Hydro Optix Mask worth the $200+?

[MauiScubaSteve]

Personally, I don't like the way that the HydroOptix marketeers make a connection between 'situational awareness' and vision. Awareness is not controlled by your eyes... it's about your brain. That strikes me as false advertising. It's missrepresenting the mask as a safety innovation.

OK DD, let's conduct an experiment; from a common human perspective, turn and look out your anus. That is serious tunnel vision. Your brain knows where it is located, but does your brain know what is a foot or two outside of your hip bones?

Many people can not process the periphery of the view from a Big Eyes mask, but for those of us who can process the periphery, would not the increased field of view give the brain more information to process, yielding a more complete awareness of the situation? :kiss2:

 

[DevonDiver]

Ok Halemano.... I was born with a neck. It's purpose is to allow rotation of the head, thus increasing my field of vision upon demand.

I guess that if you are neckless, then the Hydro-optix mask is a boon!

Secondly... as I've clearly stated... situational awareness is about the brain, not the eyes. I've worked at developing situation awareness in many fields, not just in diving. It's a critical attribute within the military (Army and Air Force) and within the martial arts/self-defence that I have taught.

I've seen some divers that have better situational awareness inside a pitch black, silty wreck or cave, with only a spotlight of torch beam for illumination, than many divers have on a beautiful, clear reef. Adding a few degrees of vision isn't the answer to these divers problems.

Unless the Hydro-optix mask had some sort of hi-tech 'neural' link that stimulated the divers' brains, then it doesn't provide increased situational awareness. It only provides increased field of vision.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

If it provides a significant increase in vision it significantly increases situational awareness, for those that are aware of the periphery.

 

[DevonDiver]

I get your point, but.....The absence of tunnel vision does not prove the existence of situational awareness.

Seeing an image is one thing. Understanding the implications of that image, and how it applies to you, is another thing.

I'm trying not to talk at cross-purposes with you... or disagree about something we agree on. But my undertanding/definition of situational awareness, exceeds that of just 'peripheral awareness'. It's not just about the 'information you collect'...it's about how you process and analyse it to provide a 'result'. Seeing and understanding are different results.

When driving through Kabul, I am very situationally aware. I monitor 360 degrees. That itself isn't situational awareness. What makes me situationally aware is understanding and intrepreting what I see. If you were in Kabul... you might see an overloaded truck. You might see the guy on the rooftop with a camcorder. But would you understand those 'combat indicators' and what they might mean?

The same is true with diving. Ok...the mask gives a wider field of vision. Great. But how exactly does the mask give you situational awareness? That is what they advertise....

 

[D_B]

I think that a reasonable argument could be made that seeing better by having a greater field of view could increase your situational awareness ... drivers use their peripheral vision quit a bit, I know that I do .. yes, you can turn your head back and forth too, but I do not, I can better pick out whats happening on both sides of me at the same time, without turning my head

Edit: Devon ... you explained it perfectly and I now understand what your point is

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Ok...the mask gives a wider field of vision. Great. But how exactly does the mask give you situational awareness? That is what they advertise....

I have not looked at every page on their web site but the page linked does not claim or advertise that "the mask give(s) you situational awareness?"

Conquer tunnel vision with superior situational awareness

.....

Expand your Situational Awareness to improve:

* Buddy safety
* Navigation
* Buoyancy control

.....

Double-Dome Vision Improves Your Underwater Performance

Flat masks cripple your eye-hand coordination and situational awareness by blocking so much of your natural field-of-view. Even highly trained divers with years of experience find task performance greatly improved when their TRUE-view is restored by our Double-Dome dive masks. Conventional flat scuba masks also cause edge blurring and shape distortions.

 

[imtoad]

I get your point, but.....The absence of tunnel vision does not prove the existence of situational awareness.

Seeing an image is one thing. Understanding the implications of that image, and how it applies to you, is another thing.

I'm trying not to talk at cross-purposes with you... or disagree about something we agree on. But my undertanding/definition of situational awareness, exceeds that of just 'peripheral awareness'. It's not just about the 'information you collect'...it's about how you process and analyse it to provide a 'result'. Seeing and understanding are different results.

When driving through Kabul, I am very situationally aware. I monitor 360 degrees. That itself isn't situational awareness. What makes me situationally aware is understanding and intrepreting what I see. If you were in Kabul... you might see an overloaded truck. You might see the guy on the rooftop with a camcorder. But would you understand those 'combat indicators' and what they might mean?

The same is true with diving. Ok...the mask gives a wider field of vision. Great. But how exactly does the mask give you situational awareness? That is what they advertise....

By giving you more information to understand and interpret.
I find it difficult to process and analyze information that I don't have which is exactly the situation when I dive with a flat mask. You might see a guy with a camcorder and an overloaded truck but they might mean something totally different to you if your field of vision also allowed you to see the group of people with clipboards and walkie talkies next to the guy sitting in the directors chair next to equipment holding a guy who was obviously filming a movie. I wore an Atomic Frameless mask recently for the first time in a few years after diving the Hydro-Optix and it was a nightmare! I felt like I was being forced to look through a tube.

I don't really care if what I get is called situational awareness or not. All I know is that I whether or not I process the information as well as someone else, I have a lot more information to process when I wear the Hydro-Optix mask and I hope that I never have to dive without it again.