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Back in the day I was sure those new heated dive masks were a gimmick
I remember seeing them at a trade show in New Orleans maybe eight years ago and thinking it was just more gear to break. We were doing a lot of winter work in the Great Lakes, and my old mask would fog up something awful the second you got a bit of condensation. A buddy on the crew finally bought one and let me try it on a job where the water was 38 degrees. That little wire around the lens kept the whole thing clear for the entire two hour shift. No more having to flood and clear your mask every ten minutes just to see your gauges. It completely changed how I felt about long cold water inspections. I still think most new gear is overhyped, but that one actually made the work easier. Anyone else have a piece of kit they were wrong about?
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gray_hall45mo ago
Funny, that tech always seemed like a solution looking for a problem. For a lot of cold water work, a good old spit-and-rub on the lens and a proper flush routine gets the job done without another battery to worry about. Saw a guy have one fail on a deep dive, and he spent the rest of the shift half blind. Sometimes the simple, dumb gear is more reliable. That extra cost and complexity just isn't worth it for everyone.
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aliceharris5mo ago
Reminds me of my uncle's old truck.
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juliaa654mo ago
Had to deal with this exact thing on a job last month, honestly the heated lenses are great until they aren't. Keep a spare battery in a dry bag on your belt, that way you're not scrambling when the first one dies halfway through. Another trick is to carry a small lens cloth in a ziplock bag with a drop of dish soap on it, rub a thin layer on the lens before you go in the water and it helps keep fog at bay without needing the heater. The spit trick works fine for most day to day stuff but on those cold days when you're in and out of the water a dozen times, having a backup plan saves a ton of headache.
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rowanw915mo ago
Guess I'm the guy who'd be stuck with the broken one, still trying to spit on a heated lens.
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