Guide: Eyewear Safety and Fogging

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Guide: Eyewear Safety and Fogging

Post by Moondog »

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http://www.airsofthawaii.org/ballistic/200706/protect.shtml

"You'll shoot your eye out kid!"
by Moondog

That's the nagging voice of your mom that should be ringing in your head everytime you pick up your gun. Nothing will get your airsoft gun confiscated quicker than hurting yourself or your friend. Nothing gets more respect from mature airsoft players than somebody who practices safety.

We can't stress enough the importance of wearing propper eyewear when playing airsoft. Even in your backyard you need to wear eyewear that exceeds the ANSI-Z87.1rating. Full sealing for the best protection. But as you can see from the above article, even ANSI certified goggles aren't a guarantee of protection.

FOGGING
The biggest excuse people give for NOT wearing goggles is that they fog up when they play. That's no excuse. To reduce fogging you can do the following:

1. Don't wipe with your finger. Whatever you do, don't wipe with your bare hand because any oil or dirt in your hand will leave a film that makes moisture deposit quicker. So the more you wipe, the more often your goggles will fog up. Always carry a clean soft cloth to wipe with and always use clean water before wiping so you do not scratch your lens or any special coatings on the lens.

2. Carry Defog. I carry a small vial of my own patented defog. After applying, shake any excess off and let it air dry rather than wiping it dry.

TIP: I carry my bottle of defog inside a white tube sock that I keep in my tac vest. If I absolutely MUST wipe off fog or gunk, I pour a bit of defog on the lenses and use the clean inside of the sock to wipe with.

3. Clean your Goggles After every game, rinse out your goggles with a little dish washing soap and warm water. If you get a lot of oily buildup or mud on your goggles, you can use toothpaste on your finger to gently rub off any gunk built up on the inside lenses. Again be careful you don't rub too often or too hard as it can rub off any anti-fog coating.

Keep your goggles clean by storing them in a clean holder or a clean tube sock. Fog forms around dust, body oil and dirt on the lenses, so keeping your goggles clean will help keep them from fogging.

4. Buy Anti-Fog PB Goggles Higher end paintball goggles come with anti-fog coated lenses or double-layered "thermal" lenses. These both help reduce fogging.

5. Buy TurboFan Goggles Buy goggles with built in battery powered fans. Or add on your own fans. These really, really help reduce fogging.

6. Shooting Glasses I don't recommend or advocate shooting glasses. Many public airsoft fields won't allow them. The only 'safe' ones are high-end Oakleys or Gargoyles. And even these can fail due to the frames (as evidenced in the Airsoft Hawaii article.) If you insist on wearing shooting sunglasses, you NEED to wear them with elastic (basketball style) straps so they don't fly off your face when you're running around or trip on the field. Here are two examples from my own photos:

This guy didn't even realize his glasses weren't covering his eyes!
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This BB got through the nose foam of his full-seal goggles! Just think what could have happened if he were wearing shooting glasses!

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7. Mesh Goggles I don't recommend or advocate mesh goggles especially for CQB because BB's can break after hitting your mesh and send pieces of broken BB into your eyes. This actually happened to me :cry: and it wasn't fun. Many public airsoft fields won't allow them. If you insist on wearing them you should wear backup glasses under them to protect you from BB shrapnel. But if you're going to wear two pieces of protective eye wear, you should probably just buy a good pair of paintball goggles.
Last edited by phridum on Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Grammatical clarity and typos
Goggles fogging? Get Moondog D-Fog :: See the RULES forum :: Please complete your new account activation. :: Read the guide on face photo avatars

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