Prescription Mask Recommendations

[No Misses]

Just another "chime in here". I have the "drop in" prescription lenses that I picked up at the LDS. They work fine. I have used these lenses in 2 different masks (Oceanic and Tusa).

[strfish7]

Hopefully, this discussion will help get my nearsighted girlfriend off the boat and into the water...thanks for the links, guys.

[Osprey]

Originally Posted by CompuDude

I'd love to hear more about this...

Sorry I never remember when I've posted somewhere.. further proof I am losing my mind

The mask isn't fancy, it's from AquaLung. All I did was bring my prescription, from my eye doctor of course, and the mask I chose + my paper was shipped to a lens facility a few hours away. They just fit the lenses to the mask and ground them to the specification I needed They are not drop in either, the old lenses in the mask were removed and I was in the shop when the mask came in, and we tested it for leaks

Not an exciting story, except for the "saved some bucks" part

[CompuDude]

Originally Posted by Osprey

Sorry I never remember when I've posted somewhere.. further proof I am losing my mind

The mask isn't fancy, it's from AquaLung. All I did was bring my prescription, from my eye doctor of course, and the mask I chose + my paper was shipped to a lens facility a few hours away. They just fit the lenses to the mask and ground them to the specification I needed They are not drop in either, the old lenses in the mask were removed and I was in the shop when the mask came in, and we tested it for leaks

Not an exciting story, except for the "saved some bucks" part

$77 for custom ground lenses is absurdly cheap. Drop in lenses usually cost around $30 per lens, so custom ground for $17 more? My last several prescription masks have been $200-250, and I've seen that price range at more than one place, so it's not unusual.

Share the name of the LDS? PM if you'd rather it not be public. At $77, I'll gladly pay to ship my masks there and back!

[russp]

Originally Posted by CompuDude

I'd love to hear more about this...

I am very nearsighted with a prescription of -10.5/-9.5 and went to RXDIVEMASK.COM. A Tusa Spledide with custom ground lenses and shipping ran me $265. Most drop in lenses stop at -6, a few go to -8.

[tbg0519]

I'm blind as a bat (-5.5) and went with the Sherwood Magnum mask. Vision correction was good, but mask is not that comfy at great depths, puts pressure on my forehead right above the nose. Gonna replace it some day, or just get laser surgery. I don't recommend that mask, but then again, that's probably why Scubatoys doesn't carry it.

[heydn62]

Another inexpensive option:

The Sports Authority near me stocks Masks with Optical Lenses for about $60. The come in Mild, Moderate, and Strong only, but I tried one the Moderate and could see through them perfectly. My son uses a stronger prescription than I, and he could read signs across the store using the "Strong" version.

I didn't buy one, but I'm thinking of going back and getting one. I usually wear contacts, but for that price, I might give it a try.

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by Rockhound76

3) His prescription is D -3.0, S -3.25. I take it that "S" is left and "D" is right? I'm guessing that D is for dextral and S for sinestral. But, I could be wrong.

With that perscription he could use one of those domed lens masks. They are great and really do work as advertised but you need to have poor vision with a -3 to -5 presription to use them. He should be able to use the off the shelf mask without contacts

I have a +1.5 prescription so when I tried it I needed contacts to "un-correct" my vision. I was nearly blind on land, everything was fuzzy but under water I had perfect vision and I could not see the mask frame I had 180 degree vision under water. But no way am I using contacts to un-correct my vison whaen I dive.

The mask is expensive but no more so than getting a custom lens for a norma mask.

More details here
Diving Mask -- Welcome To HydroOptix