Mares ESA mask

[Sue-ba]

:11: I have been looking for reviews on the Mares ESA mask. I have found a few but would like to know if anyone on the board has had experience with this mask. I am really intrigued by the fact that you can have a whole lense to see distance, which I do just fine, but still see the guages through the bottom reading lenses.

Please let me know your experience with this mask.

 

[Sideband]

If the one you are talking about is the 6 window mask then I have one and like it a lot. Great field of vision but was a bit expensive. Since I shaved off the lip fur I haven't had any real problems with leaking and it's comfortable.

Joe

 

[AZ_Zoner]

I've had one for a couple of years and it has been a good mask. A little on the big side though. But I have a big head.

2 cents

Craig

 

[redacted]

I have one and had very good luck with it but the high volume is undesirable. I thought I wanted it to read guages and keep track of my wife/buddy who used to like to be above and behind me. I swithched to a lower volume mask after buddy moved to my side and greatly prefer it. One caution, of the two mask failures I have seen while diving, both were ESA's. The frame is quite complex and vulnerable.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Sue-ba,

I've used a Mares ESA for three years now. Added the corrective reading lenses into the lower ports. It will work fine. It is not optimal, though. You may have seen bifocal-wearers raising their heads or moving them around to view different objects through the various sections of their lenses. The Mares ESA is like a large pair of bifocals. If you are trying to set up a steady scan of the area around you, your compass heading, your depth and time, etc., you're constantly moving your head around to allow you to view different things through different upper and lower ports on the mask. It gets to be a pain.

IMHO, after looking hard at different options, I think you'll be happier with a prescription lens mask with just a right and left ocular lens rather than a multi-port mask. Take a look at SeaVision. There are others.

FWIW. YMMV.

Doc

 

[Sue-ba]

I guess I am worried about paying the higher price for the bifocal and then not liking it. I have tried the Optix Lenses and found that it made me claustrophobic. I took one out and it was better although I had to close one eye to see the instruments. I see perfectly beyond 3 ft. I see my computer fine and I can always guess right on the air but the compass is impossible to see until I figure this out. Thank you for your replys and suggestions.