Introduction
Salvimar is one of the most dynamic companies on the market. The Italian company participates in the “Best masks dossier” with a very complete line for spearfishing and freediving. A total of 7 different Salvimar masks.
Classic double lenses
Morpheus and Trinity
Salvimar has actually moved towards high level masks, such as the frameless, and the standard dismountable solutions are only two. Actually it is the same model, with or without the cam support: the Morpheus and the Trinity.
Skirt and rear strap
The Morpheus is offered in total black, black skirt and green frame, or in transparent silicone skirt. The Trinity is either all black, or with transparent silicone skirt. The material is a standard glossy hypoallergenic silicone for both masks. The rear strap is a nice design with glossy and matt surfaces. It permits to position the snorkel on the rear of the head to avoid it from shaking during the dive. The adjustment system is very intuitive with two opposing buttons that must be pressed to unlock the system.
Dimensions and weights
Wide lenses for a good field of view. We measured 5 cm the maximum width and 6.4 cm the maximum height, so high values. Also the skirt is quite big, 12 cm wide and 10.4 cm high in the center. The frame is almost 15 cm wide and 7.8 cm high. The Trinity though, due to the cam support, has a total height of the chassis equal to 9.2 cm. The weight of the Morpheus is 165 grams, while the Trinity is 195 grams.
Frameless – Two lenses
The two lenses frameless masks solution is one of the most advanced ones. In the case of Salvimar a nylon frame is fused with the skirt and the lenses in a very advanced production process. It is here where Salvimar has been working so hard presenting the first model, the excellent Salvimar Noah, already in 2016. It was one of the best masks for field of view and the absolute best as reduced internal volume.
So, starting from the already presented Noah, to the more recent Fly and the latest Hathor, Salvimar has 3 different masks in its double lenses frameless line. All of them are extremely nice in the design, but most of all compact, indicating very low internal volume (but we will measure that in the coming weeks). Each one of them has a special internal frame that, differently from other offers on the market, gives stiffness to the mask and avoids water leakage due to deformation.
Hathor
Compactness and field of view
The newest Salvimar mask on the market, the Hathor, has a silicone facial fused together with the lenses and the frame obtaining the most compact design. This permits to reduce the internal volume and to have the lenses closer to the eyes to increase the field of view. In all the Salvimar frameless masks Massimo Quattrone, Salvimar Product Manager, has always taken a lot of care to avoid that the lenses, even though close to the eyes, could come to contact with the eye-lashes. This aspect in fact would become extremely annoying for the spearfisherman of freediver. It would by the way lead to losing the visual focus. The lenses are carefully designed to improve to the maximum the field of view.
The skirt
The skirt is made of hypoallergenic silicone, and its design, like the one of any component of the mask, is made to avoid any interference with the field of view. The low volume helps the equalization phase. The profile of the nose-forehead area has the typical Salvimar step to avoid the forehead to be pressed and generate pain. The internal part of the skirt has fills on the sides of the nose for best comfort and additional reduction of the internal volume. The silicone used is matt both internally and externally to reduce light reflexes. The Hathor is offered in black and full military green.
Rear strap adjustment and design
The strap adjustment is done easily pressing vertically two opposed buttons. The design of the buckle itself is wide to adhere at best to the head. Also, as common on Salvimar masks, the strap has a passage for the snorkel to be positioned on the rear of the head. This permits to keep it still especially in the ascent phase of the dive.
Dimensions and weight
The Salvimar mask Hathor weighs 130 grams. The lenses measure 5.3 cm in maximum height and 5.1 cm in maximum width. The are designed with five sides, detailed for best field of view together with great compactness. The maximum width of the rigid internal nylon frame is 14 cm. The height of the skirt is 9.3 cm, while the width of the profile of the skirt is 12.5 cm.
Fly
Skirt and rear strap
The Salvimar mask Fly is similar to the Hathor for what concerns all the excellent details already presented, starting from the frameless solution. It has a specific design, a little bigger than the Hathor, that evidently can adapt differently to the spearfisheman’s face. The rear strap is more traditional then the one of the Hathor, with only two bands. The micrometric adjustment system is the same as the Hathor. Also the Fly is offered in total black and full military green.
Dimensions and weight
The lenses are extremely refined, with 8 different sides to obtain the best field of view. Max height is 5 cm and maximum width 4.6 cm (AP measures). The maximum width of the internal frame is 14.5 cm, so half a cm more than the Hathor. The skirt measures 9.5 cm centrally and 13 as maximum width of the border. The weight of the Salvimar mask Fly is 140 grams, 10 more than the Hathor.
