How To Buy Snorkel Masks

Hi, I'm Howard Payne. I'm an instructor with Dive Wimbeldon. We're a five star IDC center here in Southwest London and I teach both recreational and technical diving and I've been diving for about eight years and today I'm going to be giving you a little bit of advice on equipment and how to scuba dive.

Price wise we talked earlier on about getting a mask with decent quality glass and decent quality silicon. I think it's worth actually spending a reasonable amount of money buying a decent mask. It's one of the most critical things to you enjoying your diving.

It's worth spending a reasonable amount of money buying a decent mask. Once you've found something that fits and that works for the shape of your face and it feels comfortable, I'd strongly recommend spending somewhere around 50 pounds on a decent quality mask. You're going to get better quality glass, you're going to get better quality silicon that leaks less.

It's going to last longer. If it's a clear skirted mask it's less likely to discolor than with cheaper versions. You'll see that there are quite a loy of cheap snorkeling masks and snorkels available as a pack or as a set.

I mean even if you're going to be just snorkelling, it's worth just spending a bit of money getting the right thing. You'll enjoy yourself a lot more with the right mask and you won't be clearing it every five seconds, so around 50 pounds something there or thereabouts is going to help you. if you go to a shop that has quite a wide range of masks like we have here, have a whole wall of different sizes and types then you can just spend a good hour trying them on and choosing something that really fits and works for you.

Once you've chosen the style of mask that fits your face and that you're happy with, one of the other things to consider is whether you want to have a mask with a black skirt or a mask with a clear skirt. Some people prefer a clear skirted mask. They find a black skirted mask a little bit claustrophobic and they feel it just feels more kind of open and natural to them.

Where as a lot of underwater photographers like a black skirted mask simply because they get less kind of light disturbance from the side, if that's the right word. Also technical divers very often choose a black skirted mask because if they're using lights for communication underwater, it tends to keep out the sort of stray peripheral light so there's some sound reasons for perhaps choosing a black skirted mask if you're into technical diving or underwater photography. .