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chin strap

platoongod

Platinum Member
Apr 24, 2008
390
21
38
North Wales, Bangor
So i managed to contact Valken and they pointed me to their webstore which sells the strap for only $5....great i thought! shipment + product within the united states only $11! however as soon as you select uk shipping + taxes..........the shipment goes to $74 and the total goes to $98........so i decided i probably shouldn't go for this......i have emailed them telling them this but no response as of yet, does anyone know if valken have a uk distributor or would any of the uk stores be able to source this part ?
 

shoaibaktar

Well-Known Member
Jun 14, 2011
410
152
53
Hmm mixed bag of answers here then haha, will have to sort something for my sly profits it is the case as i got rid of my chin straps, but my wife is handy at that kind of stuff, so i could get something sorted i guess.......if this is going to be the case, i wonder if rules on selling masks second hand on the forum will change to say masks being sold must be sold with the chin strap ? becoming quite interesting this.
You are playing fast and loose with the definition of "interesting"!
 

Ninja

Shooting for The Clan 09
Feb 27, 2007
1,230
28
83
that place near you
now I understand why the whole chin strap thing has come in, insurance,personal liability, how the googles are tested etc. What I don't get is how this has come about now and why so heavily enforced in tourney paintball but yet I've worked on a few sites over the years and been on more then a few and most of the punters dont have or use chin straps. Surely they have the same insurance issues/public liability issues to worry about and a lot of the guys have never played before so in my eyes wouid be more likely to have issues with googles falling off. Just a thought
 

Tom

Tom
Nov 27, 2006
4,076
1,210
198
Salisbury
www.TaskForceDelta.co.uk
now I understand why the whole chin strap thing has come in, insurance,personal liability, how the googles are tested etc. What I don't get is how this has come about now and why so heavily enforced in tourney paintball but yet I've worked on a few sites over the years and been on more then a few and most of the punters dont have or use chin straps. Surely they have the same insurance issues/public liability issues to worry about and a lot of the guys have never played before so in my eyes wouid be more likely to have issues with googles falling off. Just a thought
Because in the last year or so there were two significant cases of goggles coming off
The latest of which was Trevor Resar, around the big W centre wall with his goggles flipped off his head and a barrel stabbed in his face beside his eye

Prior to that there was a barrel stabbed into the chin

And for quite some time people have been popping goggles off every now and then when diving

The face stabbing incidents occurred with the W wall, aided by the fact that people pop out at the same time
But other than the increased chance of getting close to a barrel your goggles won't fly off if using the strap as designed






IMG_1098.JPG


IMG_1099.JPG
 
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shoaibaktar

Well-Known Member
Jun 14, 2011
410
152
53
Good post Tom, and I know you're putting the reasons out there. But it's interesting to look at the actual effectiveness of a chin strap in preventing mask issues.The lower picture is a good starting point .Most masks fall off,downwards,as in the picture ,travelling in the opposite direction from a straps use. The back band comes off,with or without headwear and since the failure to anchor is at the back of the head .The mask is obviously going to move forward.Again the chinstrap is not in the right position to stop this.If you were to wrap the strap around the back of the neck ,it could prevent forward movement though not downward. Most unmasking happens from collisions or diving.The downward and forward momentum generated would call for a different strap layout to prevent this.In the T Resar incident he seemed to be shot under the mask by the barrel going under and that collision force would have made short work of any small chinstrap.Also the barrel going under was probably a large part of the trauma caused.I work in construction and we have the same issues and the straps are wholly ineffective for similar reasons.While I'm sure the safety of players is paramount, in the more concerted application of the chinstrap. The reality is they are not likely to stop accidents or minimise mask issues. In truth the new "W mini wings layouts " the WPBO have released will do far more to make play safer. Also illustrating the slanted sides of the old A bunker stopped blind crashes far better.If there is a true long term casualty from this safety issue ,it is probably going to be the death of the W bunker in 2018.