"14 in JJ barrel
Tippmann E-grip
Rap4 Aluminum blot & hex head front bolt
Maddog springs
Nail for a stiker pin
Strengths:
Helps with fogging. Cools down your face.
Weaknesses:
Kind of loud. Expencive
Review:
If you have an elite full headsheld this is a must have. It really does help with fogging. It has to modes of operation, in & out. It also cools down your face which is a great help for me, because that helmet can get hot. Has a couple of problems though. first: it is kind of loud, but if u put a drop or two of gun oil on the fan it's not as loud. Second: it costs more than the helmet does. My friend got a fan with his JT Spectra headsheald, And he only payed $50 for his helmet. But it's a must have. Works great.
Conclusion:
Get the Spectra Headsheld. you get mor for your money.
Tippmann A-5 with LPK, Apex, SP All American 14", Lapco SAW stock, red dot, CP reg.
"Rocky Cagnioni" Warped Sportz IR3, Worrgas 4500 peanut tank, Halo
Eclipse E-Blade 'Cocker, Minicocker w/adds, Tippmann .68 Carbine, 2k Shocker Turbo/SF
Strengths:
It works. Defogs your mask no matter what the conditions.
Weaknesses:
It's cheap. As in, cheaply made. Out of the box, it IS noisy.
Review:
I bought two for the two Proteus Chameleon masks my wife and I are using. Both of them were noisy and cheap-feeling out of the box. However, they do keep your mask clear of fog, which is hard to do in Florida in the summer. Also, the good news is, the noise can be overcome, and the cheap feel/look is misleading. Both fans are still going strong after quite a few games. The other reviews suggest using some gun oil on the motor axle are right on. Doing so cuts the noise in half once it has had some time to penetrate. I used a little WD-40 which worked too.
However, I also took the noise dampening to the next level. A little bit of electrical tape around the back edge and two pieces on the front nodes before replacing the back plate assembly helped a little bit. The big difference came when I shot about a bullet-size lump of silicon caulk into the case so that the rear of the fan motor embedded in it upon reassembly. This cut the noise in half AGAIN once the caulking dried. Be careful not to put too much caulk in so that it gets forced up into the fan blades when you replace the plate assembly. Also try not to clog up the air ports to the casing. It just has to contact the case and the fan motor housing to absorb some of the vibration. With a little oil and the caulk cured completely, this fan is QUIET. Without this attention, the fan still works fine, you just have to use it when you fog up and then turn it back off. Hearing is just too important in woodsball to sacrifice even some of it for defogging. It's important in any game to hear everything loud and clear.
Conclusion:
For the money they want for this fan retail, it should be higher quality and much more quiet out of the box. Get one from eBay, tinker with it as explained above, and you should be happy with it.
Rating:
7 out of 10
Last edited on Thursday, April 12th, 2007 at 8:39 pm PST
Battery life
2 way operation (sucks and blows air)
Weaknesses:
Mounting prongs
Battery casing
Fans come out of alignment
LOUD
Review:
The vortex fan has serious problems. I've been using two of them for 4 years and both have had issues since day 1.
Look at the weaknesses in my review, there are some things you need to know...
* Mounting prongs are SEVERELY prone to breakage
* Battery casing prone to breakage
* Battery casing prone to impacts and rough handling
* Fans come out of alignment and cease to operate
* LOUD
The bottom line is, the plastic the fan is made from, and the basic electric internals are far too flimsy and prone to breaking. You don't even have to be rough, the mounting prongs WILL break upon simple removal and attachment of the fan to the top of your mask. The plastic is just too weak. Each fan has 4 prongs, and I've also almost all of the prongs on my 2 fans break off.
The casing itself, since it's the same plastic as the prongs, is too weak and is vulnerable to paintball impacts. take a direct or indirect hit on the fan, and chances are your fan will cease to operate... at least until you can take it apart and try and fix it. This happened twice with one of my fans.
The fans are olso only a couple of millimeters away from the casing, so if they get bumped in the slightest, they will come into contact with the casing and will cease top operate. Usually it's fixable if you remove the fan from the mask and use your finger, but you shouldn't have to do this nonsense in the first place.
The fan is LOUD. It's not loud from a distance, but at 3 inches away from your ear, you can forget about 'listening' for movement. At that distance it's loud to you.
Conclusion:
Please bear in mind one thing: Most reviews posted on this product are by users who have only used it for a short time, ie- 6 months or less. I have been using them for 4 years. And my review represents how the fan(s) have performed over that time. (Which is NOT good)
Avoid the Vortex like the black plague. I see JT have a vortex 2, so I suppose you should get that instead. Though I don't know how much they have improved upon these issues, if at all.
Rating:
2 out of 10
Last edited on Tuesday, December 26th, 2006 at 5:51 pm PST
Is loud and trough that makes nothing
It is hard to change battery
Review:
I have bought this one used fan in good condition for reasonable prince (8$) from friend who finished with paintball, because I wound testet "Profi-fan" (I have used cheap single lens mask with small PC fan and it works well). I wear glasses so a fan is worth. But this thing makes nothing - lens still fogging, its makes no perceptible difference when the fan is on or off... and its so loud, that person who wearing it can hard get to hear what's going on around.
Maybe others have better experiences... bud my JT Vortex fan goes for nothing. I really know not why all others here are excited with this... but I guess when you have good mask with thermal lenses and you not wear glasses, you simply do not have a need of fan... and this fan looks good on mask and gives you some additional moral support :-).
