"And for a regular dude I’m maybe okay...but what I learned is if there’s a door, I’m going out it not in it"-Duke
"Just because a girl sleeps with her brother doesn't mean she's easy..."-Blues
Yes.
The difference being the VRU can be stored neatly out of sight and yet always be available. It's purposed for emergency situations where you're not otherwise foreseeing the need; gas masks are obviously the preferred PPE for when you foresee its use.
Full face respirator masks are bulky and you'll have to store them in obvious plain sight, on your seats or something. I like being prepared, but I don't like leaving shit out in my car that people will be inclined to see and break into my car for, or drawing attention from law enforcement...nor do I like giving people the impression that I make skin-suits and lamp-shades out of people in my free-time by having a bunch of gas masks in my car.
The Ocenico M20 mentioned by MickAK is of limited usefulness, and really only purposed for specific industrial applications. The plastic bag you put over your head doesn't actually seal nor is it positive pressure, which is why it's labelled a "face shield". It will not effectively protect you against CS gas, since your eyes are still exposed, and it relies on your pursing your lips and using a nose clip to protect your airway. That face shield is really only to protect your face from splashing liquids, not vapors.
The VRU may be expensive and goofy looking, but what we're talking about requires using the right tool for the right job, not just a lucky rabbit's foot talisman.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
I showed these to a friend who lives in the hood (they live on the second floor of their house in the Austin area of Chicago, like Charlton Heston in the Omega Man.) He’s thinking it might be useful to toss down the staircase.
Ken
BBI: ...”you better not forget the safe word because shit's about to get weird”...
revchuck38: ...”mo' ammo is mo' betta' unless you're swimming or on fire.”
It's pretty useful when escaping from an oxygen deficient atmosphere. A lot of chemicals displace oxygen pretty rapidly, so if that's the concern a respirator full face or not is just going to keep your face pretty when they find your corpse in the stairwell. I didn't recommend it for CS gas. From personal experience while the Teflon bag doesn't seal effectively or have positive pressure you can escape from an anhydrous ammonia atmosphere with one. It stings though.
The Ocenco M20 fits inside of a full face respirator fairly well in the nylon hip pouch and there's room for a slim pair of goggles as well. That's what goes in my 'Oh shit' bag because that's what I can get. I would rather have a VRU, but that's about as useful as a phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range to me. There aren't any other compact oxygen supplying escape hoods on the market that I've seen. Every other oxygen supplying escape hood requires an external cylinder that's too bulky to fit in a bag along with a full face and the full face is more likely to get used.
If you have a source to purchase a VRU that would be awesome.