DiveCatalog.com Classic Oval Dive Mask Silicone

Hold the mask against your face without using the strap, look slightly down, and inhale gently through your nose; a well-fitting mask holds itself in place for a few seconds. Check that the skirt seals all the way around without digging into the nose bridge, and that there are no gaps at the temples or above the upper lip. A mustache can break the seal even on an otherwise well-fitting mask.

New masks carry a residue on the inside of the lens left over from manufacturing, and defog cannot stick to it, so the mask fogs until that film is removed. The standard pre-treatment is to scrub the inside of the lens with a mild abrasive cleaner or a dedicated mask prep and rinse thoroughly, repeating if it still fogs. Follow the mask manufacturer's instructions, particularly on coated or mirrored lenses.

Apply defog to a dry lens before the dive, spread it over the whole inner surface, then rinse briefly with water just before you put the mask on. Fogging happens when warm moist air meets a cooler lens, so a clean lens with a thin surfactant film is the fix. Keep sunscreen off your fingers before handling the inside of the lens, because that film fogs badly and is hard to remove.

Dive mask lenses should be tempered safety glass because it resists scratching and, if it ever does break, fractures into blunt granules rather than sharp shards next to your eyes. Untempered or plastic lenses scratch easily and can craze, which is why tempered glass is standard on scuba masks. Look for the tempered marking etched on the lens.

Yes, prescription options are widely available, usually as masks fitted with stock corrective lenses in set diopter steps, custom-ground lenses installed in compatible frames, or bonded lenses added to an existing lens. Not every mask frame accepts replacement lenses, so check compatibility before you buy the frame. An optician or a dive shop can help translate your glasses prescription into a mask lens choice.

Rinse it in fresh water after each dive day and let it dry away from direct sunlight, avoiding anything abrasive on the treated inner lens. Store it in a rigid mask box so the skirt is never compressed or creased, since a set crease in the skirt is a permanent leak. Keep silicone skirts away from petroleum products and prolonged UV, both of which yellow and harden them.

Not tight at all in the usual sense, because over-tightening is the most common cause of both leaks and headaches; a hard-pulled strap distorts the skirt and lifts the seal off your face. The strap should sit high on the back of your head and be just firm enough to keep the mask from shifting. If you need it cranked down to stop a leak, the mask does not fit your face.

Only the skirt and strap color. The black version uses black silicone and the clear version uses clear silicone, and both are built the same way: an oval single-lens frame with a one-piece tempered glass lens, a stainless steel band and a double feather-edge seal. In the published model numbering, the black silicone mask is 1109KS and the clear silicone mask is 1109S.

A double feather-edge seal gives the skirt two thin sealing lips where it meets your face. This mask's silicone skirt uses that double feather-edge design.

It is a single-lens mask. The lens is one piece of tempered glass in a classic oval shape, so there is no center frame divider in the middle of your view, which is why the manufacturer describes the one-piece lens as maximizing underwater vision. Twin-lens masks split the view into two panes with a bridge over the nose.

Yes. The Classic Oval Dive Mask Silicone uses a tempered glass lens, a stainless steel band and a silicone skirt with a double feather-edge seal, and the classic oval profile is suited to both snorkeling and scuba diving. If you want help deciding between the black and clear skirt, call our Irvine, California shop at 888-701-4017.