|
In the effort to
remain 'cool' during your games of airsoft, many companies have come
out with products that attempt to say that they will keep you cool.
One of these products is named the "Aqua cool". I have also
seen other similar products named "Cooldana". The advertised
use of these products is to keep you cool when participating in
sports. They are designed to be wrapped around your neck or
your head and are suppose to keep you cool by drawing away heat from
your head and/or neck. What you do is, you soak the cooling
bandana in cold water for anywhere from 3-30 minutes depending on
the manufactures recommendations. Then, they are suppose to
'plump' up and retain the 'coolness' of the water and keep you cool.
So according to
the instructions of the cooling bandana that we purchased, we were
suppose to soak our bandana in cool water for 3-5 minutes. We
decided that cool water wasn't enough and added some ice to ours.
We let the bandana soak for about 10 minutes to ensure that all of
the expanding filling would get enough expansion. The cooldana or
Aqua cool that we got did just that. Another part of the
instructions was we were suppose to distribute the expanding filling
evenly after it begins to expand. We did that and it made a
nice even expansion.
Just pulling it
out of the water I could tell that it was going to retain some
coldness from the ice water. It was pretty cold, but referring
to the instructions if we wanted it even colder, we could put it
into the refrigerator. The instructions state that you should
not put the item into the freezer. I am sure that if you put
it into the freezer for a short while it will be okay, put who
knows?!..
When it came
time for us to leave for our airsoft game, I grabbed the cooldana
cooling bandana and put it into my bag. The place that we were
playing airsoft at was about 10-15 minutes from my house so I was
afraid that it would 'lose it's cool' by the time we got there.
I was pleasantly surprised when I pulled it out of the bag, that it
was still as cold as it was when I pulled it out of the
refrigerator. I showed it around to the guys I was playing
with and they all stated it was cold so it wasn't just me.
I tied the cool
bandana around my neck since I was going to be wearing goggles
during the airsoft game and for obvious reasons I didn't want it to
get in the way. It was cold when I put it on and it seemed as
if it was going to work well. It didn't seem too cumbersome
like I thought it would. The cooling bandana was soft and
seemed not to get in the way. So much that after we arrived at
the staging area, I forgot that I even had it on.
We played a game
which lasted about 40 minutes. I will say that I didn't
'notice' being any cooler but on the same note, I didn't 'notice'
being any hotter. I was also wearing my Under Armour heat gear
at the time so maybe that helped a little. Just so you know
what I was wearing to make the comparison, I was in full woodland
BDU's, tactical vest, carrying four extra hi-cap M4 mags will .25g
BB's. My sidearm and one extra mag, extra battery for the M4
and my M4. So, I will say that I was pretty geared up.
After the first
game, I didn't seem to be sweating all that much but I was still
sweating. I did not feel uncomfortable and to my surprise I
seemed to cool down pretty quick. At least quicker than
normal. Maybe it was because I wasn't 'running' around, maybe
because it was night and cool outside, maybe because of the Under
Armour or maybe because of the cooling bandana.
After about 4
games, I did notice that the cooldana / Aqua cool cooling bandana
seemed to stop working. Or at least it wasn't working as well
as it 'may' have been earlier in the night. The bandana
actually felt as if it was holding in heat as oppose to soaking it
up. It wasn't an uncomfortable feeling but it was the type of
feeling where you know something is there. The easiest way for
my to describe it would be if you were wearing a wetsuit and some
cold water gets into it. It is cold at first and then it just
seems to 'adapt' to your body temp. If that makes any sense.
So I took the
cooldana off and played the last game without it. I didn't
really notice any difference to be honest with you. Actually,
I noticed that during the beginning of the last airsoft game I had
actually been 'cooler' than the previous 3 games. It was
weird, I felt my forehead and it was dry as a bag of flour.
Not a drop of sweat but maybe it was because we had taken a small
break to reload or whatever. All I know is that I didn't seem
to 'miss' the cooling bandana.
So in summary,
it seems as if the cooling bandana named cooldana or aqua cool
worked for the most part but not enough to be considered a
beneficial addition to your gear in an airsoft game. I am sure
that the bandana will work well for around the house chores like
yard work or light work but in games like airsoft, it doesn't seem
to make a difference. To be fair, I have yet to use it during
a day game, but I have one lined up in the desert next week, so if I
notice a significant difference I will let you know. I wonder
if it would have made a difference if I had a couple and a cooler of
ice water to let me 'soak' and then changed them out at each game.
I'll try that in the desert.
The cooling
bandana that I bought was less then $3.00 and I purchased it at
Walmart. I have seen similar items from
www.cheaperthandirt.com for around the same price. The piece
that I purchased was named "Aqua Cool" and the ones from cheaper
than dirt are known as "Cooldana's". For the game of airsoft,
they really don't seem like they will do what you would 'like' them
to do but for only $3.00 it might not be a bad investment to try
out.
|
