Prescription mask advice

[Rhone Man]

My 10 year old is an avid snorkeller, but he needs glasses. I am looking to get him a prescription mask for his birthday. Because of where we live that most likely means ordering over the internet.

If you Google it there are plenty of people who offer this service, but I worry about mask fit. Does anyone on the board have any specific recommendations (or de-recommendations) that they could share?

 

[tursiops]

PrescriptionDiveMasks.com.
Send them a mask that fits, and a prescription.
Fast, accurate, quality service.

 

[guruboy]

What kind of mask does he have? A cheaper option is to just buy generic lenses.

I have a Tusa two window mask. I bought two prescription lenses for $30 each and popped them in myself.

 

[jonhall]

I have a Tusa mask also with prescription lenses that came from the LDS where I did my OW course. I have the same lenses from when I purchased the mask in 1998.

I would say be careful however you get the mask. I went to the same LDS I bought the mask at in '98 with a new prescription about a year ago. The salesperson popped in 2 new lenses. I put the mask on expecting to see even better but everything was a blur. Had him put the old lenses back in (thank goodness I haven't had a big change in prescription in all these years.)

Don't know if it's true, but someone told me there is an adjustment that should have been made, by the LDS, to my prescription to account for when underwater and that this would have cleared up the blurriness.

It is nice to have been in a situation where I could test the lenses out before buying them (or in my case, not buying them.) You probably have already done this but I'd check with any dive ops in your area to see if they have or can obtain lenses for you.

 

[KeithG]

You have 3 choices:
- buy a random set of stick on cheaters from your LDS
- buy a random set of +- diopter lens from your LDS
- buy a mask that fits your head and send it to a service that will install lens matched to your prescription

Rule # 1:
- you know jack about what the numbers on your prescription means

Rule #2:
- the peeps at the LDS know less than you do about your prescription

so go with option #3...

I have done both option #1 & #2 with poor results. My divebuddy has had excellent results with option #3 via http://prescriptiondivemasks.com/

She locally sourced a mask that fit her properly and then sent it off along with her prescription and ended up with a very nice bifocal mask.

 

[guruboy]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I just bought prescription lenses that matched the prescription of my glasses. Worked fine.

 

[charlier]

PrescriptionDiveMasks.com.
Send them a mask that fits, and a prescription.
Fast, accurate, quality service.

Another satisfied customer - prescriptiondivemasks.

 

[guruboy]

If you have $300 to spend on custom prescription mask go for it.

 

[KeithG]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I just bought prescription lenses that matched the prescription of my glasses. Worked fine.

This works great for "simple" prescriptions. I was able to start out this way with good results.

My divebuddy grew up wearing coke bottle glasses. Drop in lens are not an option. She now wears "progressive" glasses (I think they are trifocal) and uses a bifocal prescription lens set in her dive mask.

 

[KeithG]

If you have $300 to spend on custom prescription mask go for it.

If you want to see things underwater, many people have no choice...

My divebuddy used her original prescription mask for about 20 years (until it broke) and when she got her new mask she kicked herself for not "refreshing" her prescription years before. All of a sudden she could once again see things clearly underwater. As her eyesight changed over the years her underwater experience slowly deteriorated.