About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

I tested this Explorer Series 310 underwater camera dive mask while snorkeling and got reasonable results. The bottom line is that this works, but to get good quality you should use the optional supplemental lighting, and you should practice and really get familiar with its use. Do not expect professional quality right out of the box. I’m intrigued by this product and believe I’d do better with more practice.

I’d also like to try the Scuba Series mask, which has lever buttons and should fit more snugly with the water pressure in deeper water.



Pros

• Good quality dive mask
• Lightweight, hands-free camera
• Very adequate storage of more than an hour of video with a 2 GB Micro SD card (not included)
• More than two hours of recording time with lithium batteries
• Target cross hairs on lenses help keep objects in camera range

Cons

• Seal between camera and face often broke when pushing buttons on camera
• Indicator light difficult to see in bright light
• Supplemental lighting is needed unless the sunlight is very bright
• Cannot see LCD screen while wearing mask
• ArcSoft editing software is difficult to use

Description

• Dive mask with built-in digital still image and video camera
• Camera and controls at the top of the mask by your forehead
• Stores up to 3000 still images or over one hour of video on a 2GB Micro SD card
• Uses two AAA batteries (lithium recommended)
• Image resolution of 2650x1920 for stills and 640x480 VGA video
• Place image in cross hairs on the lens and push the button to record the image

Guide Review - Review: Underwater Digital Camera Mask for Snorkeling & Scuba Diving

Miniaturization and data storage has led to a great concept - an underwater dive mask with a built-in camera. You swim along and record either video or still images with the push of a button.

I used the Explorer 310 Underwater Digital Camera Mask from Liquid Image's VideoMask series on two snorkeling trips and got some pretty good images. It's waterproof down to about 15 feet below the surface. It took time to get used to using the digital camera dive mask successfully. I gradually got better keeping my head in position and learned to move my head VERY SLOWLY while shooting video I also learned not to pick my head up too far, which put the camera at just the surface and only provided images of white turbulent water.

The camera controls consist of two buttons, a red power button that also cycles to still or video and a black button that trips the shutter or starts and stops the video. A red or blue indicator light tells you if the unit is on, and if you're in camera mode or active video mode. I had trouble seeing this light while snorkeling and, because I wasn't totally familiar with the unit had trouble determining which mode I was in and if the video was on or not. Also, I had a good seal of the mask on my face, which was often broken, flooding the mask when I pushed the buttons.

I was told to test out the underwater digital camera dive mask at least in a bathtub, or better yet in a pool, before leaving on our trip to the Galapagos Island. The mask arrived just a few days before leaving, so I didn't have time. I strongly recommend that anyone using this mask should spend the time in a pool first, so the learning curve comes before you actually used the dive mask during your trip.

Liquid Image also has three versions of their Underwater Digital Camera Mask in its Scuba Series waterproof down to approximately 140 feet.