Hydooptix skirt issues

[JAWISA1]

Last year I purchased the Hydrooptix Mega 4.5 mask with the S-3 skirt and love the field of vision as well as the corrective properties for people like me who are near sighted. However I have been having issues with leakage at the bottom of the mask between the nose pocket and my mouth as the skirt is too long. I have contacted Hydrooptix about possibly purchasing just the S-1 skirt as I believe that this may solve my problem. They have informed that I would have to purchse another mask. Can anyone clarify if these skirts are interchangable or am I out of luck. Has anyone alse experienced this problem? Your help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Igodeep]

I believe that they are correct that the skirts are not interchangable. I bought a Hydroptix for my wife a few years ago and had numerous problems with it. It leaked a lot, fogged constantly, and eventually cracked at one of the purges on the bottom after less than a year. I put her in an Atomic Subframe and she is much happier now.

 

[JonKranhouse]

Hi Clay,

I am posting this since my PM to you, 5 days ago, remains unanswered.

JAWISA1 has reported back to us last week that the new skirt we sent him fits well.

Sorry to hear your wife had problems with her mask... this is the very first time we have heard of any complaints from you RE our masks. You said "a few years ago..." and "less than a year." Anyway, we ALWAYS have stood by our products and offer excellent customer service -- as many posters here on ScubaBoard have confirmed. It has been via the benefit of customer feedback that we have made constant improvements to our first mask. Almost no component of our current 4.5DD is the same as the original 4.5DD mask: http://www.hydrooptix.com/ps_45dd_updates.html

Per your profile I see you work for the Internet division of Austin Aqua Sports. Their last purchase from us was 2.5 years ago, yet nobody there went through our VisTA training. Since that time, thousands of divers around the world are happily using this Double-Dome mask. Now, retailers that carry our mask must have their staff complete our online training. Besides positive feedback on ScubaBoard, dozens of legitimate testimonials with divers' photos can be seen here.

No product made by humans is perfect. But a mask that seeks to improve safety by vastly improving situational awareness, made from a material 150 times stronger than tempered glass, deserves a fair chance to succeed in the market, unfettered by disinformation from those with a competing financial agenda.
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original PM:
Hi Clay,

Sorry to hear your wife had problems with her mask... but you said "a few years ago..." and "less than a year." Anyway, we ALWAYS have stood by our product and offer excellent customer service -- not my words but those of our customers. It has been via customer feedback that we have made constant improvements to our first mask. Almost no component of our current 4.5DD is the same as the mask you first experienced:
http://www.hydrooptix.com/ps_45dd_updates.html

Would you mind passing this info along to Austin Aqua Sports. Their last purchase from us was 2.5 years ago. Since that time, thousands of divers around the world are using this Double-Dome mask. Besides positive feedback on ScubaBoard, almost 100 very legitimate testimonials are on our website, sent by divers with their photos.
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[Igodeep]

John,
I will say that your customer service is very good. Your reps at Dema even replaced the mask for us one year becuase of fogging issues. I certainly cannot complain about your willingness to help customers. Ultimately we decided it was not the right mask.

As for the shop, demand for the mask in our shop has been very low. I know we had one instructor trained on it, as well as the owner of the shop. The owner is a retired Opthamologist and is very knowledgable about the mask and the benefits.

 

[Doc]

Therein lies one of the most critical elements of the mask- the operator. Most times it is skill and ability, more rarely it is mask fit.

This advanced technology is not for everyone. There is a learning curve and some instruction to be absorbed. Years before, we all used masks with purge valves and larger volumes.

As we grew away from that to low volume masks, many of the inherent skill sets were lost and no longer taught. This is not a mask for newbies.

It is however, a mask for divers who have grown comfortable in their environment and are ready to view more of it.

With proper preparation, fogging is an absolute non-issue. Proper buoyancy and positioning in the water column make pooling and purge irrelevant.

Here's my blogged take on it: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?f...48905954&blogMonth=1&blogDay=18&blogYear=2007

 

[JAWISA1]

Jon,

Terri was very helpful in finding an S-1 mask that I needed. It now fits great. I will recommend this mask to anyone who is nearsighted as it is a great product.

Thanks for your help.

 

[CBulla]

If anyone is curious, I dive with a HydroOptix and can vouch for both the quality and Jon's standing behind the product. Even the maintenance on it, or in my case replacing the domes, is easy. Of course, the best feature for me is that I can dive without contacts as the -4.5 is almost my lens script!

 

[D_B]

do you use the clip on lens when coming out of the water, or just squint untill your onboard? and what about a beach dive? (I'm -5.5 and boy is stuff blurry without my glasses)

 

[JonKranhouse]

Hi D_B,

YES - by all means with a -5.5 Rx, DO use the CoverLens. It is included with all masks, as well as a retractor, "Stowing Plate" and tie-wraps to secure to your BC.

While younger divers who may only have -3.0 Rx can use the mask, and just rely on the monocle, older eyes (in the -4.0 to -6.0 eyeglass Rx zone) should definitely have a method of seeing sharp with both hands free.

Yes, it does look goofy, and yes, you should practice donning / doffing the lens onto the mask a dozen times above-water before diving. Here's a video of people putting it on / off in Phuket.

I checked out your MySpace page -- if you are not yet wearing bifocals above water, you soon will. The "Magic Bifocal" phenomenon of dome optics is GREAT for older divers.

 

[Souvy]

I'm a bit new to the Scubaboard, but I've been spending a lot of time on it and it's an incredible resource. That being said, I thought I'd pitch in about my experience with the HyrdoOptix 4.5DD.

First, I absolutely love the mask. I'm near sighted so it means no contacts for me and the field of view is great. Despite the higher volume, it's surprisingly easy to clear with the purge valves which is a nice bonus. Anyway, I had a bit of a skirt leaking issue (admittedly I'm new to diving, but I haven't had the issue with other masks) and a fogging issue. I contacted HyrdoOptix after seeing this thread.

I was genuinely very impressed with their level of customer service (thanks Bob!!!) and can vouch for the fact that they go above and beyond to stand behind their product. To make a long story short, they are going to send me a mask with a different skirt which will hopefully fix both issues. I cannot say enough good things about their customer service so I thought I'd share. Cheers