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Hi Kevin, The mask itself is probably just fine, assuming you don't have to wear glasses. It certainly is an excellent buy for that price, even if for just the headpiece itself. Apparently that's because of military surplus since USN is mentioned. Your problem once you have the mask is to supply it with a continuous flow of air in a quanity and quality that is completely safe for breathing. When I first started with supplied air I had the great idea of buying just a full facepiece and hooking it up to my shop compressor. At that time (circa 1980) the facepiece cost about $185 as I recall. There were no relatively inexpensive systems such as the current Hobby-Air. Even commercially available systems were not that common and were very expensive back then. Anyway, it was a good idea while it lasted. It just didn't last very long. The first thing I failed to consider was the required air quantity. You need about 4 cfm of continuous air being supplied to the facepiece (6 cfm if it's a hood). My shop compressor at the time lacked sufficient capacity to supply both my spray gun and my facepiece with enough air at the same time. The second thing I found out when I tried it was that air from a lubricated compressor is not very great to breathe. Immediately I noticed a very irritating (I would call it oily) taste in my mouth. My compressor was certainly not spewing out large amounts of oil and I had never had any oil-contamination problems in my paint. Nevertheless, I found it very distasteful and decided in a hurry that I didn't want to breathe that stuff into my lungs. I immediately proceeded to purchase a tankless, non-lubricated air compressor that I would dedicate to supply breathing air. Coupled with about a hundred feet of 3/8 air line, also dedicated to that use, the same facepiece and compressor has served me very well for the many years since. I realize there are commercially produced supplied air systems that rely on shop compressors for their air supply. They also are typically accompanied by (or require as a separate investment) some expensive and complex filtration equipment, together with a CO monitor and alarm. To my way of thinking, that's not worth the trouble even if you have a sufficient air quantity. The initial investment cost for the normally recommended components will likely exceed a small breathing air compressor and you will have recurring maintenance costs regarding special filteration and monitoring equipment. I personally believe that locating a dedicated breathing air compressor in a known area where the air is safe to breathe is a far better choice than relying on devices to remove bad stuff from air after it has been contaminated. Better to breathe known fresh air directly in the first place and be done with it. If I were you, I would investigate the possibility of a commercially available breathing air compressor mated up to the mask you link to. You would not use the pressure regulating stuff that comes with the mask as it would be unnecessary in such a configuration. I am not absolutely positive since I am only going by what's indicated about the mask, knowing nothing else about it myself. It certainly is a promising possibility though. A hundred feet of interconnecting 3/8 PVC air hose can be had quite reasonably at Home Depot and other such places. The only problem with it that I have found is it gets stiffer in cold weather - but I don't paint in cold weather anyway. CN, I don't think any air-line type of supplied air respirator supplied with air from a remote source is "approved" for use in atmospheres that are immediately dangerous to life and health (IDLH). I think that designation is reserved for those extremely hazardous atmospheres where only a few breaths can result in immediate incapacitation and/or death and where rapid escape is not possible. I don't believe the isos used in paints are considered to be in that severe a category - even though there have been a small number of actual deaths when using such materials. It is my understanding that in IDLH atmospheres only a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), as used by fire fighters, is "approved".  Rod
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