They are up to 14 the masks by Cressi for spearfishing. The Nano focuses on maximum compactness and great field of view.

In brief

The Nano, to the contrary of many masks tested in the “X Rays” column, is not designed with the facial, frame and lens glued together solution, but has a traditional construction, dismountable in the 3 different elements. Very interesting is the facial, designed with wide utilization of veins to regulate the rigidity of the different areas. Such veins are present laterally, on the sides of the lens, four in the internal part and one thicker one on the external part of the facial, and on the forehead, internally.

Very interesting is also the reduced thickness of the profile of the facial in the forehead and under the nose areas, to obtain better comfort and adaptation to the face.

The silicone is polished both externally and internally, while the color is black metallized. Some other colors of inserts of the mask are available, and also a green metallized color facial.

The rear belt is linked to two triangles made of hard rubber and integrated in the chassis, with a unique Cressi solution. Such solution permits to have a semi-rigid connection with the chassis. In such a way two results are obtained: the first is to avoid the connection of the rear belt with the facial, situation that tends to deform the latter and determine water entering the mask, the second is the softening of the connection of the whole structure pulling on the chassis, that so does not deform as with a more rigid solution, a situation that would again lead to water entering the mask.

Lens are inclined toward the bottom by 15° to obtain a better view. It is uìin fact true that the spearo tends to have a view that is some degrees oriented towards the bottom, and not perfectly horizontal. The tilted lenses help consistently during the search phase looking at the sea bottom from moving from the surface. Lens are also available in the mirrored version, as for the mask of the test. Such solution has the aim of making contours of the images more defined. In fact such solution makes sense only with a lot of light, meaning sunny days and dives that are not too deep. In the testing done, with dives on average deeper than 15 meters, such solution has not really convinced us too much. The construction of the Nano mask with dismountable lens-chassis-facial system permits the very simple mounting of graduated lens. Such solution is possible also with masks that are designed with lens-chassis and facial glued together, but costs are significantly higher, since the graduated lens have to be glued on the original lenses, with a job done by specific laboratories. For sure this last solution also permits the correction of astigmatism, in addition to myopia, something that with the prepackaged lens is not possible. Just as an example, such work can be found at Ottica Berti, in Rome, Italy.

Test in the water

The first aspect that we have noticed in the test in the water and that must be underlined is the fact that there is a total absence of mist of the lenses, even without doing any traditional treatment to them when new, such as burning the internal part with a lighter, brushing it with toothpaste etc. The only need is to use the saliva passing it on the internal part of the lenses. In many tests done, no mask has had the same total cleanliness of the lens (the mist is due to silicon of the facial that deposits on the lenses during production). Still, such mist can be easily and definitely eliminated with the above suggested systems.

The Nano adheres very well to the face and the silicone of the facial offers an optimal comfort, without resulting too soft, with we would say an ideal rigidity. This is probably much due to the veins previously described, that permit the use of a soft silicone maintaining a sufficient structure of the facial. The signs on the face after 4 hours of spearfishing are very limited.

The rear belt regulation system has plastic passages of the belt that are quite uncomfortable as once they are dismounted they are very difficult to remount. The micrometer regulating buckles work fine, but the release system with a level that has to be lifted does not permit the easy calibration of the length of the belt once the mask is worn. We prefer in this case the solutions with two buttons to be pressed, such as the systems on the Seac M70 and the Salvimar Noah.

The internal volume and field of view are amazing considering the “traditional” dismountable chassis solution. The equalizations of the mask are in fact very limited, while the field of view has no blind area. Rotating the eyes 360° all around the limit given by the mask to the field of view is extremely limited, almost imperceptible in any direction.

Measure of internal volume

Once more we have proceeded, as for the previous masks tested, with the measure of the internasl volume of the mask, using the standard head of a polystyrene dummy and a 60 ml graduated siringe. The test has been done as usual tightening very well the rear band of the mask, also because in the test in the sea no contact between eye lashes and lenses has been perceived, so there was no limit in tightening the mask on the face. With three measures made, the average value of the internal volume has been equal to 100 ml (equivalent to 100 cc), an amazing value in particular for a mask with traditional dismountable chassis construction. Simply think that the Omer UP-M1, also with dismountable chassis, has obtained also an incredibly good value of 101 ml. In such measures one must consider that the error margin can be anyway of +-2 ml.

Measure of the field of view

Also for the Cressi Nano AP has proceeded with the measurement of the field of view. AThe methodology has still been the one of using a GO-PRO camera to make photographs. positioning the mask in a hole in the dummy, so that the lens of the camera would be positioned in the same place as the theoretical eye of the dummy. From the photo obtained the field of view has been measured in the 4 cardinal directions and the 4 intermediate ones. The results have been:

North: 70, North-East: 70, East: 50, South-East: 50, South: 80, South-West: 60, West: 60, North-West: 70, for a very good final value equal to 510. 

Conclusions

The results of Cressi Nano have been quite unexpected for internal volume and field of view, demonstrating that a mask with traditional dismountable chassis construction can still have amazing values on these two aspects. Not only, manufacturing quality and technical solutions are very interesting, and most probably have less critical aspects compared to “frameless” (glued chassis to facial and lens) masks. Some detailed specifically linked to spearfishing is missing, such as the matt solution for internal and external surfaces of the facial to avoid reflexes, while the regulation system of the rear belt and the plastic passages could be slightly improved.