I recently purchased a JT Flex 8 Full Coverage paintball mask. So far I like everything about the mask . . . . except for one thing: the lack of ear protection. I don’t quite understand it really. The company took their time to create a real nice mask with a great lens, but they skimped on the ear protection! Well I wasn’t going to play paintball with my lower ears exposed so I added on ear protector extensions.
The criteria that the ear protectors had to meet for me were:
—– It had to add sufficient coverage to my ears and upper neck area
—– It couldn’t irritate me when I had my mask on. That means it can’t be in my way or rub my neck when I look around.
—–The way it attached could not alter the mask in any way. What I mean by this is I didn’t want to drill holes in the mask or glue it to the mask because if I ever decide to sell the mask I don’t want to have to worry about not getting full value because of holes or glue.
So this is a very (very) simple ‘mod’. All I did was cut out some 1/8″ plastic into an ellipse-ish type shape and drill some holes in it. I drilled the holes in the area where the mask vents are located. I then sanded the plastic’s edge smooth. To attach the extensions I ran a mini zip tie through one of the holes in the plastic piece, then through the mask and around one of the vent bars, back through another hole in the plastic, and then tightened it up. This way if I ever want to remove it, I just cut the zip tie.
My only problem (and it’s not really even a big deal) with the extensions are that it makes it a little more trickier to put the mask on. Other than that I have no problems so far. I do plan to spray paint them black so they don’t stand out as much. I used this mask over the weekend during a game and it worked really well. Although I wasn’t shot in the ear area, I’m glad I had the extra protection just in case.
