Your snorkel mask is the most important piece of snorkeling equipment to fit and buy correctly. If your mask is leaky, too tight, or painful in any way, you will not have a good time, and it may even be dangerous. And believe us, not every mask is good. We have had a variety, and a good mask makes life a pleasure in the water. Good masks also last much longer, being made of better materials.
Below you are going to learn everything you need to know about the different options you have with a snorkel mask, and our recommendations.
How does your mask allow you to stick your face in the water and breathe?
Your snorkel mask fits over your nose and makes an air tight seal under your nose, around your forehead, and on the sides of your face. If your mask is too wide or tall for your face it will not seal properly.
The Mask Skirt
This is probably the most important part of your snorkel mask because it is what makes the seal around your face. This is the soft flexible material that goes all the way around the mask.
Mask Skirt Materials - Plastic - vs. Silicone
Very inexpensive masks have skirts that are often made out of plastic (old ones were made of neoprene). The plastic skirts are less flexible, form a poor seal on your face, and don't last very long.
What you must get is a mask with a skirt made out of silicone. Silicone is a far more durable material, forms a better seal on your face, has more stretch, and if taken care of can easily last ten years or more. Most every mask sold by a diving/snorkeling store are now made from silicone, but if you are buying in a department store (Walmart or Kmart), make sure the package says it is made of silicone, because they still commonly carry plastic ones.
There are some companies advertising different types of silicones in their mask skirts, some of the brand names being "Liquid Silicone", "Crystal Silicone", and others. There may be some small advantage in these but probably not much.
Mask Skirt Colors - Black vs. Clear Silicone
The majority of silicone snorkel mask skirts are going to be clear. But you can also get them in black. The purpose of the black skirt is mostly for photographers who don't want stray light coming in the sides of their mask, making it harder to see their camera viewfinder or screen. But a black mask has a more claustrophobic feel to it in general, and it tends to reduce peripheral vision a bit. Even though I do take tons of pictures underwater, I still did not like the feel of the black mask and prefer to use a mask with a clear silicone mask skirt.
Mask Lens Options
A good quality snorkel mask will have it's lens/lenses made out of high quality impact resistant glass, not plastic. And you have a number of options when it comes to how many windows your mask has.
Number of Mask Lenses/Windows
How many lenses your snorkel mask has affects several things. Most importantly it may affect the fit. Less importantly it will affect peripheral vision, unobstructed vision, and how much volume of air is inside the mask (volume described below). I say these are less important because if the mask does not fit right, those things don't matter. So you will most likely choose how many lenses your mask has by how the mask fits.
Look at the options to the left. The classic snorkel mask (like my site world logo wears) has one big lens and your nose is inside. This is a very high volume and generally poor sealing mask, but fun to see.
Single Lens Mask
The more common single lens mask has a nose pocket and allows unobstructed views forward. One issue with these masks is that they tend to have less room for your nose bridge. So you may need a split mask to keep the mask from pressing on your nose, particularly once there is a little water pressure pushing the mask in.
Split/Two Lens Mask
A split front window will generally allow more room for a bigger nose bridge, and will be lower volume (less air in the mask). And although you will not have as unobstructed of a view as with a single front lens, it is not something you will note for more than a second underwater. Your mind just ignores it. Just ask anyone who wears glasses.
Three/Four Lens Mask
The next option is to add side windows. These allow better peripheral vision and allow more light, providing a less claustrophobic feel. Don't expect to be able to focus out these windows. Instead they just allow you to see motion in a more natural way (you will not have to crank your head around as much to find your partner). Older masks that had side windows had a piece of plastic frame separating them from the front. But most modern masks use a method of gluing the glass together at the edge so there is a less noticeable seam. Adding the side windows does increase the masks air volume.
Frameless Mask
Finally there is the frameless mask that gets rid of the stiff plastic frame and instead glues the silicone skirt directly to the single front lens. These are very lightweight and low volume masks that tend to be much more flexible. For me this flexibility was a problem making it difficult to maintain a seal. But that was likely just a fitting issue.
Prescription Masks
One consideration when buying a mask if you wear glasses is that you need to make sure you can get prescription lenses for it. Generally you will have to go with a two lens (front) mask for this. Every new mask should be marked as to whether you can get a prescription lens for it or not.
I will cover prescription masks in more detail soon.
High Volume vs Low Volume Masks
So what does the volume of the mask have to do with a snorkeler? A high volume mask is farther away from your face, has more air inside, and has more buoyancy. Really there is nothing good about high volume and low volume is better. A low volume mask has less trouble sealing (less leverage and buoyancy trying to pry it off). And a low volume mask is easier to purge water from. But the trade off is that generally you have less visibility in a low volume mask. I think that the issue with volume is more a diver issue than a snorkeler issue, and so I don't worry about it much.
Straps & Strap Buckles
Most mask straps are made out of silicone and are adjustable in the water with the strap buckles located on the side of the mask. Some masks have more advanced strap systems, and if your's becomes a problem you may be able to upgrade it.
Mask Purge Valve vs. No Purge Valve
A purge valve is just a little flap valve in the bottom of the nose pocket. It allows you to hold your mask to your face and blow out lightly from your nose to purge your mask of any water that has entered. This allows you to get the water out without breaking your mask to face seal.
But I have found that although they work great, I have no problem doing the same thing without the purge. I just hold the top of my mask, blow out, and the water goes out the bottom of the skirt and it reseals just fine. Sometimes the purge valve flaps get damaged, which means you have to carry extra ones, which is why I prefer to have a mask without a purge. It is just simpler.
Below you can watch the first half of a good video by LeisurePro (you can see the second half of the video about fitting on my next page). This video covers pretty much what I did above and is good for the more visual audio learners.
Look at the options to the left. The classic snorkel mask (like my site world logo wears) has one big lens and your nose is inside. This is a very high volume and generally poor sealing mask, but fun to see.
