Farny
05-13-2006, 11:07 PM
Information on this product can be found here. (http://www.bangerz.com/products/hs8000.htm)
Eyeshield can be purchased here. (http://www.sportsunlimitedinc.com/hs8000shield.html)
This a review of the Clear Bangerz eyeshield, the only one legal for NFHS play.
Let's get some background information. I wear contact lenses, and I bought the visor for that purpose. I play in a dust bowl, and seeing as how my eyes are especially sensitive, I figured $25 was not a bad investment for something that would keep dust and dirt out of my eyes.
Out of the package, it's quite ordinary, nothing like those beautiful Oakley football visors you may have seen on lacrosse helmets. Actually, it's basically a flat sheet of plexiglass. And for something specifically made for lacrosse, the connections aren't fancy either. The visor is connected by zip ties, not difficult, but tedious if ever you need to take it off, and, as you'll soon see, you will. Basically, once you put 'em in you can't take 'em off unless they're cut, so scissors might be a new item to add to your lacrosse bag if you don't have some in there. The package only came with 8 plastic zip ties, 6 of which you actually use. There are two in reserve, though I'm not sure I understand the point of that. I went to Lowe's hardware and got 3 packs of 25 zip ties (identical ones), which were $1.76 per pack.
Now, with that out of the way...
When I first brought it in to a game, I got a lot of comments; most people liked it, and tried to poke at it; it's actually very firm when attached and doesn't wobble when you push on it, despite the fact that it's just a sheet of plastic. As expected, there's not much opportunity for dust to get into your eyes with this guy on, but is it worth having a piece of plastic in front of your face?
There were a few things I noticed. I'll address the biggest issue first, vision.
You would think that it might alter your peripheral vision, but this part is actually unaffected, little to no problem there. It's the forward vision that's actually a problem. It's hard to explain, but the facemask bars on my CPX became, well, more pronounced with the visor; it was as if the vision lines weren't aligned, so I often ended up with a horizontal bar in the middle of my view. Usually, without the helmet, I look through the top gap of the face mask, right under the helmet's visor, but the eyeshield actually cuts off in the middle of that gap, as opposed to at the very top, so now, for some reason I still have yet to determine, I alter between the middle gap in the facemask and the top, but mostly the middle, and when you end up altering like this, rather than constantly looking out the top, the horizontal bar gets in the way often. You get used it, but it did very much at first mess with my vision. Perhaps I can fix the chin strap so my head is even higher than usual.
So, but in terms of clarity, it's almost perfect, when it's clean. When the visor is free of dust or dirt, it's as if it's not there, but in a normal, sunny game, dust and other particles built up on the eyeshield, and while not terrible, it was somewhat pesky; a rag or eyeglass cleaning cloth in your bag will solve this problem. The eyeshield doesn't glare up at all when it's sunny, it works very well in this aspect.
Here's a big problem. You guys benefit from me being able to test this guy out in all kinds of weather. Rain is the eyeshield's worst enemy. When it was raining moderately, it became unbearable and I was forced to cut off the visor. Water beads on the visor. Try to wipe it off, right? It'll smear and cloud up your vision. It was like looking out a really rainy window, so the visor had to come off during the rain game. So this is the instance where the zipties could be a problem if the thing needs to come off; it's the little things which make it so pesky at times, but seriously, zero rain tolerance. The thing also fogged up on the outside when I breathed on it, so I guess fog itself and mist can fog it up, but from the inside, it won't fog up when you breath.
There we have it. Maintenance of this guy is really tedious, but if you feel that you need it, the protection is more than adequate. It's not as if it's hard to keep dust out of your eyes, as this thing proves that a piece of plastic can do it, but you know how troublesome it can be if it happens, which is why the eyeshield may be invaluable for anyone with sensitive eyes. In addition, the extra level of protection against freak accidents is insurance. If you feel you need it, and you're willing to take a small cut in efficiency and a small cut in time for maintenance, it's a viable option. All others looking for something that's visually pleasing, look elsewhere, it's goofy looking. Now, expect lots of poking and prodding at your next practice.
http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/4184/lax0070eb.th.jpg (http://img56.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lax0070eb.jpg)
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/8493/lax0081fz.th.jpg (http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lax0081fz.jpg)
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/1598/lax0090mx.th.jpg (http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lax0090mx.jpg)
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/8968/lax0103no.th.jpg (http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lax0103no.jpg)
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/1592/lax0114wf.th.jpg (http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lax0114wf.jpg)
http://img271.imageshack.us/img271/8374/lax0125au.th.jpg (http://img271.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lax0125au.jpg)
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/6324/lax0138ch.th.jpg (http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lax0138ch.jpg)
Eyeshield can be purchased here. (http://www.sportsunlimitedinc.com/hs8000shield.html)
This a review of the Clear Bangerz eyeshield, the only one legal for NFHS play.
