ColdAvenger Classic Fleece Face Mask

The Cold Avenger is an excellent idea. Let's face it: it sucks when you are wearing your neck gaiter or scarf over your mouth and nose, and then the moisture from your exhaled breath condenses on it and creates that clammy, cold, unpleasant sensation on your face. Even worse when conditions are so cold (and you're outside for so long) that it freezes.I had been considering creating my own version of this by cannibalizing a 3M dust mask and an REI gaiter, so I was stoked when I came across the Cold Avenger product. It does a very good job of protecting your face while keeping cold, wet cloth off your skin.The respirator component is made of soft silicone, so it is lightweight and comfortable, and can be jammed in a pocket without or crushed without sustaining damage. The underwire design used in the top seam that goes under your eyes is easy and intuitive to bend for a snug fit. Drain holes allow condensation to clear without being absorbed by the fabric and making you cold and wet.So why not 5 stars?There are a few design flaws that need correcting. Here they are:1) The respirator device does not do a good job of pre-heating the air. I found that putting fleece gaiter OVER it works ok. I think I will cut some fleece and glue it to the silicone of the respirator in order to improve cold air protection. It would be nice if the respirator came from the factory covered in fabric.2) The velcro closure at the back is a pain. Hard to put on and take off, especially with gloves on, and if you are wearing a hood or hat. This product would work better on a single-piece tube gaiter that pulls on and off over your head. Quicker and faster. I also have Cold Avenger's Balaclava model, but this is not ideal either, as it is sometimes difficult to get the respirator mask-piece velcroed into position properly (again, especially with gloves and other cold-weather gear on).3) No way to quickly and easily open and close the respirator component to say, blow your nose, eat or drink something, or speak into a telephone. They should design the silicone respirator component to quickly pull open and snap closed, with a big tab that can be grabbed with gloved fingers. Held shut with either velcro or those strong directional magnets used in iPad covers. I may mod mine accordingly.4) I wish it went down farther. I have to wear another neck gaiter below it to keep snow from building up under my neck.5) Depending on your personality, this may not be a negative: you look like Darth Vader or Bain (from Batman) when you're wearing this thing. I scared the hell out of some little girl who saw me and ran to her dad. While being warm and comfortable is nice, I don't normally enjoy wandering around in public looking like a character from some post-apocalyptic sci-fi dystopia. I think if they were to integrate Recommendation #1 (above), it would mitigate this problem. (On the other hand, if you're anti-social and enjoy frightening strangers, you'll be in hog heaven.)That's it. A great product, and I endorse it. If I ever implement my modification ideas, I will report back on how they went. Or perhaps I will email them directly to Cold Avenger and we will see them on future models.

I get bronchitis a lot in the winter time and I work as a security guard and have to spend extended periods of time outside. So I ordered this item to see if it would help. I used it in cold weather from 20F and -20F. I would normally go into coughing fits after being outside for awhile but on the days I used this I was able to spend longer amounts of time outside without the coughing fits. It definitely gets moist inside the mask and sometimes the air was still fairly cold but not to the point of discomfort. On extreme cold days I wore a ski mask also and it worked fantastic. Only downfall is that it can agitate the bridge of the nose.

I wouldn't order one again. I believe my eyes and nose are in the same place that most other people have their eyes and nose, but definitely not where this thing would fit. I have to squeeze the nose piece over and over so it doesn't just smash against the bridge of my nose. It wants to sit so high that it blocks my vision and when I pull it down to see it hammers my nose. It does seem warm and I guess the air is a little warmer, just from hot air coming from the lungs, but there is nothing in this plastic that in any way treats the air other than to block the flow a little bit. Maybe I should have ordered it in a smaller size...

I bought this mask for running during the winter. Even though it isn't the winter just yet, I couldn't help but wear it on a run today.It was close to 85 degrees outside when I left the house. I was able to run the entire time without stopping, although I will admit- there is probably a 25% reduction of air flow. Which really makes a difference while running.Not that it's a bad thing. It's doing its job, definitely moisturizing the air and making sure it's warm.The mask fits nicely, although it does put some pressure on the bridge of your nose. For the hour that I wore it today, it fit very comfortably and covered my face from the eyes down.The velcro is of a very fine and hardly noticeable grade. I was very impressed with the stick and fastening.The respirator leaves plenty of room to breathe inside the mask. My mouth was open the entire time. I was resting the bottom of the mask in between my lower lip and my chin, which I found was very comfortable while running.Goes over the ears which will be fantastic for cold runs.I'm very impressed with this product. I'm glad I went with this mask over the others.

Top ten snowy winter created a need for extra protection. Despite lookin like Darth Vader it does the trick. I, however, wear glasses and the fog up problem was occurring. Adding a 6 inch long thin strip of spongelike weather stripling to the inside centered around the bridge of the nose took care of that problem.

This purchase was made for winter biking in Minnesota and Northern WI. The mask works well with goggles (no fogging) and has allowed me to bike at temperatures as low as -20F. Only 4 stars because it is slightly uncomfortable, but certainly works well for my purpose.

I purchased the ColdAvenger Classic Fleece Face Mask for my husband & he loves it. He runs all year & needed a mask for the cold mornings. According to my runner husband this is the best give I've given him in years.

This fit my needs exactly. Where I live, most days of winter have cold winds and due to the added factor of height, that air is super cooled. This device allows the air to be naturally warmed. And, that is a life saver, literally, as I have a heart condition and super cold air is deadly to folks with my condition. Now, I can take my daily walks without throwing ten tons of scarf across my face. Thanks.

Last few days were about -30C; works great; makes a micro climate on the face so nose is not frozen and air entering nose not so cold. But cannot use with glasses (fog/freeze up); but I can walk on our trails without glasses (can see enough); found I can stay out walking much longer (more than 20 minutes) now that my face is protected. I'm glad I purchased the product for the several very cold days we get every Winter.

Works as expected, however my nose is a large Roman nose and so there is some trouble fitting the flexible wire over top of my nose. Therefore my exhaling breath still moves up towards my glasses fogging them. I've ordered some ski goggles and hope that they will press enough against my cheeks that my exhales won't go up through into my glasses.

Very Good. The only problems I have with this is that I found it a bit small to wrap around my head and my eye glasses kept fogging up. Other than that it is a very good product at keeping your throat from getting sore from inhaling cold temperature air.

The item is effective at keeping your lower face warm, however air gets past the top of the nose cover and fogs my glasses. The very reason I wanted it was to avoid this problem. In very cold weather, condensation forms in the cup then drips through the air vent and drips onto the front of your parka and freezes. Doesn't look that great.

Much as I hate buying anything on Amazon due to their crap customer service -- THIS product is amazing -- a game changer for cold weather running. Simple. Effective. Easy to put on out of the package. Covers up areas that get cold. And - simple minimalist packaging.