Mask fogging problem

[Papa Steve]

I usually rub in some defogger the night before the dive and leave it to dry. I rinse it just before my dive. I also defog them again before each subsequent dive.

Good luck

I do something similar as to what neve describes here but not the night before. When I first get to a dive site I'll wet the mask, put in the defog, and then let it set while I'm gearing up. By the time I'm ready to dive the defog paste is dry. I'll lightly rinse the mask and start the dive. It has cured my fogging problem.

 

[jenlaur]

Does anyone know if you can use Soft Scrub on prescription lenses?

 

[T23]

Jenlaur,

Personally I wouldn't use Soft Scrub on prescription or non-prescription lenses. It does contain abrasives which most likely will leave some really fine scratches.

The usual recommendation is to use non-abrasive toothpaste though in recent years that has gotten harder and harder to find. I'm not sure any is even available at present so I pretty much rely pretty much on the mask buff/cleaner sold at LDS's.

 

[forumsgr]

Hi all
Having the same problem as you have now but not in the first dives, I used all the above mentioned methods, change masks etc.I always exhaled by nose and the strainge thing is that on the firtst 20 dives I had never fogging problem. So I sit down and thought what I changed in my diving habits and the fogging appeared so often...
The solution is even simplier... Clean up your masks immediately after each dive with fresh water (not salt) and let it dry naturally. Don't pack it with the rest wet equipment.
At some point of time after newbie lessons (that I was overprotected with my equipment and no fooging problem existed), I 've start packing my mask without clean it up with fresh water and then the problems started. Salt water was drying in the lens and between lens and skirt gaps, leaving invisible little spots that caused fogging despite toothpastes, spitting, soaps etc.

Give a good clean of your mask with warm->hot (not boiled) fresh water... change water 3-4 times in order to melt-defuse any salt microcrystals and from threfore just use the spit... No more problems
At least worked for me...

 

[DV8ED]

good stuff! A nice comprehensive writeup

 

[CapnDan]

The solution is even simplier... Clean up your masks immediately after each dive with fresh water (not salt) and let it dry naturally.

If you let your mask air-dry after every freshwater rinse then the lenses will probably develop permanent water spots. Depending on the mineral content of the water, this could happen fairly quickly. I suggest wiping the lenses dry with a clean cloth after each rinse.

 

[forumsgr]

You 've got a point if you are in place where water has "heavy" mineral water. But this is not permanent effect. In this worst case, a whip out with ordinary glass cleaner (the one that our mothers using) will prevent it for LOoooong time time until spots re-appeared

 

[T23]

In my experience mineral spots are only visible when my lens is dry. As soon as the mask becomes wet the spots disappear. I think a lot of people have probably seen something similar to this on the windshield of their car after washing the car in their driveway.

Personally, I'm more concerned about what I see thru the lens underwater than when it is dry. Most people are simply unable to focus their eyes on the lens while wearing a mask which means our eyes are actually focused at some distant point. Unless a lens is really, really dirty our eyes and brains tend to simply ignore and look past the vast majority of things like water spots to focus on more distant objects.

 

[sixgears]

The only thing that worked on my lens fogging problem was SoftScrub. Afterwards I hand-dry it with Bounty paper towel - no streaks, no spots; now I'm fog free.

 

[perdidochas]

3 of my last 4 dives my mask has really bean foggy and interesting enough more on one side then the other. I have tried mask defog, lots of spit and it stills fogs alot. What works great is that I flood my mask and poof instant vision, but with in 2 minutes it is fogged bad again, any ideas?? I am tired of flooding my mask all the time. about 10 times I flooded it to defog it last dive.

If it's a fairly new mask, you need to treat the lenses by rubbing them with toothpaste. That's not a bad idea for an older mask--possibly something got on them.