latexjess
Product Review: Russian PBF Mask
Published: August 30th 2020, 4:01:01 pm
If you like the floppy feel and look of the Russian GP5, the PBF is its bigger brother.
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So I personally love the look of this mask, the thick saggy cheeks, the small round eyes, the snub nosed front, and wrap around hood with ear protection. It's a very intimidating looking mask, reminiscent of the combine masks in Half-Life 2. The mask feel is nice at first, but will lead to jaw ache, not cool!
From a breathing perspective... the mask has two very unique filters that fit within the cheeks of the mask. Nothing else will fit, they're very specific. I love the breathing sounds and feel, the pull on my lungs and the very satisfying muffled noise.
Speaking of muffled noise, despite having such a large front grill, there's no diaphragm for speaking, your voice is completely muffled in this thing. Not that I'm saying that's a bad thing mind you ;)
Air goes in through the cheeks, past the eyes for defogging, it does a terrible job, and then air is exhaled through the front face. It's rough, lol!
How about compatibility.. well there are no 40mm standard threads on any of it. The filters are proprietary, the lenses can be replaced if you cut them down to size, not a whole lot of out of the box customization though.
What the heck are these??
As for price, these used to be quite expensive, at $60 each, now they can be had for $20-30, especially in bulk. Not a bad price, but much more than other masks with compatible 40mm threaded fittings.
Pros
- Not a bad price
- Pretty heavy
- Comfortable
Cons
- Not customizable
- Non-standard inlet/exhaust threads
- Not ideal for smoke-play
- Underwater-play is NOT possible
Scorecard...
- Look: 4/5
- Feel: 3/5
- Function: 1/5
- Price: 4/5
Overall: 6/10