Old Eyes

[navillus]

Before you get prescription lens, goto www.hydrooptix.com and see if you fall into the catagory of their goggles. (You need to be slightly nearsighted to use their goggles). If you can uses their goggles, I highly recommend them. They are cheaper than prescriptions (at least where I live) and are much better. My wife swears by them. (I have 20/5 vision, so I can't use them).

 

[AggieDad]

www.prescriptiondivemasks.com

I tried the stick on but they are just plastic and not optical quality. Went with the readers. Fast service. You need to send the mask AFTER you mark you pupil area on the mask. They called and said mine looked to be way too high so they adjusted by what they thought a normal person should be. Perfect.

$99 plus shipping out. They pay back.

 

[kayber]

I'm a brand-new diver who needs advice on which dive computer, gauges, compass would be easiest for me to read.
I now wear prescription reading glasses because of a condition my optometrist referred to as Old Eyes (it's so nice getting old!)

Haven't invested in prescription mask yet, which may be the way to go.
Advice on what I should do about prescription mask is also welcome - biofocal or straight reading lenses.

I tried on someone else's biofocal mask and found it difficult to use, if not impossible for me. I wear my glasses most of the day even though I can't see distances as I am generally in front of the computer.

My first open dive is on Saturday in Gloucester. I'm expecting it to be totally thrilling!

Having my prescription put into my mask was the single best investment I made in my diving pleasure! I can actually see!!! I had them correct for distance only since I stay a few feet off the reef anyway but one of these days I'll have to think about bifocals. Thus far the digital display on my Oceanic VT Pro computer is large enough for my "enhanced" eyes.

 

[jakubson]

Yeah, welcome to SB!

No easy answer, nor even one best answer.

In my experience, just because you need reading correction for presbyopia in the air, that won't necessarily mean you'll need it for diving. Because of water's magnification effect, I think.

I'm 51, and very nearsighted. And I'm now up to 2 diopters of progressive reading correction in my glasses. But I dive with straight spherical corrective lenses in my mask, with no astigmatism or "reading" correction. And I see my gauges and computer just fine. At least for now.

The "hockey puck" computers seem to have nice large numbers -- Oceanic, Aeris, etc.

Lke they say, YMMV.

--Marek

Completely agree with Marek. My prescription for myopia is -5 with slight astigmatism. I use off the shelf mask with -5 lenses (sherwood Magnum), no astigmatism correction.

My reading prescription is +1.75. I have an Oceanic versa Pro wrist computer, and the numbers are large enough that I don't need any bifocal correction. I will probably switch to bifocal lenses in the future based on not being able to read camera settings, NOT based on gauges.

PS - I'm 47 years old.

 

[165tyler]

Just completed 4 dives in Gloucester this weekend and received my Open Water certification from PADI. The diving was just great. Now that I have that experience under my belt, I am thinking that a regular SPG won't be a problem since I can see the indicator line and perhaps if I get a digital display Dive Computer Depth will be okay also. Do any of these Dive Computer's have compasses ?
I pretty much totally couldn't see the return bar, and resorted to backtracking through the back-end of the arrow and double-bar which I could see.

Thanks for the inputs.

 

[halocline]

I've looked at a few computers specifically for visibility, and from what I found, the atmos 1 or 2 seems to have the easiest to read display for depth and NDL, plus the nitrogen bar is pretty sizable. So, you might have a look at that; I'd be very interested in someone comparing the display on the atmos directly with that of the suunto gekko and dive-rite duo, as they are other computers I'd be interested in when I upgrade to nitrox. It looks like the depth and NDL numbers might be smaller on those two than on the atmos, but if you have a chance to compare them, I'd be interested in what you find. Currently the atmos 1 is being discontinued and is available really cheap; if you're only interested in air, that would be a good economical choice for you.

Ideally, though, you'd want to choose a computer on the basis of it's features and algorithm. The dive-rite algorithm is kind of in the middle of the suunto and aeris, and it appeals to me for that reason. It's the same as the TUSA, I believe.

 

[165tyler]

Thanks for the information. I will be looking up dive-rite algorithm to see just what it is. I imagine it's something I want, but if I can't see it it won't do much good
Also thanks for the Atmos 1 suggestion, economical is something I do understand

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

The TUSA IQ-800 has to be about the most eye-challenged-friendly dive computer currently on the market. The algorithm is similar to that used by Dive Rite - I know empirically because I dive with a TUSA IQ-700 and a Dive Rite NiTek3. If there was a 2 mix version of the IQ-800, I'd be quite interested - but I'll wait to see what comes out on the market in the next several years.

http://www.scubatoys.com/store/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=IQ800

http://www.tusa.nl/cataloque/tusa_diving/consoles/iq-800.htm

I have 'over-40' eyes with astigmatism, and I currently wear soft contact lenses while diving. I expect I'll continue to do this as I use single-pane masks - I have vision issues with a center bar, or even some of the newer, very low volume, single pane masks with the nose piece.

The TUSA IQ-700 DC Hunter is a nice alternative to the Nitek Duo in terms of price and warranty. The best deal I've seen on this model recently was $275 for wrist mount, but one could always take that ad to the dealers who have 'meet or beat' price guarantees.

http://www.divers-discount.com/viewprod.cfm?DID=1&CATID=27&objectgroup_id=114

 

[halocline]

I think the TUSA IQ-700 DC hunter is exactly the same computer as the Dive-rite duo; they certainly look the same. WarmWaterDiver, would you say the display on the TUSA DC hunter is as readable as the IQ-800? I'll browse the links you posted and see what the catalogues say.

 

[Rick Inman]

I wear contacts, and when I dive i use bifocal contact lenses.

They work great. All I have to do is have my buddy hold my computer about four feet in front of me.

Actually, the bi-focal contacts work great. See your optometrist.