Prescription mask worth getting or not ?

[annasea]

I have 2 masks and both have prescription lenses in them. I don't recall them being too terribly expensive either. Try ScubaToys or Dive Gear Express as they both (used to) sell drop-in lenses that can be inserted before you take the mask home.

 

[Max Speed]

Of course my instructors keep making me dive with blacked out lenses...

 

[guruboy]

If you don't like contacts, go for the off-the-shelf kind of lenses. My mask has drop-in lenses for each eye, accurate to 0.50 increments. <$20 per lens I think.

 

[KathyV]

I wore contacts for many years until my vision changed and they didn't work for me anymore and now I wear glasses. The muscles that control seeing far and then quickly focusing near are not working as well for me anymore. I loved wearing contacts while diving, I could see everything clearly, like I had perfect vision.

After I started wearing glasses topside I figured that I would need a prescription mask underwater but my eye doctor said that he could give me contacts that would work for me while diving - taking advantage of the natural magnification properties of water - but wouldn't be great for me above water because reading would be difficult. I happily accepted the contacts and they have worked great for me. I have no problem reading gauges and seeing close objects under water but when I get topside things are a little fuzzy like writing in my log book. But that's okay because I am not usually trying to read a novel underwater! Using my contacts I am able to see clearly and enjoy the freedom of clear vision without a prescription mask.

My suggestion is to discuss the options with your eye doctor and follow his/her advice.

 

[Altamira]

You and your optometrist are the best judges as to whether or not you would benefit from having prescription lenses in your mask. You stated that aside from the bubbles and leaky mask, you could see clearly underwater. TMHeimer made a good point, that you might not really need prescription lenses, either custom ground lenses for your vision or snap in types, and nobody on this site is going to be able to assess your needs better than you. My wife and I both wear glasses, and whereas she absolutely needs the custom prescription lenses to see properly above or below the water, the refractive nature of water eliminates any need for me to use prescription lenses.
Added: If you decide you need the prescription lenses, get good ones and do not shortchange yourself. My wife would say her prescription mask is the most important piece of dive equipment that she owns. As someone else said, you can rent everything else.

 

[ColoDale]

Not sure how you could see clearly with the freediving mask but by your comments about needing prescription glasses you would be able to see much more with prescription lenses. I use prescription lenses and have since I started diving. Well worth seeing what your there for. I do not use contacts as I can't stand them but YMMV. I have single lenses - no stuck on lens. A good LDS can help you. Lenses are not cheap but also not horribly expensive. I keep a pair of sunglasses on the boat for after diving.

 

[darrenlowjq]

I did my OW with contacts and a rental mask. I quickly got my own prescription mask because when I did mask clearing during OW, some salt water got into my eye and I think the contact lens trapped the salt water, which made my eyes sting throughout the day and resulted in a massive headache at the end of the day.

Using a prescription mask will make you short-sighted when you surface and take off the mask, though I think it's a good habit to have the mask on and reg in until you've gotten onto the boat anyway. The other challenge is if you somehow lose or break your mask on a trip, your whole trip could be ruined unless you plan ahead and carry a spare mask or bring contacts to use with rentals. I chose to carry a backup prescription mask in the pocket, never had to use it so far thankfully.

 

[Doc Harry]

Worth getting or not?

Depends on whether or not you want to see anything

 

[TMHeimer]

Let's not forget that how you see (with whatever mask you have on or off) may well be more important when shore diving as opposed to climbing a boat ladder. Surf, rocks, slippery seaweed, long walks to the car, etc.

 

[Doc Harry]

I have bifocals in my dive mask so that I can also see my dive computer and camera settings