Noah
The Salvimar mask Noah is definitely a best seller and a great product that has set extremely high standards in the low volume masks segment. Once more the key elements of the Salvimar frameless masks are present on a mask that in 2016 was the best overall on the market for reduced internal volume. We measured real 94 ml. No mask measured could do as well.
Skirt and rear strap
The Salvimar Noah is offered in 4 different colors. Black skirt and green frame, all black, black skirt and acid green frame and white skirt and blue frame for freediving. The silicone is matt externally on the sides and the top of the skirt, while it is glossy just on the sides of the lenses and on the nose area. The base of the nose, on the sides, sees two small areas with folded silicone that help to avoid the skirt deforming too much when pressing the nose for equalization. The rear strap is the same as the one on the Morpheus and Trinity. It gives the opportunity to position the snorkel on the rear of the head. The micrometric adjustment system is almost identical to the one of the Hathor and the Fly.
Dimensions and weight
The Salvimar Noah was very compact in 2016, and it still is today compared to the competitors. Let’s see the comparison with the new Salvimar masks Hathor and Fly. The weight is 140 grams, just like the Fly, and 10 grams more than the Hathor. The lenses are 5.3 cm high and 5.4 cm wide. They are designed with 5 sides. So they are bigger that the Fly and Hathor, where probably Salvimar has wanted to keep the lenses smaller optimizing the shape to keep the great field of view of the Noah, but reduce internal volume. Is that possible? We will measure both! The skirt is 12.5 cm wide and 9.9 cm high centrally. The frame is 14.7 cm wide, 2 mm wider than the Fly and 7 mm wider than the Hathor. It seems Salvimar has been proceeding with the success of the Noah and fine tuning it creating the Hathor, very extreme in compactness, and the Fly, slightly less.
Frameless – monolens
When we talk about frameless masks, the most traditional ones are actually the monolens. In this case, it is the lens itself to give rigidity to the mask. Such solution simplifies the construction, as there is no need for a third element, the nylon frame, to be fused with the skirt. Still, this solution can give some increase in the field of view centrally, but slightly limits the compactness and the internal volume reduction. This is because the monolens in the central part between the eyes must have a certain height not to break. This determines it must be kept further away from the eyes. Such aspect also reduces partially the field of view compared to double lenses frameless solution. Also here, Salvimar has two models that are extremely interesting and, as all the other masks of the line, with “design” e “technical concept” made in Salvimar.
Salvimar Endless
Skirt and rear strap
The Salvimar Endless is the most compact of the two monolens masks by the Italian company. The skirt is in glossy silicone, both externally and internally. The nose area has two lateral indentations that help filling the internal volume still keeping good space for the nose. As on the Noah, the base of the nose has small folded silicone areas to help avoiding deformation of the skirt while pressing the nose during equalization. The rear strap is the same as the Hathor, with matt neoprene and an advanced design. The strap adjustment is again the same as on the other Salvimar masks, with an easy two use to vertical buttons system. This is probably one of the most intuitive systems on the market.
Dimensions and weight
The monolens is 6 cm high and 13.5 cm wide. It cannot, of course bee compare with double lenses masks for the width, but indeed the height is bigger than the 3 frameless double lenses masks. The weight is 160 grams. The width of the frame is compact, only 14 cm. The skirt is 14.5 cm wide and 9.9 cm high in the center; standard values for Salvimar.
Neo
Skirt and rear strap
Launched on the market after the Endless, the Neo is generally less compact than its predecessor. The skirt is in matt silicone, both internally and externally to avoid light reflexes. The internal area of the nose, just like the Endless, has two lateral indentations that help filling the internal volume still keeping good space. The rear strap is the same as the one of the Noah, with a nice mix of matt and glossy surfaces. It also gives the opportunity to well position the snorkel in the rear of the head to keep to from shaking during the dive.
Measures and weight
The Neo weighs 175 grams, as expected more than the Endless. The monolens is 6.6 cm high and 13.7 cm wide. The skirt is 12.5 cm wide and 9.8 cm high in the center. The maximum width of the rigid part of the mask determined by the monolens and the rubber profile is 15 cm wide.
Conclusions
Salvimar has a really complete masks line, mainly focused on frameless solutions of extremely high quality. Both on the double lenses and the monolenses models the construction seems extremely high quality. It gives the precise sensation of no risk for the fused elements coming apart. We do not in fact have any knowledge of such problem on Salvimar masks. The traditional dismountable masks are maybe less a focus for Salvimar, but indeed complete the line, with both a standard and a cam support one. All in all it always comes down to how good the mask feels and works on our face. But looking at the numbers, the trio of Salvimar masks, Noah, Fly and Hathor, seem to be excellent choices for frameless solutions.
