DGX ultraview frameless mask. Inexpensive and fits my face just as well as my primary (Aqua Lung Favola).
What's your backup mask?
- Thread starter NYCrecdiver
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My favorite back-up is a Cressi frameless single lense. Low profile, folds flat. For cold water diving here in the PAC NW it stores in my right drysuit thigh pocket. For tropics where I typically wear only a full rashguard, I have a Dive Rite "portable" thigh pocket that clips around my thigh and has an upper clip/strap that attaches to my lower right BC D-Ring to keep it from slipping down my leg..
For those that may think they don't do the kind of diving that would ever need a spare and say that if they had a broken or lost mask that they would just surface.......that plan doesn't work very well in low vis cold water diving. Very difficult to control an ascent in low to no vis with no mask to reference depth data.
For those that may think they don't do the kind of diving that would ever need a spare and say that if they had a broken or lost mask that they would just surface.......that plan doesn't work very well in low vis cold water diving. Very difficult to control an ascent in low to no vis with no mask to reference depth data.
I did the same, but the silicone has decayed so they are leaky now. I'll have to find a new model now since that mask is obsolete.
Random thoughts on backup masks:
- I never heard of carrying a backup mask until I was required to do so at the beginning of my tech training. When I transitioned to cave training, my cave instructor said he had been teaching for 35 years and had never heard of anyone losing a mask, so he didn't carry a backup.
- I was once setting up some gear on the surface well out in a lake in preparation for instruction, and I whacked myself in the head and broke the strap holder on my mask. I didn't want to have to go all the way back to shore to get my backup, so I just did the full dive setting up the instructional scene with my mask without a strap. No problem.
- I bring a backup mask with me and keep it with my gear on all trips of all kinds. When I was in Palau a few years ago, my 20 year old mask began to fall apart, and I replaced it with the backup. (I could have stayed with the original, but it was leaking at the seams.) That is the only time I have ever used one.
- I was in Fiji a couple weeks ago, and at one point the DM was helping put my gear in the storage crate, and he saw the backup mask in there. He was confused, because he saw I had my regular mask out. It took him a while to understand that I had two masks. He had apparently never seen a diver with two masks before, and he had no idea why I would want two.
- On that same trip to Fiji, but with a different operation, another diver on the boat had his mask strap break between dives. I offered him my backup mask, but he just took the strap. If he had carried a spare strap, he would not have needed a spare mask.
- At this time in my life, I don't believe I know anyone who carries a backup mask while diving.
About clearing a mask during a dive....
In my last post, I mentioned that my 20+ year old mask had finally fallen apart a couple years ago. I had two backup masks, but didn't like either one all that much. I bought a new one, a Tusa. I was told not to bother doing the usual early cleaning stuff, and I didn't. I just defogged with spit usually, sometimes using someone's defog. I never had a problem, no matter how carelessly I treated the mask before diving. On the aforementioned trip to Fiji, as an experiment, I did not do any kind of pretreatment at all before a dive. No fogging. The last couple days of the trip, I just put my mask on and jumped in the water. No problem at all. I think new masks have superior lenses in terms of antifogging.
With my old mask, if I had any fogging problem (rare), I would just flood the mask, clear it, and that would be it.
In my last post, I mentioned that my 20+ year old mask had finally fallen apart a couple years ago. I had two backup masks, but didn't like either one all that much. I bought a new one, a Tusa. I was told not to bother doing the usual early cleaning stuff, and I didn't. I just defogged with spit usually, sometimes using someone's defog. I never had a problem, no matter how carelessly I treated the mask before diving. On the aforementioned trip to Fiji, as an experiment, I did not do any kind of pretreatment at all before a dive. No fogging. The last couple days of the trip, I just put my mask on and jumped in the water. No problem at all. I think new masks have superior lenses in terms of antifogging.
With my old mask, if I had any fogging problem (rare), I would just flood the mask, clear it, and that would be it.
Garry Dallas has a fun trick.
When I do bring a backup on my person, which is exceptionally rare, it's a Cressi Calibro because it's smaller than my primary (Hollis M1 in cold water with thick hood, xDeep the rest of the time) both in terms of face fit and packed size, fits me well enough, and has the fancy anti-fog nose pocket. I haven't had any reason to use it other than mask switching practice.
Barry Brumfield
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Look into Iklite and Dacor tempered glass masks. Been using them for a while now, with no issues.
Hollis M4 in my 'Tech' shorts, primary M1, both fit me very well.
Buying another Hollis M1 as I type so I can have 2 the same, I will sell the M4 on my next resort trip as someone will have trouble with their mask, and I always have one [or 2] masks for sale that fit most faces, pre cleaned and ready to dive [it's beer money, at island prices]. sold a SP Solo last trip to a woman from the US.
Just make sure you give the Hollis masks a good clean before use, as "out of the box" they are not good and need a GOOD clean.
Buying another Hollis M1 as I type so I can have 2 the same, I will sell the M4 on my next resort trip as someone will have trouble with their mask, and I always have one [or 2] masks for sale that fit most faces, pre cleaned and ready to dive [it's beer money, at island prices]. sold a SP Solo last trip to a woman from the US.
Just make sure you give the Hollis masks a good clean before use, as "out of the box" they are not good and need a GOOD clean.
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