We are coming down March 29 -april 13for our family vacation.Three of us willdo our open water dives via referral.my problem is I cannot read the gauges well enough to feel comfortable.Our instructor up here told me a shop would havesomething like a stick on magnyfying lens.I really do not want to spend another 150 bucks on a Rxmask.Are there really these lenses out there?We have been reading BT for 5months & are very excited about the Snorkling & diving.Thanks,Marty

Marty, you want to get the stick-on's for your mask. They make them and what I understand is if you are careful with the installation they work great. There like bi-focals for your mask. Magnifiers on your gauges will help you read your gauges but wouldn't help you see that clearer shrimp or a tiny sea horse. There are a number of threads over on D2D (scubadiving.com forum), search for stick ons.

I did not have very good luck with the stick ons but have heard that the dive optics ones work better than what I tried. I finally had a set of lens put into my Sea Vision mask that had a magnifying portion. They work great. I know some of the shops here have them with mask that you can rent. I actually bought mine at a dive shop in the states when I visted last year. Made all the difference in the world

I have used the stick-ons for 7 or 8 years. I think the ones I have are Sea-Optics or maybe Dive-optics like Susan said. You do have to follow the instructions exactly. If you do they will stay on. I only have one lens stuck in my mask - on the bottom of the left side where I look at my console. You can get them at the Carib Inn dive shop down by Divi about as cheap as in the states.

As far as looking at the little critters, my wife uses a drugstore magnifying glass. I drilled a hole in the handle and put a cable tie through to make a loop that she put a retractor on so it pulls up close to her BC when she is not using it.

I think she is going to get a better quality one though after she saw one that Linda (Carib Inn) was using last year. You can get really good ones at a store that sells stuff for visually challenged folks.

Great idea, Clay. I got to many things attached to my BC now, I think I'll try a stick on. I noticed some problems seeing the display on the camera Sunday. I'll know better next time I try it, I'm only slight far sighted (right now), I was hoping the water magnification would be enough.

those stick-on lenses go on the outside?????right?

Cecil and Gary...
Cecil - Divers Den in Manchester has the stick-ons. They work pretty well. At least I can read the numbers!

Gary.. Nope, they stick on the inside. Mine have survived many years of mask cleaning and defoggers. They stick by a sort of molecular attraction like the oil change reminders some places put on your windshield. You really do have to follow the instructions to the letter and clean the mask thoroughly as they say. (I used softscrub.)

Thanks, Clay. I'm going to try one more time with out and see how I do. Good to have a fallback plan.

Just a quick comment about magnifying glasses. Keep in mind that because there is no air space for the lens when under water, the magnification is much weaker. (Lens works by a difference in refractive index) This of course is the main reason we all wear a mask when diving. If you've tried it though and it works, great. Just keep this in mind when you're selecting the magnifying glass at the store, that it won't work the same under water.

Marty,
I believe you are taking the referal with us at Belmar. If so, let me know what strength you want. We have a good range available for "students" to use without having to rent or buy.

Ernie.. Being an electrical engineer who has forgotten a lot of the basic physics I learned many years ago, all I can say is that the magnifying lens works underwater and seems to magnify as much underwater as in air, although I will grant you that it could be different - we haven't done any testing.

Clay,
I'm also an electrical engineer that's been out of school awhile. Anyway, giving it a little more thought, I think the lens will weaken under water as I said earlier. The magnification can be increased however, by moving a little farther away from the object. So it will probably work just fine as you said.

Ernie...>>The magnification can be increased however, by moving a little farther away from the object.<<
I think you are right. The difference in refraction should change the focal length of the lens. for example the external lenses with a water interface for my MX10 will focus properly underwater and will not in air.
Lee (my wife) must distance the lens in such a way as to get the proper focal length.

OK, life makes sense again. I guess I've about beat my "quick comment" to death.