Hydro Optix

I first got exposed to it from an ad in the California Diving News. So finally during the Scuba Convention on Long Beach on May, I had the chance of seeing one in person. After a quick demo and test from the VP of the company herself, myself and Chex bought one each.

Now, in theory the mask is supposed to give added viewing area as well as take care of my "blindness" without having to have corrective lenses inserted in the mask. There are conflicting reports about its performance from many sources.


My Review of the unit: Updated information at the end.

I first used this mask on the same trip I tried my Titanium Abyss at Catalina. Above water the mask
was pretty much useless to me since it only corrects my vision below water so as soon as I took my glasses off I was still pretty much affected by bad vision.

The mask was decently comfortable and we went in the water. Just before the dive, I had applied a small amount of defog gel from Sport Chalet that I have always used with my old Ocean Master Z4. As soon as I subermerged the mask it instantly fogged. I was hampered by the foggin affect almost the entire dive. The second problem was that the mask would leak everytime I was facing down during the dive. I thought there was an improper seal because of an overlap of the mask and hood but that was not the case. That was actually sort of beneficial because on the particular dive I used the leaked water to essentialy defog my mask. Every 30 seconds I would exhale through my nose to expel the water from inside the mask. Halfway through the dive I had noticed that if I kept my head straight and of I exhaled through my mouth instead of my nose, water leakage was minimum.

During our Surface Interval between the first and second dive, I applied the defog that came with the mask. That defog fared much better and the fogging problem was almost non existent in my second dive. Leakage was also minimized by strapping the mask a little tighter than what I am normally acustomed to. The leaked water can be easily purged simply by tilting my head upward to allow the water to get to the bottom of the rounded lens and just exhale lightly to expel the water.

My feelings toward the mask is ambiguous. It certainly solved my nearsight problem. I could see as good as I can with glasses on land and the plan of vision was simply astounding.

Now there are several negative issues, there is first the bulkiness of it. It is by no means a small compact mask, it is much bigger and bulkier than a normal mask but the Hydro Optix is not a normal mask. There is also the leakage issue. Now that might just be caused by the diver. In this case divers because both myself and Chex experienced leakeage.

This is a nifty piece of quipment. It does what it set out to do, gives clear vision to nearsighted divers but that comes along with several cons. Also, it is not a cheap piece of item that can cost you somewhere between $200 to $250 at your local dive shop.

If you decide to try this mask out, I would like to know your comments. For more Information visit Hydro Optix and a negative report I found here.

It has been a good year since we started to use the Hydro Optix, I have pretty much solved the fogging problem. I have been using the Gold Seal Anti-Fog that you can purchase at Sport Chalet. Also, I have found the best way for the mask to fit my face, but that is just ajusting it. I have grown to love the Hydro Optix and I admit it would be hard to go back to regular flat masks.

As we had previously announced, we have used Hydro Optix's new Anti-Fog lenses. They work wonders. One of the primary concern for CHEX has now been solved with this new lense. Deuce's brand new unit also sports the new lens. NOS's will be replacing his OG lens to the anti-fog piece shortly. You can purchase these new lenses directly from Hydro Optix.

SCORE: 9