Interesting mask comparison

[teamgs]

Greetings,
With obviously too much time on my hands, and 6 masks laying around, I decided to do some measurements. The players: Mares X-Vision, X-Vision Mid, Liquidskin X-Vision, Mares Demon, ScubaPro ClearVu2, and Fina (I think). I measured internal volume, weight, lens dimensions, mask depth from the front of the lens to the back of the skirt at the forehead, and nosepiece dimensions as a measure of the central obstruction. Since the X-Vision flavors all have the same basic mask dimensions, I only used the base X-Vision for the measurements. Most people are aware of the X-Vision line, a two panel, low volume mask. The Demon is also a two panel mask, but with a larger field of view, and a comfort fit skirt. The ClearVu2 is a 4 panel mask, and the Fina is a standard two panel mask. I currently use the ClearVu2 and my wife the Fina, and we have been pleased with them. However, I wanted to see what the hype was about the new Mares masks, to see if an upgrade was in order.

I was surprised to see that my ClearVu2 wasn't the behemoth that you may have thought, based on its 4 panel design. It came in between the X-Vision and the Demon. It was the heaviest by far, around 40% heavier than the Mares masks. The Fina was the smallest mask, but not the lightest, slightly heavier than the Demon.

As for the preliminary, out of the water tests (mostly subjective):

Comfort: The LiquidSkin is the most comfortable to wear, with the Demon coming in second. Not a lot of difference seperating the others. The X-Vision mid is too small for my face, but may work for my wife.

Fit: not much to report here, since everyone is different, and masks will fit them differently.

View: The Fina was the narrowest view. The ClearVu2 easily had the widest field of view, and the side panels have always seemed to me to give relatively distortion free viewing in and out of the water. The view down is restricted, however, when compared to the Mares masks. I have to move my console much higher or tilt my head much lower to read it. The same limitation exists for the Fina. The X-Vision and the Demon seemed to have similar views downward (much better than the ScubaPro's), with the Demon having the best upward views. While the Demon was slightly better than the X-Vision in the peripheral view, it was still much less than the ClearVu2. For some reason, MAres chose to put a wider nosepiece in the Demon than in the X-Vision, and it showed. At least for my face, the Demon seemed to have a noticably larger central obstruction from the nosepiece than did the X-vision or ScubaPros. While not a huge issue, it is enough for me to not choose the Demon, even though I loved the look, views, and fit.

The ScubaPros definitely weigh more, though without water testing the masks I can't tell if it makes much difference to me.

Well, there you have it! A relatively green diver's measurements and opinions on some masks. Take it with a grain of salt....

I hope to be able to pool test them, so that we can make a decision soon.

Regards,

Gary

 

[teamgs]

Update***

I pool tested the masks last night for 2 hours.

Fit (for my face, obviously):

None of the Mares masks fit as well as my ClearVu2. They all seemed to have a slow leak that filtered into the nose. The X-Vision mid was probably the best of the bunch in this regard. The Liquidskin was the worst regarding the leak. The X-vision regular and Liquidskin pushed uncomfortably on the junction of my eye sockets and nose, if sucked too tightly on my face.

I did find that the Demon's slightly larger central obstruction wasn't as noticible under water.

I did find a cool thing about my ClearVu2's side vision. Even though the side panels are flat, I think that they may be angled slightly backwards, as I seem to have greater than 180 view. I will have to check more on that.

I did find that I liked the greater up and especially down views of the teardrop shaped Mares masks. I guess that my next option is to look for a mask that keeps the same fit and side view as my ClearView2 yet incorporates the better down views. Hmmm...Wait, check out the new ClearVu4!

http://www.sportdiver.com/article.jsp?ID=50023&destinationID=

I guess it is new for 2007. It isn't even on ScubaPro's site yet...I have emailed them.

Well, I guess I have taken up enough board space with my purely subjective tests.

Regards,

Gary

 

[hoopstar2323]

im actually looking into getting a new mask and this was quite helpful. thanks for the post

 

[teamgs]

You are welcome! It isn't a very large nor in depth analysis, but every lilttle bit of information helps when trying to make a decision.

What I did really find out is that you need to try on the masks in the water. I have a fairly average face, but it still didn't work that well with the Mares X-Vision and Demon line. Your LDS should allow this, and many internet shops do as well. As long as you don't mind having a large charge on your credit card for awhile, and paying return shipping, you should be able to order a few masks, try them out, then return the ones you don't want. Definitely contact the vender first, to see if it is OK.

Regards,

Gary

 

[RoyN]

Did your LDS also have Oceanic, Aeris, Apollo or Seavision mask? Some of those mask those companies have great fit and also have less leak in them or no leak at all.

 

[CompuDude]

Did your LDS also have Oceanic, Aeris, Apollo or Seavision mask? Some of those mask those companies have great fit and also have less leak in them or no leak at all.

I would say VERY few masks, regardless of manufacturer, have actual leaks.

Leaks in 99% of situations are a result of the mask not fitting an individual face, not an actual defect in the mask itself.

 

[teamgs]

+1 on the face defect!

Roystan, I believe that they do, and I will be taking a look. Thanks!

Gary