask, but I have high hopes that it will work where other designs have failed.

I understand the hydro optix mask solves this "problem" already, but at the expense of every user having to wear special contact lenses. You will notice that the lens on the hydro-optix is somewhat similar to this new mask, but the new one apparently doesn't require contacts.

The skirt on the new AAK mask looks dodgey. It looks like just a piece of foam rubber as you'd see on a ski mask. Seems like it would be extremely leakey unless you cinched down the strap super tight. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[АлександрД]

please, read my message about Aquasphere. There I`d described why one spherical glass is unacceptable for good diving.
You can just to take AGA Divator but from SCBA - with rounded glass. Later all your "Wow! Nice" about new offered mask will be disappeared...
It is possible to dive with such mask... (I had try it.) but very very difficult. Also later you can have big headache from that...

Major idea how can work masks with bent glasses - Both eyes should have line of sight wich is perpendicular to the glasses.
OR just one eye could have line of sight by angle to the glass, but another eye should be covered by frame!

 

[stuartv]

1) I'm not sure if it's really necessary, but I know my shop tells new OW students that they need to have a mask with a tempered glass lens. No plastic. They don't have to buy it from our shop, but they have to have one. Is a polycarbonate lens really suitable for scuba use?

2) I ordered the $29 Ultra View frameless mask from Dive Gear Express last week. I used it in the quarry yesterday. It is awesome. I was extremely impressed with how much more peripheral view I had with it than the masks I've been using. On land, looking straight ahead, I can barely see a bit of frame at each side and none up or down. Maybe some other mask has more peripheral vision, but for $29, the DGX mask is PLENTY for me.

 

[scrane]

Although there are a few aspects of this mask that look kind of funky I welcome the concept and wish them well.

Stuart,
Thanks for the mini review on the DGX Frameless. Makes you wonder why the big boys can't produce a wide view frameless at a reasonable price.

 

[Bierstadt]

I really don't like high-volume masks, and that is definitely a high-volume mask. I would suggest going with a mask with glass close to your eyes and a clear silicone skirt, which works just fine for my peripheral vision. But, that's just me.

 

[mcpowell]

No reply to my email from a few days ago. I think they may be defunct.

 

[АлександрД]

1) I'm not sure if it's really necessary, but I know my shop tells new OW students that they need to have a mask with a tempered glass lens. No plastic. They don't have to buy it from our shop, but they have to have one. Is a polycarbonate lens really suitable for scuba use?

I`m using Aquasphere (yes, with plastic and bent "glasses") over 10 years... and around 9 years I used it with SCUBA.
Just last year I`d changed it to new one. Same model.
I`d changed it because it became little scratched (for 10 years!), but underwater it was possible to use it - scratches in the underwater is not visible,
And also because one glass starts to tumble out sometimes...
And also Aquasphere has very low volume.
E.g. Natalia Molchanova used this mask for last years.
Once, when I just started to use Aquasphere, and was as "freediver" (quotes because my max. depth was 15m those time), I`d asked her at exibition - why she recomend Cressi Minima?
She told me - because it is lowest volume mask. I`m start to debate with her about Aquasphere - that it has same volume, but much more better viewing angle... Those year she did not agree with me...
Two years later her team start to sale Aquasphere too and starts to recommend it

 

[Nathan Doty]

I'm going to display my ignorance here. Every frameless mask I find, has a frame. What am I missing?