Are full face masks “less chilly”?

[M DeM]

i was talking to a guy yesterday who, rather than using a dry suit, will use a 7 mill over a 3 or 5 in the winter.

Of course, his face is still freezing. If he wore a full face mask would it help his face at all or no.

Just curious.

 

[Akimbo]

I find them warmer when you are diving in waters that require a drysuit and heavy underwear but never really noticed the difference in temperatures suitable wetsuits. YMMV.

Edit: There are two factors: The obvious one is less skin is exposed to the higher thermal conductivity of the water, though the mask material is not a great insulator. The other factor is body heat lost through respiration warms your face, especially around the oral-nasal mask.

 

[Magnus Lundstedt]

I find them warmer when you are diving in waters that require a drysuit and heavy underwear but never really noticed the difference in temperatures suitable wetsuits. YMMV.

If one use a 7mm over an 5mm wet, one dive in temperatures not suitable for wetsuits.

 

[JohnnyC]

I've noticed in warm water that it cools my face a little bit. I've never used one in cold water with a wetsuit though. I can't imagine it would have much of an effect but I could be wrong. It's not like it's insulating the air very well, and you want that air exchanging anyway, so I wouldn't imagine it was much warmer than whatever ambient temperature you're diving in.

 

[Kayakingphotos]

I feel like wearing my OTS Guardian full face mask makes the water feel like five degrees warmer than using a regular mask/reg. All my dives are cold water, usually wear a 7mm john/jacket. But once I was wearing my 5mm one piece suit and in LATE JULY found a pond that had temps of 37 degrees at 25 feet...... Was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

Patrick

 

[michael-fisch]

My experiences with the AGA and a EXO26 that I have owned were not as great as everybody likes to think they should be.
1st Problem: Having subzero air flowing down through the mask from the inlets at forehead level down to the check valves seperating the face from the oral nasal compartment was very cold.
2nd Problem: The ear covers make breathing the mask very loud (extremely loud!).
3rd Problem: The spider strapping put considerable pressure on my jaw which after 45 minutes started to hurt since the hinges of my jaw are not made to withstand having the jaw constantly being pushed back.
I was very happy after finally finding someone who just had to have them, and I never went back. I can't remember if I had similar problems with the DSI Bandmask.
If you have to - try it - but try it for at least a 90 minute dive. If it hurts, buy something else.
Michael