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If you are ordering gear to pick up at a Fins and Foam dive day, you can try on and exchange or return anything before getting in the water.

The best mask for freediving

The most important quality of a good mask is that it fits your face well. If you have the inclination, I recommend ordering multiple masks from an online store with free returns, and trying them all on until you find the one that fits best, then returning the rest. If you want a single mask that will probably fit your face well, order the Fins and Foam mask. You can try it on at any dive day and return it if it doesn't fit.
Mask
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The Fins and Foam mask is very low volume, has a flexible skirt, and is designed specifically for freediving. It mimics the most popular mask in deep freediving, the Aqualung Sphera. Its curved plastic lenses compress easily against your face when you dive down, meaning you don't have to spend much air on equalizing it.

What's good about this mask

  • Great fit
    The key reason I picked this mask for the Fins & Foam store is its fit. It fits both Asian and European faces well and has solved the problem of mask fit for hundreds of Fins and Foam Freediving students in the past. A poorly fitting mask can be a dealbreaker for a day in the ocean. If you place the mask against your face and inhale gently, it should stay in place. You should also be able to easily pinch your nose through the mask.
  • Low volume
    This mask is very low volume, meaning there is very little space between the mask and your face. A large space will compress under pressure, pressing the mask uncomfortably against your face and requiring you to waste air equalizing the mask that you could have otherwise used to equalize your ears.
  • Flexible skirt
    This mask has a flexible skirt (the silicone that touches your face). If a mask's skirt is too rigid it will not form a good seal. Newer masks tend to be made of more flexible silicone, whereas older snorkelling masks are made of tough rubber and often don't seal well.

What to avoid when buying a mask

  • Swimming goggles
    You can't equalize swimming goggles (unless you are one of the rare people who can push air out of their eyes), so don't use them for freediving.
  • High volume mask
    A mask with a lot of space between the lens and your face will be very hard to equalize, and extremely uncomfortable if you don't equalize it properly.
  • Mirrored lenses
    In some heavily fished regions of the world, like the Mediterranean, spearfishers sometimes get mirrored lenses so that fish cannot see their eyes. But in most other parts of the world, and certainly if you are not spearfishing, it is better to have clear lenses so your buddy can see your eyes.
  • Big nosepiece
    Watch out for a mask with a nosepiece so big that you can't pinch your nose comfortably to equalize.