Contents
Products Mentioned in This Review:
| Picture | Name | Rating | Product Link |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Empire Mini GS Paintball Marker | 4.9/5 | Shop Now at Amazon.com |
Providing its players with a low profile and anatomic look, the Dye i4 is a well-known multipurpose mask within both the paintball and airsoft community. This lightweight and sleek mask brings a great compact feel to your face while providing the necessary protection needed for you to feel safe and secure on the field. With great ventilation in the front allowing you to breathe comfortably and be as vocal as you need to without any interference from the mask. The i4 mask is equipped with a quality dual pane thermal lenses with an incredible 290-degree field of view, ensuring that nothing will ever escape your peripheral view. From the straps at the back all the way down to the front covering the chin Dye has built a mask from quality materials, being sure to make a crazy amount of colorways to cater to any player’s preference. Let’s dive into the review of this sleek mask.
Overall Rating – 4.8/5
[envira-gallery id=”207″] Click to Enlarge!Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Low Profile
- Anti-Fog
- Changing Lenses is quick and easy
- Great Construction
- Amazing Field of View
- Extremely Lightweight
- Excellent Ventilation for breathing/communication
- Materials are flexible allowing to look down sights
- Large variety of colorways
- One Year Warranty
Cons:
- No Forehead Coverage
- Lens Glare (On certain colors)
- When your mouth is open, jaw will be exposed
- Doesn’t fit everyone (Explained here)
What Your Purchase Includes
Upon your purchase of the Dye Precision i4 Thermal Mask you’ll receive the following:
- Dye Precision i4 Thermal Mask (Invision is what the I stands for by the way)
- Manual (Also online here)
- Warranty (Be sure to fill this form out and mail it to Dye or do it online here, you will not get the warranty unless you do this)
- Temporary lens protector (Make sure you peel this off before you play)
- Ripstop material carry bag
Always a plus that Dye opts to give each buyer a nice little carry bag for the mask. I know I’ve scratched previous masks I’ve owned when I put them in my main bag with all my gear, so this mask bag is a nice bonus.
Breakdown of Mask Materials
Dye did a great job of making sure the right type of materials were put in the right spot on the i4 mask to allow for maximum protection while still keeping player functionality in mind.
- The jawline and mouth protector are made from a thick rubber that is solid enough to have paint bounce off or break without your skin having any contact, yet flexible enough to allow for some movement if you were to put pressure on it. (Example: Aiming down sight)
- The frame around the lens is built from a high quality plastic that is extremely sturdy. It connects with the lens and players should always feel safe with this type of material on the mask.
- The ear protectors are made from as Dye has named it E-flex thermo foam ear pieces. It feels like a spandex material. This material is flexible and strong, while still being permeable enough to hear your teammates on the field.
Anti-Fog Thermal Lens
One of the biggest things the Dye i4 brings to the table is its anti-fog lens. Any paintball player who’s played with a mask that doesn’t have anti-fog knows how much of a pain having your mask fog up is, and not being able to wipe it down during the game sucks, you feel useless. Anti-fog removes these pains and removes them well. I’ve never seen or heard of anyone having fog appear in their i4 unless they cover the ventilation areas that are not meant to be covered. In other words, you should be fine so long as you use it properly.
How does the Anti-Fog Thermal Lens work on the i4?
The anti-fog lens operates by essentially sandwiching a layer of air between two lenses. This pocket of air acts as an insulator between the two layers. It allows the inside lens to warm up (from the players body heat) without contacting the outside lens, preventing any possible fogging from occurring.
Quick Lens Removal
A convenient feature of the i4 is the speedy lens changes you can do. These lens changes require no tools and take about 10 seconds to do. (Maybe a little more your first couple of times) Removing the lens is a pretty simple process, to do so you need to push forward the two points of contact holding the lens in, which are located under each earpiece. What’s great about this removal process is because you push via the earpieces you don’t do any damage to the inner lens and seal. If my written description of removing the lens was unclear (more than likely) here’s a visual example from BadLands:
Clear Lens vs. HD Lens, Which Should I Get?
To go with the wide variety of colorways the mask has, Dye has also created many different color lenses as well. The lenses you can purchase for this mask come in two different categories, Clear lenses or HD lenses and they each provide a different look through your mask. So which one should you use?
Scenarios: Indoors, overcast, nighttime → Use Clear Scenarios: Sunny day, early morning → Use HD
If you can only purchase one lens, definitely buy the Clear lens, while the HD is cool and does help on brighter days, the clear is much more multipurpose and fits in different scenarios and if you’re playing indoors or speedball you’ll find the HD may darken your view.
My Advice
As I want you guys to be as informed as possible when reading this review of the Dye Precision i4 thermal mask I figured I’d add in my own personal opinion on a couple of things. So here’s a few things I think you guys should know or do before deciding to purchase the i4.
Go and try it on – First and foremost, as you know from this review, this mask is extremely small/low profile, and unfortunately this does come at a small cost. Players who might have bigger or longer faces may notice that their jawline and chin are exposed when wearing this mask. Because of this I highly recommend going to your nearest paintball or airsoft store to try this mask on before you buy it.
Buy Foam Replacements or Super Glue – It is a common issue with the Dye i4 that the foam that is meant to cushion your face starts to peel off after a few months. Thankfully it is an easily fixable problem, you can just super glue the foam back and it should be fine, maybe re-apply it as you see fit. You can also purchase an official foam replacement kit from Dye, it includes replacement foam as well as super glue and an alcohol pad to wipe down any previous glue residue.
Final Verdict
If you’re looking for a lightweight, small, and sleek mask, whether it be for speedball, airsoft, or even MilSim, then look no further, the Dye Precision i4 thermal paintball mask brings all that to the table and more. With a large variety of colors for masks and lenses to satisfy any players aesthetic needs, Dye did a great job of putting their customers first with a mask like this. Quality materials used in its build as well as an amazing anti-fog lens, all for a solid price. I would definitely recommend picking up the Dye i4 mask if you’re on the market for something new.
If you’re interested in purchasing the Dye Precision i4 Thermal Paintball Mask, you can find it here at Amazon.com