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Review: G&G Goggle Fan

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        Review: G&G Goggle Fan
By popnfresh wLcH
Published: March 2005

Why the heck are you writing this?

Simply put, because so many people out there have problems with fogging goggles and glasses that have to fit under the goggles. This fogging is caused me a numerous amount of problems, but can be solved by an equal amount of solutions. The main cause is perspiration, or sweating. When your body heats up when you play, it releases sweat in response. When this sweat evaporates, it causes moisture. Moisture=fog. Although there are many others, like humidity and air pressure, I myself was a big casualty in the sweating business, losing my proverbial life to 5 or 6 bb’s whilst stumbling around trying to air out my goggles. This is especially a problem in coastal communities where temperature drops dramatically at night, and my problem was augmented by this, causing my experience at “nightsoft”, as it has been called, to be much less enjoyable than it should be. Now that I pinpointed my problem, i set about looking for "sweat combatant". So, my search begins....

And the search led to…

Since I had already tried other products and failing miserably, I searched for a more permanent solution, one that wouldn’t fail no matter the circumstance. Thus I came upon the goggle fan. Although the JT unit was better looking and probably more reliable based on what I could see, it was 70 dollars. And since I had seen the G&G goggle fan before, browsing random airsoft sites for no particular reason, I finally decided to buy one from PoweredgeUSA with a host of other tactical gear to go along. In fact, because of the ridiculous self-containment of the fan and how it works, it only was 25 dollars shipped, which is a great price in my opinion, considering the price of the JT unit was almost 3 times more expensive. So being the cheapskate I am, I picked one of the G&G units up.

So what did you think, huh?

Of course as all the products I get, I feel excited and ready to try it out as soon as I get it. But UPS screwed up and I had to bike to their hub (5 miles away) and back with a 10 lb package, so I stopped my AEX on the way and picked up a tight bore since I was dead anyway. And when I got home and dug in the box for a minute, I felt a bit amused. Why? This thing is ridiculously tiny. But then, I noticed something. The wiring is in two parts, the “control box” and the fan itself. This allows for freedom to wire it any way you want, but it’s not connected. To really achieve a good wiring connection, you will need to solder them together. So while I was a bit annoyed, I soldered it up and went for a test run, literally running around the backyard for like half hour to build up sweat, but, you get to know what happened later.

Uh huh, so about this fan anyways…

The fan itself is not even an inch tall, and only about 1 ½ inch wide. In order to attach it to a mask or goggle system, there must be some holes in it that allow small zip ties to thread thru it, as this is how the fan actually stays on. To turn it on, just place two AAA batteries in the “control box” and flip the switch. The fan itself is comprised of two units, the outer shell, and the fan. The outer shell is just ABS plastic, meant to block any bbs that might come its way. On the subject of plastic, there isn’t a smidgen of metal in the entire piece. The entire unit is a good shade of black, if you were worried it was going to stand out or something, and it almost does both the sucking of the air and the circulation of it as well. I have no idea what RPM it spins at, but it can suck air out at a surprising rate, actually cooling off anything above the fan while in use, and what about the noise? It is almost non-existent. Only the user can hear it, and it absolute silence, anyone about 2 feet away can hear it. Not like those fans you got cooling your computer off right now. On the subject of durability, the outer shell of the fan can resist a bb shot from almost pointblank from a 330 fps AEG shooting .2s. It did receive a very small dent, but it was affected less than my bedroom wall. It is a good idea to just cover the unit anyways with a sunshade just to guard it.

Enough about the fan! What about that test?

As aforementioned, I ran around with this thing on for half an hour, building up one hell of a sweat and panting like hell. No fog. And while I was really surprised at this dinky thing’s effectiveness, I started to feel a little discomfort as the control box rattled on the back of my head every step I took. Of course, the box can be placed almost anywhere, I just like it on the back of my head, where I can reach it.

Ok that’s great, but how about the adrenaline part?

In skirmishing, everyone gets a rush, panting when they’re pinned down, sweating after carrying all their gear for a while, and screaming at people that don’t call out. In all cases, the fan does what it’s meant to do, defog your goggles and keep you in top shape. The fan does not give your position away with noise, as explained, it is ridiculously quiet. Heck, if you were that paranoid (the user does feel some slight vibration and a faint buzz noise) you can just flick the switch.

So is there anything you DON’T like about it?

Unfortunately, there is one pretty big flaw in the fan, its battery capacity. Using two Duracell AAA batteries, I got about a 6 hour run time. Though this may seem like a lot, people that forget to turn it off will find themselves in a jam when suddenly their goggles fog and they don’t hear a buzz. Changing the batteries requires you take off the mask also, which usually isn’t an option in combat. So try and gauge when you need to switch batteries, and change them early, so you don’t get caught with your goggles fogged in a blurry white mess of moisture.

So why not Anti-fog sprays? Why a fan?

Fans have one big advantage over their spray counterparts, they're not liquid. Besides fog, people get other gunk on their goggles like fingerprints and dirt. When this is wiped off, the anti fog coat usually goes with it, and oopsie day, you fog is back to play. The fan however, only requires power and some zip ties, and you’re done and ready to kick some ass, fog-free. This is always a big plus.

I didn’t read the article. Sum it up please.

The G&G goggle fan is like the TDI folder grip that I reviewed. Great for the money and it gets the job done and also it does it well. Although not easily removed and relocated, it hasn’t broken, showed any problems, or even been dented by a stray bb yet. Even from a pointblank range, bb’s dent it very slightly, not even hindering the performance of the fan. To increase its performance, as if you’ll need it, you can cut bigger holes so more air can be circulated more efficiently. For 25 dollars, you can solve those fogging problems forever, leaving it to die with your targets. For anyone hindered with fogging goggles and one big headache, this is the item for you.

Pros
  • Small and very self-contained
  • Does its job well
  • Easy to find power source, not like those watch batteries
  • Easy to install onto goggles
  • Cheap!
Cons
  • Made out of plastic
  • Wiring requires a solder before it can be usable
  • Battery capacity not what I hoped
  • Attached by zip ties, screws and nuts would be better




















































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