Ergodyne N-Ferno 6970 Balaclava with Detachable Heat Exchanger Face Mask, Winter Ski Mask, Black

I am 74 years old with slightly compromised lungs. When I was in my 20s, I had horrible allergies that damaged my lungs. When the air temp gets below 25, my lungs start to ache and really hurt. I have horses and live on a farm, so chores are a daily thing. This mask is wonderful. I am still learning to use it, to adjust it to be comfortable and effective. When I get to working hard, I breathe through my mouth and so far in single digit and minus zero temps, I have had no pain or shortness of breath. The hood fits smoothly under my jacket and the top pulls down to my eyes so those 50 mph gusts to not impact my skin. The heat exchanger part can be removed and adjusted to many places. I have had no problem with condensation or breathing hard while working. At the beginning of this season, I was really worried about being able to continue my outside work. This hood, mask and heat exchanger is an answer to prayer. Thank you.

I had my first Ergodyne N-Ferno 6970 Balaclava for several years now. I bought this second mask of this type 2.5 years ago (now it is 07/08/23).Keeps your face toasty in even the coldest and windiest conditions. Been outside in -15ºF w/windchill down to -30ºF (and lower) for 30 minutes or more. Face kept warm. The breather filter keeps your breath warmed up on inhale so your lungs are not hit with a blast of freezing temps. My only minor issue is that the mask tends to fit a bit tight in certain areas around the nose. It's not much of a problem (a little tightness). Aside from that, it is well worth the extra cost of not freezing your face/nose. And if it is a bit warmer out, you can remove the breath filter for when you don't need so much protection from less frigid temps. Must have for cold temps!!

Typically I have the following problems with Balaclava:1. In the cold the moisture of my breath will freeze and cause the area around my mouth to be incredibly cold.2. They have limited options as to what parts of your face they cover.3. They cause me to fog up my goggles when I try to cover my nose as well.While the sponge area surrounding your mouth will get wet, it didn't cause me any trouble whatsoever and the fact that it protrudes a bit meant that the cold/wet parts were never actually touching my skin. While it does get a little cold around the mouth and nose, it was always significantly warmer than the outside and actually was nice as the rest of my head was pretty warm.The ability to take on and off the mouth mask was great and I often took one side off and skied down. It is not easy to access (especially to put on again) when you have a helmet on but it is good enough. The moth mask isn't an amazing fit but it was good enough and did not hurt my nose at all.Depending on how you place your goggles they will fog up, but there is definitely a way to do it where they don't. Because the sponge allows you to breath in and out normally, most of the heat from your breath will exit to the atmosphere instead of going into the goggles and fogging them up. Overall, would highly recommend this.

A little tight on my adult male 3.5%-neanderthal head. The nose-pincher at the top of the mask is weak, similar to the cheap metal strip used in disposable dust masks. This part is needed to keep breath from escaping up to the eyes, so glasses usually fog up within 15 minutes unless there's a good wind. With ski goggles that drops to 5 minutes. Frustrating. The vent in the front has what resembles a plastic brillo pad. After a half hour or more it gets pretty wet and should be aired out well. It doesn't get smelly. Thermally it's great: -10F in a steady wind for an hour with a hood and second hat and goggles, didn't even feel like I was outside, no problems other than going fog-blind. The build quality is so-so. One of the stitches around the face popped when I took it off on the 4th use. Dabbed it with hot glue so it is not unraveling. I was in need of serious heavy-use face protection and this is great in concept but it's too cheap for heavy-use.

A helpful future improvement would be for the loop velcro fabric on the balaclava to extend all the way around the sides and to the back of the neck and head, to accommodate smaller faces and heads. I have to fasten the mask at the base of my skull to make the mask fit properly, and at first I didn't think it was going to work out because the velcro doesn't stick to that part of the balaclava. My workaround is, I put on the balaclava, then I put on my own knit cap, then I velcro the mask to my knit cap at the back of my head. I work in the freezer at the grocery store, and with my workaround it's very convenient for quickly taking it on and off all day. Minus 10 F in that freezer and the face will get frostnipped after more than a few minutes without protection.

The nose and mouth piece kept riding up over my nose. It was hard to see over the ridge.

I live in Chicagoland and work on Cell Phone Towers in areas from Minnesota down to Missouri. This is a review from someone who works outdoors everyday in the FREEZING cold at heights where the wind chill is at least 10 degrees colder than on the ground. The biggest problem with every other Balaclava is you cannot cover your mouth and nose for long periods of time because the moisture from your breath makes the material wet. So you wind up pulling the face part up and down all day trying to protect yourself from the elements but when moisture builds up it just makes it worst. I have been looking for this Balaclava for 15 years and I can now finally keep my face warm all day in the winter. Now a couple things to note to make this work perfectly. If you have a physical job like I do the insert in the mouth portion will obstruct your breathing. So if you are planning to use this while doing something like running or climbing like me you will have to make an adjustment. You just can't get enough air if your breathing hard so i removed the foam insert (that does stop you from breathing cold air very well) and cut a dime size hole in the center and the problem was solved. Second, the hood that the mask is connected to does not stop the wind so i still use my old Balaclava on top of this one.