Mesh glasses or goggles, your experience?

Old Greenhorn · October 16, 2021, 07:17:13 PM

I was placing my bi-annual 'stuff' order with Madsen's last month and noticed their offering for 'mesh' type glasses and goggles. I use a steel screen on my helmet and for the most part it works OK, but if the sun is over my shoulder shining on the inside of the screen it is blinding and sometimes chips get inside the screen and lay there, until I look up at the tree top and they fall in my eyes. I had thought about trying these glasses or goggles but never did. Some days when running the sawmill (much more often lately) and the wind is wrong, my eyes get full of dust and wondering if these might help also in that situation? There are sevral styples and those 'bug eyes' ones looks like they might interfere with the brow part of the hard hat suspension.
SO I am asking if anyone has experience with these and how they work while wearing a hard hat? I am concerned about sweating issues and how well they keep the junk out. Are they hot to wear in summer? Do you find them easy to use or just another compromise? What brands work best for you, or what have you tried and no longer use and why? In short, tell me what you know from your experience and learn me up. I like to try new things once in a while, maybe it's time to try this.
Thanks folks.

Skeans1 · October 16, 2021, 08:54:21 PM

I use to wear a set of bug eyes and have had a set of the glasses style I honestly hated both styles I've never cared for any screen in front of my face because of the fines that get through them when wearing them. If I wear anything anymore it's a set of safety glasses and that is weather dependent most days it's nothing at all.

With that said any of the above solutions I've never had issues with them well wearing the tin bucket hard hats.

SwampDonkey · October 17, 2021, 08:08:04 AM

I've warn glasses with mesh screen for years. I always wear tubular neck gaiter on my head for keeping the sweat out of my eyes. I think it's spandex. I don't like the cheap loose fit glasses, clearing saw dust goes up under them if you hit the tree at just the right angle. I get the ones with a fit around your eye socket. And watch out for cheap junk where the lenses fall out. I wear Notch brand I get from an Arborist site in Alberta. The screen is finer than some loose fit ones local shops have been selling.

Here is the company/manufacturer site and their glasses I get. I think they ship out of NC.

Trimax Mesh Safety Glasses

Old Greenhorn · October 17, 2021, 08:38:27 AM

Thanks, this is all helpful. I like those notch glasses, the link only showed them with the 20 mesh. I was looking at the ones Madsen's sells that are available in 20 or 30 mesh at 30 bucks, called sight shield. They are the goggles type. Can't decide if I want the headstrap or not. I'd hate them falling off my face with all the bending involved. The Notch ones are half the price but I just want what might work best for me.
Maybe nothings perfect, but I will give it a shot anyway. Every time I look up at a treetop and a chip falls in my eyes I am ready to rip that shield off and fling it. Safety glasses just fog up instantly for me and are a non-starter.

mike_belben · October 17, 2021, 09:27:40 AM

When i first started climbing i wore motocross goggles and theyre were by the far the best at keeping trash out of my eyes. The saw could be blowing right in my face.

Everything else ive tried is lesser. If it keeps the dust out it keeps the sweat fog in.

Old Greenhorn · October 17, 2021, 09:30:09 AM

Yeah Mike, That's why I looking at the mesh and hoping for sweat/fog relief. Glasses fog up and add to the hazard rather than minimize it. A few times I have caught myself making stupid moves during a cut to try and see what I am doing and I just can't live with that. The search continues.

Skeans1 · October 17, 2021, 09:35:34 AM

@Old Greenhorn
This last set of glasses are a set of Oakley's that have anti fog on them and so far in 6 months I haven't had them fog up on me.

teakwood · October 17, 2021, 10:10:23 AM

I'm with Skeans on this one, i don't use anything. tried the mash googles, they do ok but i sweat so much here that the mesh was always full of sweat drops

HemlockKing · October 17, 2021, 12:17:18 PM

When getting into thick stuff where stuff could fly at my face, I put my mesh visor down(attached to helmet)
Imo if you’re gonna go mesh goggles might as well get the whole face shield? It’s saved my face a few times

Edit: came in only reading title, sorry.

Riwaka · October 18, 2021, 02:49:50 PM

Safe eyes - available in North America and Europe.

The finer version, 0.35mm fine which is around 45 mesh.

https://www.safe-eyes.co.nz/

Stephen1 · October 18, 2021, 06:19:31 PM

Quote from: Riwaka on October 18, 2021, 02:49:50 PM
Safe eyes - available in North America and Europe.

