Trend Airshield

Re: Trend Airshield

Jennifer@Indy.USA

>Hi Tom,

I just bought it and have been using it for about 2 weeks now...I love it so far. Do a search here...there's been several threads on it in recent weeks.

Jennifer

Re: Trend Airshield

Peter Teubel

>I've had one for a few months and its simply great. Comfortable even when using it for hours in the shop.

FWIW, Woodcraft is offering a free spare battery mail in rebate on an Airshield purchased between now and January 31.

Re: Trend Airshield

Tom Mullane

>Even with the free battery from Woodcraft.. it is cheaper from All Pro when I buy a spare battery...

Re: Trend Airshield

Larry Barnes

>Tom,

I just ordered it from All Pro,, I have its predeccessor, and have used it for several years, batteries are about shot, so I thought I could by the Trend and update everything, I tried it out at the Baltimore WW show and liked it.. You will not have a problem with fogging.. or the Beard.

L.B.

Re: Trend Airshield

Gerry Wagner

>Tom,

I've had the Trend for a couple of months and find that it works well. I have a beard also. I wish I had bought an extra battery.

Q for anyone who has one...

Rod Peterson -- Ormond Beach

>Do you know what voltage the battery works on?

I have in mind running a 12V DC line from one of several 12V power supplies I have so I can reduce the incidence of battery life issues.

Also, what type of wire (zip cord, red/black wire, etc.) goes from the battery to the head unit?

Thanks.

Rod

P.S. Their marketing is hilarious. Their 8 hour battery life upgrade is simply selling you another 4 hour battery.

Re: Q for anyone who has one...

Jennifer@Indy.USA

>Rod,

It doesn't have a wire, but a post that comes out of it. The post plugs into a hole in the helmet. If I were at home I'd take a pic for you.

Jen

If you were at home...

Rod Peterson -- Ormond Beach

>...I'd look at it.

Thanks. Is that the same unit that Bill G. had at Ray's a couple of years ago? Seems to me it was a flawed design. Something about burritos...

Rod

Re: Trend Airshield

Jim Ketron

>I orderd one last night from all pro tools a good friend of mine said that you can go to radio shack and buy the stuff you can make a battery with I may go that route or just order one latter

I tryed Dick Parr's trend out the other day when he came for a vist I liked the way it felt while on and it was not cumbersome like I thought it was going to be! it wasent that heavy almost the same weight as my cheepo shield!

Jim

Re: Trend Airshield

Fog Tanner

>I have a Powervisor and refused to pay the $70 for a second battery. You can pick up good batteries from a model shop that carries RC/Aircraft supplies. I picked up a cheap pack 3 cell pack (already made up) from an electrical supply house for $2.50. I would find a better place than RadioShack for supplies. I bought all the materials to make a multi battery charger for less than $20 from an electrical parts shop that carries 1% and 5% resistors instead of the 10%-15% that Radios Shack pushes. The charger will charge more than one battery (5) at a time and has both the stanard C10 and trickle C50 charge rates. The C3 rates that most of the chargers that come with the airshield units, will shorten the lifespan of the battery to about 1-2 years. The C10 rate will give you about 5 - this varies depending on the quality of the battery. This is if you use the unit every Saturday and Sunday and run the battery pack down to its lower limit.

If you make your own packs, look for an industrial quality battery that will take a C3 charge and then only charge at C10. The alternative is a "smart" charger that will control the charge rate and keep the battery from getting too hot and will switch to a trickle rate when it is fully charged. I have used these types of chargers for over 30 years in model aircraft and got five years from battery packs. This was using the pack almost every Saturday and Sunday.

Dissenting slightly

Joe Pack

>Tom, before you plunk down your hard-earned cash, go somewhere and try one on. I went to a Cincinnati Woodcraft store with the money and intention of buying the Airshield - even had them hold one for me for a couple of days to make sure I had one if it fit. Maybe I'm too sensitive or critical, but I had to walk away empty handed.

I have a large, some say "fat," head, size 7 3/4. I had to remove the back padding on the band to make the Airshield fit comfortably. I also found that the whole thing was top and front heavy. When I tipped my head forward as if looking down at my lathe, I could feel the downward pressure enough that it was actually pushing my eyebrows down as if squinting. All in all, the Airshield was just too uncomfortable for me.

I guess the bottom line is my first line - for this much money, try it on before you put your money down.

Finally, I did try on the baseball cap style fan/mask last weekend. It was also a bit front heavy in the plain cap style, but the hard hat version - really just a cap with a plastic liner - was actually not too bad. If I had not blown my money on a mortiser already, I might have taken a closer look at the cap style.

No Burritos on this one Rod

Jay in TX

>Rod,

This is an all in one unit that consists of the visor only with a small fan built in. The only vapors I have to worry about are when my ears start smoking because I wonder, "How'd they do that..."

Come to think of it...

Rod Peterson -- Ormond Beach

>I think what Bill had was the Trend Airlines and it was the DC line that ran from the waist belt battery to the hood.

I now think that the hood with the intake in about the same location was the one that Fred Reitberger had in his shop.

Like I said, flawed design.

Rod