Hydro optic mask dizzyness
- Thread starter F18driver
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F18driver:
Is this the dome mask?
If it is I dove with a guy that was wearing one for the first time. He had a tiny leak, and the water rolled around in the lense the whole dive. It tended to pool right in the center of the mask, since he was looking down most of the time. He was not at all pleased with it.
How close was your vision to the -4.5 correction of the mask? If it's off and the water is clear, it's not that much fun.
erikharwell
Contributor
when I got my lenses they put .5 amount of correction less than my prescription. they said this was to account for the magnification of the water. I dont know if this is right but it has worked.
simonk999
Contributor
Not much to add, but posting anyway 
The problem with the mask is that it's essentially like wearing eyeglasses (when underwater, of course). If the prescription is wrong, your eyes (and thus brain) aren't going to like it. Undercorrecting is ok (just more blurred), but overcorrection will probably cause the dizziness.
The mask undercorrects me slightly, so all is a-ok. If you're in the relatively small population for whom the mask corrects without need for contacts, like me, it's a fantastic mask. Even with slight leakage problems.
-Simon
The problem with the mask is that it's essentially like wearing eyeglasses (when underwater, of course). If the prescription is wrong, your eyes (and thus brain) aren't going to like it. Undercorrecting is ok (just more blurred), but overcorrection will probably cause the dizziness.
The mask undercorrects me slightly, so all is a-ok. If you're in the relatively small population for whom the mask corrects without need for contacts, like me, it's a fantastic mask. Even with slight leakage problems.
-Simon
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simonk999:Not much to add, but posting anyway
The problem with the mask is that it's essentially like wearing eyeglasses (when underwater, of course). If the prescription is wrong, your eyes (and thus brain) aren't going to like it. Undercorrecting is ok (just more blurred), but overcorrection will probably cause the dizziness.
The mask undercorrects me slightly, so all is a-ok. If you're in the relatively small population for whom the mask corrects without need for contacts, like me, it's a fantastic mask. Even with slight leakage problems.
-Simon
I have a -4.5 model and am eagerly awaiting the -3.5 version. My eyes are -2.75 and -3.25 and altho I fit into the aged and decrepit section of the Hydro-Optix charts, my close up vision is excellent. I am just kinda nearsighted but I could drive without my glasses and not kill possums, etc.
The main caveat with this wonder of dive masks is that you may not be able to read your guages at any usable distance if you don't fit into the parameters of -4.5 I have enough dive stability to deploy and use a close-up magnifier on my guages if I really have to see the numbers (I can pretty well judge depth by evaluating light, terrain, and critters when wall diving).
I don't think using this reading glass is any more cumbersome than using the clever 'above water' adapter that they provide to bring you back to zero correction at the surface. I don't even bother to use it- On the surface I can see well thru the mask or just plain without it. It's not a big deal with my existing correction of approx -3.0
I think the purge valves are a lowest common denominator thing- I never use them- preferring the tilt back, lift and exhale method. It is a large volume mask by comparison, so it's not for the untrainable.
Leaks? I'm no meter of leaks. I have a beard and moustache. Any given mask that I use or have used, leaks one day and maybe not that night. Never figured out why in 47 years of mask use. I like my Mares ESA but it leaks until I put on a dive helmet (that supports a lighting array), and then it stops. Can't figure it out.
All in all, I recommend to anyone here that they go to any major dive show, like Our World Underwater or SeaSpace and see the HydroOptix demo tank. You can put one on and dunk your face in a tank for a look see. Most impressive sales tool.
Any dive shop that is selling them would be foolish not to offer a demonstrator model. Me? I didn't need a demo- I read the sales flyers and understood what they were saying- you can get the ultra wide vision with no linear distortion or apparent distance issues. This is the wide screen tv of the mask world. I just bought one without even trying it.
Of course, that's how I bought my recumbent bicycle and mono-ski, too.
I have perscription lenses in my mask and it has improved my ability to see clearly underwater, but it still not as clear as using my perscription glasses (out of the water). I've read about these masks, are they really a better solution than perscription mask lenses?
Steve
Steve
startag
Registered
im just curious, how did you get to be an F18 driver when you need -4.5 vision correction?
Yes I do realize this is way off topic.
Yes I do realize this is way off topic.
DementialFaith
Contributor
I have -4.25 contacts for both eyes, and I tried their hydro-optix masks during the scuba show. I have to admit everything look sharp and clear... a luxury you can't really find in other masks. But $200.........................
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