Let's get some background information. I wear contact lenses, and I bought the visor for that purpose. I play in a dust bowl, and seeing as how my eyes are especially sensitive, I figured $25 was not a bad investment for something that would keep dust and dirt out of my eyes.
Out of the package, it's quite ordinary, nothing like those beautiful Oakley football visors you may have seen on lacrosse helmets. Actually, it's basically a flat sheet of plexiglass. And for something specifically made for lacrosse, the connections aren't fancy either. The visor is connected by zip ties, not difficult, but tedious if ever you need to take it off, and, as you'll soon see, you will. Basically, once you put 'em in you can't take 'em off unless they're cut, so scissors might be a new item to add to your lacrosse bag if you don't have some in there. The package only came with 8 plastic zip ties, 6 of which you actually use. There are two in reserve, though I'm not sure I understand the point of that. I went to Lowe's hardware and got 3 packs of 25 zip ties (identical ones), which were $1.76 per pack.
Now, with that out of the way...
When I first brought it in to a game, I got a lot of comments; most people liked it, and tried to poke at it; it's actually very firm when attached and doesn't wobble when you push on it, despite the fact that it's just a sheet of plastic. As expected, there's not much opportunity for dust to get into your eyes with this guy on, but is it worth having a piece of plastic in front of your face?
There were a few things I noticed. I'll address the biggest issue first, vision.
You would think that it might alter your peripheral vision, but this part is actually unaffected, little to no problem there. It's the forward vision that's actually a problem. It's hard to explain, but the facemask bars on my CPX became, well, more pronounced with the visor; it was as if the vision lines weren't aligned, so I often ended up with a horizontal bar in the middle of my view. Usually, without the helmet, I look through the top gap of the face mask, right under the helmet's visor, but the eyeshield actually cuts off in the middle of that gap, as opposed to at the very top, so now, for some reason I still have yet to determine, I alter between the middle gap in the facemask and the top, but mostly the middle, and when you end up altering like this, rather than constantly looking out the top, the horizontal bar gets in the way often. You get used it, but it did very much at first mess with my vision. Perhaps I can fix the chin strap so my head is even higher than usual.
So, but in terms of clarity, it's almost perfect, when it's clean. When the visor is free of dust or dirt, it's as if it's not there, but in a normal, sunny game, dust and other particles built up on the eyeshield, and while not terrible, it was somewhat pesky; a rag or eyeglass cleaning cloth in your bag will solve this problem. The eyeshield doesn't glare up at all when it's sunny, it works very well in this aspect.
Here's a big problem. You guys benefit from me being able to test this guy out in all kinds of weather. Rain is the eyeshield's worst enemy. When it was raining moderately, it became unbearable and I was forced to cut off the visor. Water beads on the visor. Try to wipe it off, right? It'll smear and cloud up your vision. It was like looking out a really rainy window, so the visor had to come off during the rain game. So this is the instance where the zipties could be a problem if the thing needs to come off; it's the little things which make it so pesky at times, but seriously, zero rain tolerance. The thing also fogged up on the outside when I breathed on it, so I guess fog itself and mist can fog it up, but from the inside, it won't fog up when you breath.
There we have it. Maintenance of this guy is really tedious, but if you feel that you need it, the protection is more than adequate. It's not as if it's hard to keep dust out of your eyes, as this thing proves that a piece of plastic can do it, but you know how troublesome it can be if it happens, which is why the eyeshield may be invaluable for anyone with sensitive eyes. In addition, the extra level of protection against freak accidents is insurance. If you feel you need it, and you're willing to take a small cut in efficiency and a small cut in time for maintenance, it's a viable option. All others looking for something that's visually pleasing, look elsewhere, it's goofy looking. Now, expect lots of poking and prodding at your next practice.
http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/4184/lax0070eb.th.jpg (http://img56.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lax0070eb.jpg)
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/8493/lax0081fz.th.jpg (http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lax0081fz.jpg)
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/1598/lax0090mx.th.jpg (http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lax0090mx.jpg)
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/8968/lax0103no.th.jpg (http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lax0103no.jpg)
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/1592/lax0114wf.th.jpg (http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lax0114wf.jpg)
http://img271.imageshack.us/img271/8374/lax0125au.th.jpg (http://img271.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lax0125au.jpg)
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/6324/lax0138ch.th.jpg (http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lax0138ch.jpg)