Full face masks?

is there a specific why full face masks are not more common? esp for cold
water diving?

> is there a specific why full face masks are not more common? esp for cold
> water diving?

Just not really necessary in most cases, the cold on your face isn't a
problem at UK temperatures (even fresh water sites in mid-winter), and are
an extra complication over mask and reg. Cost I suppose comes into it too,
and they can't really be used for basic training because of the need to have
a mask that fits which will cause problems. Most people would have a normal
mask anyway, just for snorkelling and things, nad would need to carry a mask
with them on a dive as backup if they have problems with their full face
mask unit and need to swap to backup regs and mask.

Basically, for most diving the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

David

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 17:59:12 GMT, "Jason" <Jase2322@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>is there a specific why full face masks are not more common? esp for cold
>water diving?
>
There are several ,
The Kirby bandmasks all give limited peripheral vision and can be very
claustrophobic. They also require assistance to put on and get a good
seal. Very high air consumption.
The AGA Divator is an improvement but the seal can be a problem with
some face shapes and it has a tendency to try to float off your face
if you look up.

Of those more suited to sport diving the Ocean Reef is OK but easily
broken and tends to free flow when the diver is in the head down
attitude. It is possible to get a CO2 hit with this mask if you have
not ensured the oral-nasal silicon hood is not properly seated on its
plastic fittings of the comms ports and the dump port.

The Scubapro is probably the best, it has a separate seal for the
eye/nosel area and a plastic teat which naturally seals on the lips.
Air consumption is the same as OC but it allows for the use of comms
if required. A bit more difficulty to put on than the Ocean Reef but
possible with practice.
One negative is that this does not include a second stage and AFAIK
only Scubapro valves are easily fitted.
Of all the FFMs I have, I like the Scubapro most for sport dives. and
the EXO26 for serious working dives.
I am "considering" fitting the Scubapro to my KISS. specifically to
cover the possibility of an Oxtox incident
--
Steve Barlow

Jason wrote:
> is there a specific why full face masks are not more common? esp for
> cold water diving?

Have you thought through the complications?

You have a gas problem? Here's my octo... Oh...

A FFM course takes you through the scenarios and the fixes
for them but they are complex diving skills.

Cold water isn't too much of a problem. We were diving at
Stoney this weekend and I felt warm. I will admit that when we
came out my lips were too cold to form words properly so I
could only say 'Ank ooo' to Dave for helping me off with the
fins on the ladder but it wasn't that bad.

Contaminated water is another matter but we don't dive
contaminated water if we can help it.

nigelH

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 17:59:12 GMT, "Jason" <Jase2322@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>is there a specific why full face masks are not more common? esp for cold
>water diving?
>
That's a good question. I use an positive pressure AGA Divator and
have no intention of returning to using a regular mask. I find it
great to use and no need to breathe through the mouth.

Dave

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 19:34:12 +0000, Nigel Hewitt wrote:

> Cold water isn't too much of a problem. We were diving at Stoney this
> weekend and I felt warm. I will admit that when we came out my lips were
> too cold to form words properly so I could only say 'Ank ooo' to Dave
> for helping me off with the fins on the ladder but it wasn't that bad.

I'm soooo sorry I missed it. It sounds really, really great. I blame Al
for not getting our SAA forms back in time. I mean, I couldn't possibly
dive without insurance, could I?

Jason

--
See http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for trip reports including
the Costa Blanca, Gibraltar, Gran Canaria and the UK

Jason wrote:
> Nigel Hewitt wrote:
>
>> Cold water isn't too much of a problem. We were diving at Stoney this
>> weekend and I felt warm. I will admit that when we came out my lips
>> were too cold to form words properly so I could only say 'Ank ooo'
>> to Dave for helping me off with the fins on the ladder but it wasn't
>> that bad.
>
> I'm soooo sorry I missed it. It sounds really, really great. I blame
> Al for not getting our SAA forms back in time. I mean, I couldn't
> possibly dive without insurance, could I?

Naaah. He did you a favour. You'd have frozen to death breathing
that nasty cold OC gas. Maria had a nice thermos of hot water and
did a brisk trade in unfreezing freeflowing regs. Smart girl.

Simon NK had a drysuit injector lock on, which is always my
most scary fault, but I doubt we can blame that on the temperature
but I think DannyB's oxygen inject fault was ice.

nigelH

Jason wrote:
> Nigel Hewitt wrote:
> > Cold water isn't too much of a problem. We were diving at Stoney this
> > weekend and I felt warm. I will admit that when we came out my lips were
> > too cold to form words properly so I could only say 'Ank ooo' to Dave
> > for helping me off with the fins on the ladder but it wasn't that bad.
>
> I'm soooo sorry I missed it. It sounds really, really great. I blame Al
> for not getting our SAA forms back in time. I mean, I couldn't possibly
> dive without insurance, could I?

*cough*

Must get round to doing that, although I'm still missing some cheques... ;)

Al.

Alasdair Allan <aa@ukrecscuba.org.uk> wrote in message news:<bta89v$4vcp2$2@ID-188041.news.uni-berlin.de>...

>
> *cough*
>
> Must get round to doing that, although I'm still missing some cheques... ;)
>
> Al.


S'ok Al, we can wait till you have finished abusing the dog!

xxx

Digs

Digger wrote:
> S'ok Al, we can wait till you have finished abusing the dog!

If I could figure out _how_ I'd been insulted I'd probably be offended,
but that one went right over my head, maybe I'm being a bit more absent
minded professor(ish) than usual or something...

Al.