Purge valve for mask – good or bad?

[judyvla]

I need to get a new mask, and I wonder what people think about purge valves. I've never had one, and it seems handy, but I've heard complaints about them clogging, breaking, etc.

comments?

Thanks,
judy

 

[Nwcid]

GF and I have them. They are our first masks. We have not had problems with them clogging or breaking, out leak. We have had ours 2 years and use them a fair amount with about 125 dives each and tons of snorkeling. At first they worked fine but now I can not make a dive without having a wet nose the whole dive. I have to purge often, so I guess that is good practice.

We don't have a local dive shop to try stuff on which is one of the big reasons I have not replaced them yet.

 

[fisheater]

Bad.

They are unnecessary, so they don't provide anything useful, and when they break, the mask is useless.

Just say no.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Kevrumbo]

Absolutely necessary if you must wear hard contact lenses (for those of us divers with Keratoconus and cannot correct for visual acuity with regular prescription glasses). If one inadvertently pops out, you can still retain it if you have to clear your mask of water by virtue of the purge valve. Otherwise if you clear your mask conventionally, you will lose that expensive lens.

The downside is a nose purge valve mask will leaves a pressure sore on your nostrils/external septum after several weeks of continuous diving.

 

[tstormdiver]

Except for the case above (contacts),... if you have been properly taught how to clear your mask & are comfortable with the task, then a purge valve is a mute point. I had one in my first mask & though it was nice, I had problems with it leaking from "crud" that started growing in the diaphragm (I didn't always take the best care of my equipment then). Like anything else in scuba, it has its pluses & minuses.

 

[judyvla]

Thank you all! Happily, I found that Mares makes bifocal (non prescription) lenses, so I don't have to change after all. Your comments on purge masks were very helpful and reflected things I had heard from seasoned pros. No wet nose here!

 

[tracydr]

I had one that the valve popped out of on a deeper dive. Getting back up the anchor line without being able to see much, because my mask was full of water was a huge PITA!I also had issues with sore nose, even after a day of diving.Finally, my skills for clearing a normal mask diminished and I became a nose breather because I was so used to clearing my mask that way.It really took some work when I went to a plain mask to get rid of my bad habits.

 

[Darkforeboding]

I kind of have a middle of the road approach to them. As a purge makes the mask a little more likely to fail you might want to keep something extra in your save a dive kit. If the purge completely fails you might be able to plug it or tape it closed if you have something. I had one that the diaphragm curled up with age and leaked and there was no way to repair it so the purge was useless. If you buy a nice one that can be serviced it's nice to be able to purge the mask with hardly any effort.

DFB

 

[Rich Keller]

I have used both types of masks over the years and I never had a problem with a purge mask.

 

[Kharon]

Except for the case above (contacts),... if you have been properly taught how to clear your mask & are comfortable with the task, then a purge valve is a mute point.

Not if you have a mustache and don't want to either shave an area below the nose (looks stupid) or glob it up with vasoline for every dive. If I didn't have a purge I'd have my hands on my mask almost continualy. In 40+ years of using a mask with a purge I've never had a problem. A couple of times I got a grain of sand in it and had to take it apart and rinse it then put it back together. Every time I had dropped it onto a sandy bottom in waves - so user error.