What Protective Safety Gear Do You Need For Gel Blasting?
Introduction
Safety gear, Most contact sports these days require some form of it. And skirmish style sports are no different!
There are a few skirmish type games/sports today that use non-lethal projectiles and Gel Blasting is one of them, the other more common and known about the most in Australia is Paint Ball. But Gel Blasters have gained a lot of exposure in the last three to four years, exploding onto the scene! And both sports require safety gear to play which includes eye protection.
Game Play Types
The type of game play that is most sought after in gel ball sports is Speed Soft also known as Speed QB, CQB, Speedy etc etc. which is commonly played indoors. There are some smaller outdoor fields around too. These CQB type games are a lot of the time very close engagement distances. So protecting yourself and using the correct safety gear is paramount.
Other game play types include Milsim, Milsim lite and different game modes which are played indoors and outdoors.
If you’re thinking about playing or are already playing the sport, you might be wondering about the gear you need to use, including safety gear.
Safety Gear
Safety gear and also known in most industries as PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). A good pair of shoes is a good idea if playing outside, sometimes even a pair of gloves and with shoes indoors is a good because looking after your feet, which hold up the rest of your body is a good idea. And let’s face it, who likes stubbing their toes on things!?
But the most overlooked piece of gear that is never talked about enough in gel blaster sports is eye protection! Now let me rephrase that… THE most important piece of safety gear is EYE PROTECTION!
Most people when thinking of safety gear, more than likely think about things like gloves, padding, head gear, mouth guards etc as other contact sports rely on this.
But in gel blasting sports it’s not as important as eye protection.
Lots of retailers talk about it in their product videos but you never really see it as a high light for selling points as most people take it for granted.
99% of all gel blasters to date are provided with some form of safe eye wear.
Most of it is not that great to be honest. But they will protect your eyes. The problem with them is they are of poor quality and tend to scratch quickly or are already really blurry to look through. Most of the high end blasters do come with half decent/better quality eye protection.
The most important part of eye protection is that it has a good full seal around the eyes so nothing can sneak in as gel balls tend to bounce off objects. At higher speeds they can break apart on more solid objects. I prefer mono goggles myself but more people go for the safety glasses as they tend to fog up less and are more appealing for looks.
Your Health
When participating in gel blaster sports your health and safety should come first!
You can’t grow new eyes so look after them!
Here is a link to a work safe document provided by the Australian Government.
Eye Protection
This will give you an idea and some examples of eye protection
Below are some examples of different Types of Eye Safety Gear …
1. Mesh Eye Protection
Mesh Eye Protection is HIGHLY NOT recommended for gel blasters as the gels can break apart and get past the mesh, so please DO NOT use them
NOTE: Please use Option 2 and 3, it is what you will need to use and SHOULD be using.
2. Safety Glasses
If you are going for option 2 (Safety Glasses) please make sure they are at least wrap around and have little to no gaps or are full seal. They can come in different styles, colours. Like for example you can get smoked lenses for when playing outdoors to keep the sun out of your eyes. And while on that topic make sure they are UV rated so you don’t get sun damage to your eyes!
3. Safety Goggles
If you choose option 3 (Safety Goggles) which is the safest option in my opinion, try to get a pair that has double lenses. They are less likely to fog up. They can come in different styles, colours. Also as I spoke about before there are dual lens versions which will reduce/eliminate fogging altogether.
Final Thoughts
I hope you found this blog informative and I got my point across about how IMPORTANT safety gear is and more importantly EYE PROTECTION! Comment if you have any suggestions or information that can be helpful to this blog.
Happy gel blasting and remember to call your HITS! 🙂
Updated: 30/10/2022 – formatting and some information
Updated: 27/12/2022 – formatting and some information
