It seems like it might be a relatively straight-forward process to get a good mask but what we’ve found is that it isn’t quite as simple as hopping on google, searching for “best spearfishing mask” and buying one of those. But, it’s not quite as simple as that… 

I’ve personally gone through a few masks at this point trying to find the best one and it seems like I finally found something that I really enjoy. So, I want to walk you through the process that we’ve found to be the best for finding your ideal mask. 

Go in person – You really need to be able to feel the mask, try it on, understand how it feels on your face, try the strap on, etc… It’s an obvious statement but not all faces are shaped and sized the same which means not all masks are going to fit the same. 

To make sure that it fits your face and you’re not going to have leaks put the mask over your face without the strap on. Then, breathe in slightly through your nose. Not like a full breath. The mask should suction to your face as if the strap was on and you shouldn’t be able to breath in anymore. This means you doin’t have any gaps in the seal. 

Low Volume – when you’re free diving or spearfishing you’ll want to get a low volume mask. This is because you’ll need to use less air to equalize the pressure when diving down. The less air you use, the longer you can stay down.

Tinted vs non-tinted? All of us here use non-tinted and have no experience with tinted so, take this with a grain of salt. The reason people would use a tinted mask is to help conceal their eyes. The fish recognize when you’re looking at them and can often times cause them to spook cause they recognize you’re trying to hunt them. The tint is suppose to help then be unable to recognize you’re looking at them. Not sure how much it helps but that’s the theory.

What if you have a mustache? The short of it is that you can trim it down to where the seal is only touching your bare face and the mustache is below the seal. I’ll occasionally grow my facial hair out and what I’ve found is that it affects how the mask fits to my face enough that it’s not worth having the mustache. I personally think it looks a bit goofy trimming down until the seal fits so I just opt for sans stache.

Should you burn your mask? We’ve seen people all over YouTube talking about burning their masks to remove the thin layer of coating that’s there from the manufacturer that can cause extra fogging. Sometimes we do it, sometimes we don’t. Not sure how much of an affect it really has. Here’s a short video of someone explaining the process if you’re interested. As of recent, I’ve just been putting anti-fog in there and that’s been sufficient.

We hope this has been helpful and as always if there are any questions or additional thoughts, please reach out! And, if you’re ever in the Barcelona area for spearing, let us know and we’ll send you a few spots we like!