Any feedback on need for purchase of gas masks? I found the ones at gasmask.com that cover Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical exposure but am sad to say finances dont allow for such a purchase. Many other sites offer the israeli, german, or canadian masks.....not sure what to do? Please send links, wisdom, etc......

-- Thanks Again (need@to.breath.com), September 12, 1999

Answers

Go for the israeli mask,believe, they are not sheeple.

-- Daryll (twincrk@hotmail.com), September 13, 1999.

Israeli Gas Masks are what I purchased with an extra filter for myself and my mother. I felt with all the refinery, chemical plants near my home if there was an explosion or whatever, we would need them. My mother has respiratory difficulty anyway and something like that would do her in. They are reasonably priced, I purchased mine on Ebay from a vender who answered in detail all of my questions regarding it, and followed up to see that I knew how to fit it properly and use it after I received the items. Now that is old fashioned service!

Good luck

Just keepin' on, keepin' on

-- Sammie Davis (sammie0nospam@hotmail.com), September 13, 1999.

Thanks,

You need to read your post again. You can't afford NOT to buy the best when it comes to your survival!!!!! Not saying that GASMASKS.COM is the best, but, you need to read there information page re: masks to learn why masks are expensive. Cars, computers, guns, houses all are expensive, I think it is just a matter of priorities. Imagine yourself in a situation just before you see the gas coming in your front door and saying to yourself, damn if I wasn't so friggin (stupid/cheap/anal) pick any or all that fits, I could get out of this mess.If you don't take responsibility for your life , who will?? The fact your even thinking about mask should confirm your need to be prepared.

BTW, the Israeli masks are SURPLUS outdated junk. Save your money, you ain't buying security or peace of mind!!! Sorry for the slam, but get real, NOW!!!

They want to make bulletproof vests illegal for the general public to own, do you think masks are far behind!!!!! OOPS, sorry, just sold them all to the GOVERNMENT!!!

-- NBC Ready or Not (gettin late@to order.com), September 13, 1999.

I got my ISRAELI masks from:

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com

Cost was $19.95 and INCLUDED one filter. Contrary to the opinion above, my masks were NEW, and they are NATO-spec in every regard.

Get several extra filters ($4.95 each, and these filters are RE- FILLED, so their outer can looks rougher), as I have found out that under certain conditions, the filters are only good for a few hours.

-- Dennis (djolson@pressenter.com), September 13, 1999.

The Canadian masks are a good design. We used them in the Air Force on chem-nuclear decontamination teams because the filters can be changed while wearing the mask. You couldn't do that with the 1970- 1980's-vintage US mask, it had to be removed to change filters.

The Canadian mask looked like a World War One design but it was a lot more user-friendly with the quick-change feature. But it didn't have the US mask's drinking tube and your were in big trouble if the filter was hit with water. Water would (will it still?) turn the filter media into a mass of goo that you couldn't draw air through.

Then you had to have a knife handy to cut your suit open to remove the mask and hood, lest you suffocate. Of course if the hood was re- designed to vent and intake under the hood instead of to the open air (and rain) then the waterloggin problem would go away. It shouldn't take too much duct tape and plastic sheeting...

As far as used versus new masks; in twenty-plus years in the military I was neve issued a new gas mask, only "serviceable, used" ones. If you buy a used mask bee certain you are getting a serviceable one, not a piece of scrap material.

And when buying filters be certain to get "real" combat filters, not TRAINING FILTERS. Training filters will be activated charcoal, but will not have the chemical additives used to disable certain chemical nerve agents. Without the "real" filters and their additives, all you will have will be a very pricey dust mask that will have limited effectiveness against attacks.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), September 13, 1999.

NBC ready or not - The Israeli masks are junk? Why? They accept the standard Dreoger filters, so just order what filter you think you are going up against. Now let's point out that the Israeli mask can be attacked by war gasses that are designed to destroy the mask fabric. But's let's get serious here, if you REALLY think that somebody is coming after you with something that expensive, sophisticated and nasty, they'ld probably add a little bit of nerve gas to the mix which would go right through your skin and kill you no matter what mask you are wearing. So..... you need a full class 4 M.O.P.P. suit if you think that you are going up against something that nasty. Excuse me, suits, not suit. And of course add detection devices, decontamination chambers, safe room with a full inplace filter (about $5,000 right there), etc., et cetra.

Meanwhile, back in the land of the probable. For stuff like tear gas, C.S. gas ( you know the Waco stuff, the stuff that is classified as an asphxiating poisonous war gas that we no longer sell to the Israelis since they've killed too many Palestians with it by using it inside buildings where it becomes lethal instead of using it outside where it was designed to be non-lethal {most of the time}, the same CS gas that if we used it on foreign soldiers we would be breaking the Geneva Convention, that CS gas), chemical spills, agricultural spills, etc., the Israeli mask with standard filter will be adequate.

Note for people working around anhydrous ammonia (farms). You can get Droeger filters that are specific for ammonia, but the standard unit will be adequate if all you are doing is fleeing the scene, NOT trying to work in the environment to turn off the ammonia leak (unless there is a strong wind and you can work upwind).

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), September 19, 1999.