What makes the Atomic Venom mask worth $260???

[northernone]

I've borrowed an atomic venom.

The glass and coating on the lens makes perceivable slight increase in underwater clarity. The skirt material caressed my face a little more gently than most others....

If they were prices 20$ more to get the glass, I'd consider buying one.

Worth it? Perhaps to someone somewhere. I tend to avoid luxury markup prices myself.

 

[dhaines429]

I guess if it fits nice and doesn't leak then it may be worth it to some people. Personally I think it's an inflated price for the brand. That being said I went through three masks before I found that the Hollis M1 is a good fit for me. To each their own, I see some divers using $50 masks they are happy with and some going top end and being unhappy.

 

[dmaziuk]

What makes the Atomic Venom mask worth $260??

The fact that people (presumably) pay that.

 

[mdb]

Some people buy into the hype.

BMW is expert at this with "The Ultimate Driving Machine".

You can buy a well made high performance Honda SI model for half the price.

Same with Atomic, the mask probably cost $12.00 or less from the offshore OEM.
Then the mask is sold to the dealer for 5 or 6X that. The Dealer marks it up 100%.

Way more cost efficient, to buy a good fitting mask from a true OEM-Cressi comes to mind.

The ultimate diving mask is one that fits.

 

[TheShark1]

I went into a shop and tried on some Atomic's and Tusa's today (as I've heard those are the 'best' mask brands).

The Tusa's didn't seem to be much of an improvement, if at all, over my Cressi Big Eyes in terms of fit, seal, or skirt quality. And the field of vision seemed smaller.

The single-frame atomic masks all pressed my forehead. Not the design for my face (fortunately, lol.. $$$).

The SubFrame Atomic masks, however, fit great, sealed better than my Big Eyes, higher quality skirt than my Big Eyes, and equal field of vision. I think I'm going to pull the trigger there. Has anyone heard anything about these, or better yet, used them?

 

[unwantedsn]

I use the subframe. By far my favorite. It fits my face perfectly, doesn't leak and is really comfortable.

 

[Schwob]

Yuppyism.

I don't even like Gummy Bears.

I like 'em, but $260 buys a lot of Gummi Bears and they sure will taste better than that mask...

 

[rsingler]

I like 'em, but $260 buys a lot of Gummi Bears and they sure will taste better than that mask...

I use the Subframe as well, and it's certainly not $260, like the Venom. $115 on Amazon. It has a fantastic seal, excellent optics, and very comfortable. Volume to clear is low. It's my favorite mask. Not cheap, but it's also...not cheap.
And Atomic's support is excellent. Broke a strap attachment with a knucklehead move taking it off, and they replaced the mask, no questions asked - I was trying it with one of those zero-stretch Velcro-attached head bands instead of the supplied strap, and the pull was just too much when I removed the mask from a hood.

 

[stuartv]

Is the Venom really any better than this one?

DGX Ultra View Frameless Mask

I have an Atomic Frameless. I tried on a BUNCH of masks at the LDS and it seemed to fit the best. I started diving it and found that it constantly leaked a little bit. I always chalked it up to my facial hair. Then a buddy insisted I try his Seavision mask with the magenta lens. The color correction in blue water was really cool. But, the thing that really got my attention was after the dive I realized I had not had to clear the mask the whole time we were in the water. It didn't leak at all, on the same day where my Atomic mask was still leaking as usual, on the other dive of the day.

Moral of the story: You won't really KNOW if it fits well until you've bought it and tried it on some dives. Because of that, I have a fairly expensive Atomic mask now that I NEVER wear.

I'm going to buy one of the DGX masks for myself. $29 is a tolerable investment (to me) as an experiment. If it works well, it will at least become my pocketable backup mask. My Seavision masks do not fold flat and I already broke a strap flange on one from having it in my drysuit thigh pocket and (I guess) accidentally leaning against something.

 

[rsingler]

Yeah, @stuartv has it right.
You just never know until...
We can complain about cost and value, but once you find the mask that fits YOUR face, everything gets so much better.
And if it cost $30 or (gulp) $230, it doesn't matter. You're a happy (albeit poorer) diver! Hey, at least we aren't skiers!

But I gotta tell you, stuartv, that DGX frameless is one UGLY mask.