Conclusion:
JT has a good idea here, but the fan is just way too small and weak. And loud. Tiny engine powered with one AAA is not up to do his work, especially when is placed so that so the mask body sightly disturb its air flow.
My recommendation: make our own fan from small 12V PC (Notebook) fan and 9V cell - its not so loud, works sightly better, is much cheaper and you can adapt it better on your mask.
Rating:
1 out of 10
Last edited on Friday, August 4th, 2006 at 1:40 am PST
VL Triad w/After market barrel, 20oz tank, and 2nd hand drop forward
Strengths:
Controls the buildup of fog
Weaknesses:
Loud
Review:
It really does make a difference. I got mine new off of ebay for about $30 including shipping.
I have had awful problems w/my mask fogging up, especially since I like playing woodsball and it seems that the air is more humid and my mask is more prone to fog in the woods than when I'm in the open. I got this and the fogging problem went away. It's a snap (no pun intended) to install, easy to use, and has a low profile. The unit is made of hard plastic, so it can be easy to break one of the tabs that keeps it affixed to your mask. However, there are 4 such tabs, and missing one won't affect the performance in any way.
While the fan cured the fogging problem, it created a new one, albeit less serious, but a problem nevertheless. It is loud. It's not loud in the sense that others can hear you, but it's loud in the sense that you have a tiny motor spinning a fan that is right on top of your head. It' sounds to you that it's as loud as a freight train, but in reality you can only hear the whirr of the motor within a couple of feet. However, because it's so loud to you, it makes it impossible to listen for people moving through the woods and leaf litter, and it makes it difficult to hear the voices of your teammates trying to give you instructions. I found that I would turn it on when starting to fog, then off so I can listen until my mask started to fog up again. Once the shooting starts, it really doesn't matter about the sound, so I then turn it on and leave it on (basically when I don't need to use my ears to try to pinpoint the opfor). I found the noise is louder w/weak batteries, so fully charged AAA batteries helps to mitigate this somewhat.
When you are looking at AAA batteries, look for the highest Milliamperage you can find. I have found that w/my rechargables I use, the ones w/higher M/A seem to spin the fan faster. This not only moves more air through the mask, but because the fan spins a litter faster, it seems to reduce the noise the fan creates. The faster fan overcomes the natural imbalance and "wobble" (vibration) inherent in a spinning object. (ala an out of balance tire which reaches a certain point (speed) where the vibration goes away due to the speed of the spin.)
Conclusion:
It is worth it, and the noise factor won't give you away to others, but it also won't allow you to hear the others approaching either. Use it w/fresh batteries and turning it on and off periodically will help control this drawback. It is very good at keeping your mask clear. Even with eyeglasses too.
Rating:
8 out of 10
Last edited on Saturday, July 29th, 2006 at 10:38 am PST
Every one that ahs given this a bad review are just fanboys of other companies. this fan is AMAZING! it gets rid of fog compleley and its not as loud as others have said. i dont fidn that it decreases ur hearing at all.
Im telling you this is a great fan for your mask....i use a proteus and i NEVER fog up anymore....i promise u NEVER......anyone that says diffenrnt hasnt used it or is a fanboy coming form another company.
Conclusion:
Defe\inatly worth the money! helps EXTREMELY. you WILL NOT be disapointed.
A guy that use to run a field/store, gave me this when he went out of business. ALthough some of the other reviews make the mask seem like it sucks, it really isn't that bad. I have never once had my mask fog up on me. I have played in a tournament, and twice a week since the day I got it, and still no trouble with it. I haven't changed the batteries yet either. It is a little loud, but nothing that affects the game. Get this fan if you have a JT mask
Helps defog
Feels really good in winter
Easy to use
Not a bank breaker
Quiet
Weaknesses:
A bit annoying noise
Pointless in summer
Review:
when I first took my new vortex fan out on my proteus I was quite impressed. it was february, and when your running around with heavy coat on, it gets quite hot. so I eventually ended up in a t-shirt with my fan on. It felt really good at that time. but when late spring-mid summer comes around, its too freaking hot out, and the fan either doesnt do anything or blows hot air at you. so theres really no point in it when its really hot out.
Conclusion:
its a nice thing to have on your mask, never know when it might come in handy. as I said above its not too expensive so its not a complete waste. it would probably be good in scenarios. I give it an 8, because nothing is perfect, but there is 2 points room for improvment
Tippmann A-5
8" Lapco Big Shot Barrel
Pro Team Intruder Foregrip
3000psi 72cu compressed air tank
Strengths:
-Cheap
-Fan
Weaknesses:
-Didn't work well
-Had to cut up visor
-Didn't help unfog glasses
-noisey
Review:
I bought the vortex fan for one purpose to keep my glasses from fogging or to take the fog away, let me tell ya it never worked for me. Luckily i bought them when they were on sale for cheap. Also in order to install i had to cut my visor up a bit so i could turn the fan on with the big metal switch in the middle of the game.
Conclusion:
If your buying these to stop your glasses from fogging up ou mine as well get contacts trust me thats what i did now i'm havin more fun then ever.
Rating:
3 out of 10
Last edited on Saturday, August 14th, 2004 at 7:13 pm PST
Only buy it if you really need it cus its a lil pricy
Review:
I might be a newb but I luv this product. It helps a lot for a person who sweats some but not a lot. But If you sweat too much the fan will do nothing. It sometimes irritates my eyes, I have sensative eyes. The installation is a lil wierd and confusing at first, but everyone can do it, trust me.
