Full Face Mask Opinions

[trunkmonkey48]

I am looking to get others opinions on these 2 styles. We are looking at getting new full face masks for our Fire department. None of the guys like the OTS's. So we are looking at switching to the Kirby Morgan EXO 26BR or the Ocean Reef Iron Mask.

Has anyone used the Kirby or Ocean Reef Brands? I am looking for the good and bad. I know I can read reviews on their websites, but I want actually opinions from divers.

I know Milwaukee Fd dives both brands so they will be my next stop to talk too after I hear from you guys. Thanks ahead of time.

-Jeff

[DetectorGuy]

I haven't used either of the two you mentioned, but we have used the OTS Divator extensively for about four years as public safety divers. We had good luck with them, but we wanted to go wireless pretty bad. The other thing is we ordered them with an ambient air valve... and most PSD teams frown on having an ambient air valve because when you go inverted, without manually closing the valve, the mask will flood. This is not a real big deal for recreational diving but in a contaminated environment (gas, oil, sewage, or body fluids) you don't want these in your eyes, nose or mouth. After doing this a couple times, we quickly learned to make sure we manually close the valve once in the water. These ambient air valves worked very well for us as we wouldn't be breathing our tanks down while waiting to get in the water. The comm ropes are nice in the fact that they are reliable, but they suck because the weight of the wire keeps them from floating. Radial search patterns in heavy weeds are tough when the rope is tangled in the weeds. The wireless comm gear would be nice to eliminate this but distance, depth and high particle content in the water can eliminate communication, and that is a bad thing. Good luck with your new masks, John

[trunkmonkey48]

Thanks John. Yea those would be things that we would want to look at. Our Primary lake we have is 90 ft deep, and it can be very high in particles. The comms would be a whole new thing for us.