The Kraken
He Who Glows in the Dark Waters (ADVISOR)
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Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Basic black goes with anything.
the K
the K
Any pros to having a black skirt?
- Thread starter BigFame
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CamG
Contributor
Greetings BigFame and welcome to SB! There has been a lot of conversation and opinion on this topic. My advice get diving with either mask! Start your training today!
Experiment with gear as you go..... I personally have both and I wear black almost always. I find the light glimmer very distracting and it makes it harder to focus. I prefer the Atomic frameless. It is not cheap but very worth it to me! Check it out and if possible try one out! Have fun and get busy on your certification! CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!
Experiment with gear as you go..... I personally have both and I wear black almost always. I find the light glimmer very distracting and it makes it harder to focus. I prefer the Atomic frameless. It is not cheap but very worth it to me! Check it out and if possible try one out! Have fun and get busy on your certification! CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!
I recommend to all my students that they get a mask with black skirt. It means that I don't have to see the boogers floating around in the bottom of the nose pocket.
The main advantage to a black skirt is you don't have to wear a slip. 
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With a black skirted mask, Photographers will not be able to see the "whites of your eyes", so if you charge them, they will not know how to shoot you 
Ok, mustache diver here. I bought a black skirted Deep Sea as this was the mask that didn't leak around my stash. I then bought a clear skirted one and it leaks like a sieve. My first inclination was that the silicone was different on the clear one and in fact it doesn't feel as soft. My LDS didn't think there is a difference but now am inclined to think it is the problem. I am going to contact the manufacturer and find out for sure. In any case I am sitting on $90.00 mask that I can't use.
Bruce
It's not a huge difference to me, but I prefer the black skirt. If you're looking into a dark hole, you don't have as much light coming in on the sides to dilate your pupils.
Tom
Tom
My skirt is grey.. I like it alot.. no glare and it's comfy. I tried a clear skirt mask and it did let it in too much light.
OP
BigFame
Contributor
does the area you dive in play a part? I will be diving in the Seattle area, and it is not famous for really high vis
realdiver7
Contributor
I'm going to go against the popular grain in this thread.....I've been diving with a clear skirt for the past 14 years and prefer the clear over the black, mostly because that's what I'm used to. Even though I'm not claustrophobic, the clear gives me more of a feeling of "openness." Like most clear-skirted masks, the clear is more of an opaque (cloudy-clear), but I can still make out objects and light signals with my peripheral vision, which has been very helpful many times with buddies and students, and with spotting large animals as they got nearer.
I never noticed the glare at shallow depths with my clear skirt until I read about it here on ScubaBoard, so now I notice it once in a while if my head is tilted at certain angles. When I take underwater digital pictures, I can focus on the screen because I'm used to my mask. I can see how a black skirt would help to focus on the camera screen and eliminate some glare, but for me it's not a big deal.
My favorite mask is the Atomic Aquatics medium frameless with clear skirt. Long story short....you get used to whatever mask that fits you the best and you use the most. Fit and comfort is much more important than looks for those that think black skirts look "cool."
Hope this helps!
I never noticed the glare at shallow depths with my clear skirt until I read about it here on ScubaBoard, so now I notice it once in a while if my head is tilted at certain angles. When I take underwater digital pictures, I can focus on the screen because I'm used to my mask. I can see how a black skirt would help to focus on the camera screen and eliminate some glare, but for me it's not a big deal.
My favorite mask is the Atomic Aquatics medium frameless with clear skirt. Long story short....you get used to whatever mask that fits you the best and you use the most. Fit and comfort is much more important than looks for those that think black skirts look "cool."
Hope this helps!
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