VR3 Issues

Ant Slegg

Good god !!! - I hate to think what the under 30s must think of this bunch of half blind old folks blundering around the world with rebreathers on - we must seem fairly pathetic... don't worry it's all to come!!

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Ant' S
Learning to dive since 1990...

vulcan

I just bought a pair of non stick lenses to try in my mask (£20 from Stoney Cove) The optician said I need between 1.0 and 1.5 so I got some 1.5's. I've just fitted them to my mask, the instructions say they need no adhesive and can be easily removed or replaced to suit.

I've tried it on land and, yup, they help no end. I'm in the water with them on Wednesday so I'll report back later. I am concerned that a mask flood would dislodge the lenses though....we'll see.

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"Blessed are they who learn from their mistakes. For they shall make, if not necessarily fewer of them, different and more interesting ones."

Martin

Skipbreather

Hi vulcan-

How satisfied you are w/ the performance of your lenses may largely be a function of how cold the water is. Along my “journey” towards admitting to myself ‘yup, welcome to middle age’, I tried said molecular adhesion plastic lenses. The ones I tried were specifically designated for diving- there are others designed for sunglasses. In warm water they were marginally OK. In cold water, just like a child’s plastic lens mask they fogged up badly despite all tricks & efforts. In 5 deg water they were useless. The fogging problem is what drove me to glass lenses bonded into my regular masks.

One other caveat: The glueless stick ons sometimes come off if you do a full flood and clear (happened to me), which would make them useless for a back up mask in any event.

Good luck.

Ken

Pat Coughlan

Another option is to get an option to cut out the desired shape to fit the lower part of the mask out of flat lens and stick them into the mask using 'Araldite for Glass'. It worked a treat for me now I can make out whether or not its a 3 or 8 or maybe its a 9 and you dont get the lenses floating around if you get a flood. make sure you put enough Araldite on the lens or you will get air gaps. This method works out alot cheaper and doesnt restrict the type of mask you use

Cheers Pat

vulcan

Hmmm....this bothers me. The instructions showed the lenses being fitted to a pair of sunglasses. Will some mask anti fog help or did you try that?

As to admiting I'm middle aged.....my (younger) partner reminds me of that one.......regularly!!!

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"Blessed are they who learn from their mistakes. For they shall make, if not necessarily fewer of them, different and more interesting ones."

Martin

Skipbreather

I wouldn’t be bothered by the sunglasses instructions. I’ve used those lenses in, well, sunglasses. As far as I can tell there is not that much difference. In fact I strongly suspect the only real difference is that the “dive” lenses are almost twice the size and I seem to recall they had instructions on how to trim to fit various mask shapes if you wanted to.

As I said, I tried all manner of anti fog including spit, potato, and soap, as well as 500 psi and half a dozen other commercial preparations all to no lasting benefit in very cold water.

Perhaps in the past few years the plastic of choice has changed and your experience will be different from mine and you’ll find an anti fog that does the trick. What the heck, you’ve already bought them so give it a shot. Just be careful w/ any clearing and don’t be too surprised if one or both float off.

Best,
Ken

vulcan

Well, what a total disaster and waste of 20 quid!!

Lenses went in fine, seemed to settle in position and wouldn't budge. Put mask on to get in the water and mask obviously fogged up, so I put the teeniest of drops of water in to it to clear it. This dislodged the lenses and they started to float around the glass. They got moisture underneath, so that when I did look through them it looked like I was looking through rippled glass. Hopeless!!

Just sent my mask in to have 1.25 lenses put in the bottom.

£80 + £20 for crap plastic lenses....that's nearly three times the cost of the mask...bummer!!!

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"Blessed are they who learn from their mistakes. For they shall make, if not necessarily fewer of them, different and more interesting ones."

Martin

4ster

For some reason I had better luck with the plastic (Seavision I think) lenses. I have a set that I have used for years, although I have reset them a number of times when they looked like the adhesion was starting to fail. One advantage is that you can cut them with a craft knife to fit any mask. I usually dive in about 11 deg C water and as long as I use a dose of anti-fog they stay clear.

Vision and age: The thing I noticed was that while I could still read well in air, underwater I couldn't read my gauges. It must be the optical effect of water that makes your arms "shorter" ;-) I actually put the cheater lenses in my dive mask first, later I used cheaters on land before "graduating" to prescription glasses. (I finally got tested for a prescription mainly to order a prescription mask for an upcoming tropical trip.)

Steve

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Steve
"My problem is that I have trouble reconciling my gross habits with my net income." Errol Flynn

ding

Hi Vulcan
I was reading your posts here and thought, I have just done the same thing with the same results. I got a prescription mask as well, problem solved. I saw a guy in my local dive shop getting the stick on lenses and warned him but he bought them anyway.

£80 + £20 for crap plastic lenses....that's nearly three times the cost of the mask...bummer!!

I supose everyone will buy one crap set before they see the light....

ding

Hi Vulcan
I was reading your posts here and thought, I have just done the same thing with the same results. I got a prescription mask as well, problem solved. I saw a guy in my local dive shop getting the stick on lenses and warned him but he bought them anyway.

I supose everyone will buy one crap set of stick on lenses before they see the light...