Is it better than clear goggles?
That depends entirely on you. For starters, plastic goggles
cost at least twice as much as this full face mask does...
and I don't know about you, but I really REALLY don't want
to come back home with 3 holes in my cheek... my wife would
sue me for breach of contract. HOWEVER, as with any other
face mask, it gets pretty hot in there in summer days, so
for those of you who are ugly enough not to care, you'll
be happy to know that you can easily remove the face protection
and keep the goggles by themselves.
The metal mesh goggles make it IMPOSSIBLE for a plastic
BB to EVER even think of going through even at point blank.
Also, it won't fog either, so those are big advantages over
standard goggles. The only disadvantage is that you can't
properly play in the dark, so you may feel tempted to lift
the mask up after you enter a dark room... please follow
my wise advise... DONT!!!
If you have no other choice but to enter a dark room, please
do the following:
- Peep in and out quickly to check if the room is safe.
- If safe, enter and walk by the nearest wall to the safest
corner and wait.
- After a few seconds, your eyes will naturally adjust
to the low light.
So, how how exactly is the view from one of these things?
Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so this
might just be the longest review I'll ever write in my life.
Contents/Assembly
Although the mask comes already assembled (at least mine
did), it comes with assembly instructions, safety tips,
and foam pads, which you'll need to install yourself. These
pads are useful to prevent the mask from sticking to your
skin and also suck sweat pretty good. You get a roll of
foam padding and a square pad that's about 8cm squared for
which you'll need scissors to cut diagonally. Glue is not
needed as the pads stick themselves. I didn't have to use
the roll of padding, just the big square pad was enough
for me as shown below. I suppose the roll is just for those
with really fat faces (hehehe).
A piece of advise, do not try to strech the elastic cord
around a helmet... you will end up ripping the plastic lock
off the goggle's rubber and you would have to buy a goggle
replacement piece for about 14 euros. If you wear a helmet,
put the mask on, THEN the helmet, not the other way around.
Alternative? (UPDATED January
10, 2006)
Yep, you also have an alternative. They do sell some clear
pastic goggles labeled as "no fog goggles" which
I purchased after a while for "night games"...
my advise... don't get them. They were terrible, scratched
easily and fogged completely within 10 seconds no matter
what I did. I spent more time wiping them off from the inside
than playing. It was cold too and that doesn't help fogging
at all. There's nothing better than standard protection
glasses for greater fog-free visibility.
Conclusion
The half-life type looks are great and I'm happy with my
purchase. You can't get a better full face mask out there
that offers a similar price/value ratio.
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Credits/Acknowledgments
This review was brought to you
by this website's administrator, Alex Alvarez (aka TripleA).
July 7, 2005. Athens, Greece. |