The finer version, 0.35mm fine which is around 45 mesh.

https://www.safe-eyes.co.nz/

Those look interesting.
Have you used them? How are they when sawing Ash? I find Ash is the worst as it it is almost a powder when sawing. It is such a dry wood.

trapper · October 18, 2021, 10:15:02 PM

where do you buy them. cant find them for sale in us

SwampDonkey · October 19, 2021, 05:48:48 AM

Quote from: trapper on October 18, 2021, 10:15:02 PM
where do you buy them. cant find them for sale in us

I saw them on Amazon.ca yesterday, pricey.

MrRastos · October 19, 2021, 11:18:57 AM

Mesh glasses for me were A1 when I used to do PCT. As for logging a fair amount seems to get by them and they don't cover your whole face. I'm thinking of switching to a visor for that.

SwampDonkey · October 19, 2021, 01:14:46 PM

A visor is good for woods full of undergrowth as whips have a tendency to slap your face. And pin cherry branches will poke your face good to. :D

Old Greenhorn · October 19, 2021, 04:56:56 PM

Quote from: MrRastos on October 19, 2021, 11:18:57 AM
Mesh glasses for me were A1 when I used to do PCT. As for logging a fair amount seems to get by them and they don't cover your whole face. I'm thinking of switching to a visor for that.

As Swamp and others have noted, the visor is great for branches that reach out and touch you at speed, and that feature of the visor I will miss because I can't count the number of times it has saved me a whack on the face. But I just can't stand the chips that get on the inside of the visor when I am bent over cutting then fall directly into my eyes when I look up to check the top. DANG it happened again just 2 hours ago and that chip hurt like the dickens and cost me 10 minutes of work time. Of course it came at the worst possible time too, front notch done, back cut 80% in and then wham! Now I am blind with a teetering tree dancing in the wind. I just can't have that happen anymore. It's bound to get me hurt some day. I need to try something else.

Skeans1 · October 19, 2021, 09:56:08 PM

Safety glasses or nothing at all is the best thing I've found so far I've tried everything I can get my hands on. Even with the super fine mesh glasses or goggles I had issues with the dust that Doug fir has especially in the second and old growth.

burdman_22 · October 20, 2021, 12:12:55 AM

I like Bolle Safety Rush+ Safety Glasses. They have foam around the eyes, so they seal out a lot of the fines, but the also have ventilation holes on the bottom. Mine sometimes fog a little, but not much, and I wear a respirator when chainsaw milling which I think contributes to the fog some (the exhaust port on the ventilator is very near the lenses. They also have a strap which I like.

I buy them on amazon.

Old Greenhorn · November 11, 2021, 05:32:05 PM

I wanted to follow up on this for future readers, because when one asks for help I think it behooves one to share what they finally did and how it worked. SO I was still thinking on said question and getting ready to place an order next time I had a few minutes to spare. But int the meantime I got a call from a fellow FF member and he offered me a pair of mesh goggles he wasn't using. These are the headband style, so of course I bit on it and was grateful for the offer. Now I can't mention his name because he did it as a 'pay it forward thing' from what someone else here had done for him a while back. I will just say his screenname sort of rhymes with 'MarcoModd'.
Anyway I got them and it was a week before I had any work for them, then I did a tree job and I loved them. With a hard hat and ear plugs they work just peachy and even have a tiny bit of 'sunglasses effect' for me, cutting the glare a bit. A couple of days later I started wearing them when running the mill. The dust can get bad when the breeze picks up and builds in my eyes. Also the debarker sends back flying objects from time to time. Now I found that wearing the head band style with muffs can be a bit of a pain with any kind of hat on, and because I saw under a shed roof and I drop the glasses when the mill get to the far end of the log and I have trouble seeing where the blade guide is, where the debarker is, and if I went out the other end with the blade. With regular safety glasses I just put them on my forehead under the hat brim, but that's not do-able with the head band. SO I changed to a ball cap on backwards and ear plugs and it works out just fine. I like these things and they do keep the fine sawdust out. I do have to blow out the screens at the end of the day because some dust does lodge in there. BUT, they breath great seal out the junk, and are wearable for long periods. I like them a lot.
I will still be ordering a pair of the eye glasses style so I have both options, depending on the headgear and ear protection I wear, but yeah, I like 'em and will keep wearing them. No safety gear will help you if you don't wear it and these are comfortable for me.
They also provide a good look for me, so maybe I can flirt with the chicks easier?