Ordinarily, farsighted scuba divers have to either get a prescription-glass bifocal mask, or apply adhesive magnifying lenses to their existing mask. Now there's a new alternative, in the form of what are essentially removable underwater reading glasses.
Currently the subject of an Indiegogo campaign, the SeeDeep glasses are made by Dutch startup SeeDeep Diving Optics. They're worn overtop of the user's third-party mask, held in place by a rubber head strap.
The glasses themselves feature scratch-resistant polycarbonate lenses, which are available in magnifying strengths of +1, +1.5, +2.0 and +2.5. Those lenses are joined to one another by a metal nosepiece, and are joined to the head strap by metal end pieces at either side. Grippy silicone pads on the backs of the latter help keep the glasses from slipping against the mask.
And as an added bonus, the glasses can be moved up and down on the mask as the situation dictates – they don't have to stay at the bottom.
The idea is that if users are on a dive where they won't constantly be looking at objects which are right in front of them (such as coral heads), they can bring the glasses along but leave them off most of time, leaving their entire far field of view unobstructed – this isn't possible with more expensive prescription masks, or with adhesive lenses.
Of course, users can also leave the glasses on for the entire dive, only looking through them when necessary.
The SeeDeep glasses are being offered in Standard, Premium and limited-edition Exclusive models, on which the metal parts are made of aluminum, stainless steel and titanium, respectively. Pledges run from US$75 for the Standard, up to $151 for the Exclusive. If everything works out, they should ship next August.
You can see the glasses in use, in the following video.
Sources: Indiegogo, SeeDeep Diving Optics
