>         I believe that most myopic divers who have corrections of more than +8
> diopters (the maximum for lens inserts that I have seen) have perfect
> vision only within a small area around the optical center of the lens.
> Personally, I'm at just over +9 diopters, and while I can see better
> underwater than above everything that is more than three feet away in my
> side windows just looks like a blurry lump.

You once again make an incorrect assumption.  You *assumed* that anyone
with
a glued in lens has more than the +8 diopters.  This simply isn't the
case
with me.  I'm around 1.25-1.5 diopters correction, which isn't
considered
a large correction by most standards.  In fact, my eyes actually got
*better*
somewhat after my teenage years.  I was around a 2.00-2.25 correction
and
dropped back 3 times.  I also periodically do eye exercises and I have
noticed that my vision is still improving albeit slowly.  I went from
having 20/30 vision with this prescription many years ago to slightly
better than 20/15 at this point.  Not yet time for another reduction
in lenses but maybe some day again...

The ONLY reason I have glued in lenses is that my mask has
a single faceplate - yes, one piece of glass, and there are no "drop in"
glasses for a mask like this.  The other reason why someone might want
to
have custom ground lenses with less than 8 diopters is if they have an
astigmatism.  Mine is *very* slight, I could live without correcting
glasses for the astigmatism,, but, as I said before, getting the visual
part the best it can be is far more important than a few extra bucks.
I think I could have picked up drop in lenses for the scubapro mask,
but I opted for the *exact* correction that also fixed my astigmatism
rather than something "close".

> >>         What I first look for in a mask is one that fits, i.e., doesn't
> leak much.
> >
> >Hmmm, what I like is one that fits and doesn't leak AT ALL!
>
>         Clearly, your face is narrower than mine or you smile less.  Even my
> ancient Nautilus leaks when I smile and it's the best fitting mask I've
> ever found, and I look at masks a lot.

Since I have no idea how wide or narrow your face is, I cannot comment
on
this.  My TriView, however, simply does not leak on me, which is just
ONE of the reasons why, when it came time, I opted for exactly the
same mask again.  The TriView is one of the very *few* masks that is
also
made in a narrow version (I don't have this one) which is great for
smaller
faces.

>         I've had two bad experiences, one with a mask that worked fine until I
> altered it to use the purge function; I might as well have cut off the end

Why in the world should you have to *ALTER* a mask to use part of it's
function?

> of the nose piece.  Now I wouldn't consider a purge unless the mask fit
> extremely well.

I wouldn't buy a mask that required me to alter it in order to use
it properly!

Carl