Underwater Reading Lenses

[Buadhai]

Anyone know of a source in Thailand for those stick-on reading lenses that you can affix to the inside of your mask? I'm a mildly presbyopic old-fart who needs close up assistance. I have an underwater magnifying lens that I use for looking at stuff, but I need something more convenient for those necessary glances at the computer.

These are the ones I used to use:

HydroTac™ Stick-on Bifocal Reading Lenses

I've not been able to find them in Thailand and they don't seem to have a local distributor. Amazon will ship, but wants US$30 plus a US$18 customs fee.

 

[tincan715]

A search on eBay turns up a seller that says they ship worldwide.

 

[Buadhai]

Thanks. I'd found it on eBay, but shipping to Thailand was excluded. I've now found another that seems to ship here. But when I tried to buy I got this, even though I entered as a "guest":

This seller has set buyer requirements for this item and only sells to buyers who meet those requirements.

You are unable to bid on or buy this item because:

You are currently winning or have bought the maximum-allowed number of this seller's items in the last 10 days

(I've never bought or bid for anything on eBay!)

 

[Buadhai]

Ah, guess what. Further searching yielded positive results. I've ordered.

Thanks.

 

[Quero]

Care to share your source? Are these permanently stuck on or can you peel them off and reuse them?

I just had a diver doing AOW who had the worst time seeing his compass because of the focal length of his eyesight. I was unaware that he couldn't see well until we got to the Nav dive! It would be useful to have some of these lenses available for divers who discover they need them while they're here, especially if they are reusable.

 

[Buadhai]

Here's a link to the seller's ebay page:

oneshot7 - stickon reading lenses

These are reusable. They just stick on with water and are reusable. Warm water is best.

I'll post here when I actually receive and apply them.

 

[Buadhai]

Afterthought: Here's an interim solution. Before I discovered these lenses I used to use one of those cheap plastic magnifying lenses that you find at stationary stores. I just drilled a hole in the handle, attached a lanyard and fastened it to the BCD. That magnification was enough to allow me to read gauges, see a compass, and even look at some nearby small stuff.

 

[stevenl]

Dive Optix magnifiers are available via Divesupply. Stick them to the inside of the mask and you're ok.

They say reusable, in my experience that is limited though, after a few removals they will stop sticking.

 

[Quero]

Thanks, Steve. I generally just rush in and out of Dive Supply rather than browsing, and the catalogue is not my favorite leisure reading, so I never noticed those things. I appreciate the tip!

 

[Buadhai]

Hmmm. Yeah. Wish I'd known before I ordered from the US…

But, there they are on page 29 of the DS catalog. However, look at the price! 2100 baht for a pair. That's almost US$70! I paid about US$23 for two pair of the ordinary ones, including air mail shipping from the US.

Granted, the DiveOPTX lenses are larger, but that still seems rather pricey.