Product Description
The ColdAvenger Expedition Balaclava is great choice for all winter activities from 40-degrees F below to 30-degrees F above zero, Polartec Wind Pro is very breathable, yet it blocks 95% of the wind, and has a DWR finish.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #25059 in Sports & Outdoors
- Size: One Size
- Color: Black
- Brand: Talus Outdoor Technologies
- Model: CAEX-REG-BLK
- Fabric type: polartec-fleece
- Dimensions: 1.00" h x 1.00" w x 1.00" l, .6 pounds
Features
- Made in the USA
- Combines the classic design, warmth and protection of a balaclava
- State-of-the-art ventilation system is perfect for active winter athletes or asthmatics
- Prevents fogging of goggles while elevating inhaled air temperatures up to 40-degrees fahrenheit
- Low neck profile allows for full protection and coverage, fully removable coldavenger ventilator
Most helpful customer reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
Ok, but with many flaws
By Mark
This product does make it more comfortable to bicycle and ski when it's really cold outside, but for the high price you would not expect so many flaws. Specifically, the balaclava has a terrible fit, the ventalator doesn't seal tight enough to prevent glasses from fogging up and in a really stiff head on wind you still get a lot of cold air on your face.
I purchased this product from the Amazon and had never seen one in a store. The product has two parts, a balacalava and a face mask with a "ventalator" piece that attaches to the balacalva with big beefy velcro pads. The "ventalator" is a soft rubbery cup with slits in the front and sides that allows you to breath easily and holes in the bottom to help drain condensed water. There is a hard foam slitted piece that fits over the front slits that can be rotated. There is also an add-on soft foam piece that you tape to the top inside of the "ventalator" that fits over the bridge of your nose and this is supposed to help seal it to your nose to prevent warm air leaking back up over your eyes. Unfortuneately, this doesn't work that well.
On the positive side the construction and the materials that have been used are excellent. It's quite easy breath through it, even when exercising hard. It also makes it much more comfortable and warm when it's really cold out.
My dissappointment in the product stems from the generally poor fit of everything which reduces it's comfort and functionality. Most important, the "ventalator" doesn't seal tight enough against your nose, so it's practically impossible to wear glasses with it, without them fogging up. If you pull it up high where the fit is best than the stiching from the matertial that holds the rubber piece on can interfere with your eyes. If it was more A shaped and not as round on the top it would probably help. It's also not well designed to drain the accumulated water and having a depression at the bottom would help prevent keeping so much water onboard. I also would have thought having the biggest slits in the sides, not the front would have helped prevent getting so much cold air on your face in a head-on gale.
Finally a word about the balacalva. As noted in other reviews the fit is awful. I normally wear XL hats and helments and this thing is really big and baggy on me. The opening for your eyes is also much to broad. The fit can, to some degree, be offset by tightening everything up by placement of the velcro from the "ventalator piece". This doesn't help though when you use the balacalva by itself. Often when riding my bike for winter commutes I will use the "ventalator" piece in the morning, but don't need it on the return trip in the evening. The balacalva is so loose though that you get cold air on your ears when the wind is blowing into your face.
So in summary it's not a bad product, but for something so expensive, I would have expected the numerous flaws to have been corrected before it reached the market. For example, it shouldn't be necessary to tape an add-on foam rubber piece to help seal warm air away from glasses. This feels a lot like a "beta" product that has reached the market before it was really finished.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Worked perfectly on my ski trip!
By They Call Me Trinity
This product completely met my expectations on a recent ski trip to Park City, Utah in early February 2011, during the big cold snap that hit the whole U.S. It's quite easy breath through it, even when breathing hard - I didn't even notice it was there and this is skiing at 10,000 ft, having flown from the low-altitude mid-west a day earlier.
I'm 5' 9" and 165lbs and wear a large helmet - the fit was perfect for me.
In contrast to a recent reviewer, whose eyeglasses fogged cycling, I had ZERO fogging the entire trip and that's with two days of intense 8 hours of skiing on blue and black runs all day over multiple mountains, chairlifts, etc - taking some pretty fast runs. However, I was wearing ski goggles and not eyeglasses. I'm not sure this product is made for intense physical exercise & heavy breathing (i.e. cycling) while maintaining an airtight fit over the nose (without wearing ski type goggles), so I think if for his uses, my recommendation is he wear some goggles (such as these: Windshield Goggle Kit Smoke/Clear Lenses Fits Over Most Glasses) over his glasses to keep from fogging.
I actually had several ski resort staff members ask me specifically about the mask - and I did hear a "Darth Vader" comment by someone at one of the lodges getting lunch - and my 6 year old son sure thinks it's cool. :) There were numerous people (in my group and others) complaining all day about how cold it was and I was quite toasty on both the runs and ski lifts, there were no detectable drafts around my neck or face.
I never used the add-on soft foam piece that you tape to the top inside of the "ventilator" that fits over the bridge of your nose. It just felt more comfortable to me without it.
I give it 5 stars because (1) there is nothing I could find to change and (2) there is nothing cheaper that performs as well for my uses, so as far as I'm concerned, this is the product I will recommend to all my friends.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
great!
By W. R. Thorne
I got this for bicycle community in the winter in MN. It's only gotten to 9 degrees so far but I was toasty warm during my 25 min commute. It's too warm to wear above 30 degrees if you ask me.
I wear Smith Monashee goggles with this and they sometimes fog up. Sometimes they don't. If they start to, I have taken to pulling down the ventilator for a few minutes and it fixes the fog.
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