Late to the Party Review: Virtue Vio Ascend Mask

[Cdn_Cuda]

Finally managed to pick up a Virtue Vio Ascend mask for a good price locally. Mask overall is in. Great condition but with some scratches lens.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Mask does not come with a visor, but you can buy one separate.

Tried to figure out how to remove the lens on my own without looking at instructions. I could not. But looking on the instructions it’s pretty easy. I had just missed a step. You need to push the clip in the strap towards the frame, then push in the latch on the lens and then fold the back of the frame in. Then you can easily pop the lens out. It is fairly easy, but not as intuitive as some other Google systems.

[Cdn_Cuda]

My first impression was this mask felt small, like a Dye I4. Thankfully that was incorrect, the Vio Ascend are larger than the Dye I4s and cover more of my jaw. The bottom of the mask is almost exactly in line with jaw line.

The mask feels comfortable and breathable didn’t pinch my ear. I only wore it for about 10 minutes and need to play a game with it. The field of view was nice and found the foam to be comfortable.



Vio is on the left, I4 is on the right. Both masks narrow at the bottom near the jaw. The Vio is longer and covers
more of my jaw.

[Jonnydread]

I believe the Ascend is the entry level Vio, I have a few pairs of various Vios and the only reason I prefer the fancier ones is they use a more flexible plastic and have more comfortable foam/strap. I love my Vios, highly underrated masks IMO. Thanks for the review!

[Chuck E Ducky]

Yeah basically separate soft ears vs Hard ears built in same lens design.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Virtue appears to have dropped all their other masks. They make the Vio Ascend and the X6 now and that is it. The price point puts them directly against the Profiler 2s.

[wunderbarsafari]

I switched to Ascend from flexes after having chronic sinus infections and nasal turbinate surgery. The contour of the lens and foam reduced a lot of pressure on my sinuses which made breathing easier. Lenses are good quality and easy to change, fits my big noggin, covers my ears and chin. Not stupid expensive. I'm a big fan.

[Cdn_Cuda]

I did notice they are very lightly across my nose.

[Chuck E Ducky]

My VIO never fogs it’s my favorite thing about it. Lenses are super durable and have fantastic clarity. I have rebuilt mine a few times over the years. Foam replacement is easy and universal across the 3 different platforms. BK, Vio, Assend. The Vio offers a few different lower options like the extended bottoms that are nice. Parts seem to be pretty easy to find something many other manufacturers fail at that likely on purpose. It really is a great mask. It’s my go to pore whether mask Vio and a yellow lens in the rain is hard to beat. Wish they came with the visor I had to buy mine separately. The visor they make works amazing and looks cool on the mask.

I add the Bunker King foam and Ears to my Vio after many years of service. I have several different lenses the BK HD being my favorite. There yellow is one of the few that don’t give me headaches to use. There optical clarity is Dye level but 8-10x more durable. I have a BK version as well with the softer more playable bottoms and more aggressive venting that also works really well. But my favorite is the VIO with some of the BK upgrades. They are all interchangeable.

[Cdn_Cuda]

I’ll do a comparison between the Vio Ascend and the Profiler 2 when I get a chance. Very similar masks.

[uv_halo]

How is the top grill (top of goggle) pitch? From the pics, the spaces between ribs look like they might be wider than the i4s. Is this the case?

[Chuck E Ducky]

I have taken some shots directly into them and they are wider letting more paint and bigger pieces of shell through. Not in a dangerous way but it is startling when it rarely happens. Most situations you are heads up, but I have taken a few in the top on a getting run down in a high low situation like playing snake. One of the reasons I like the visor. It eliminates that issue completely.

[Cdn_Cuda]

I'll take a look and let you know! That's a good question.

[Cdn_Cuda]

uv_halo great question! The Virtue has larger spaces in the top Google vents. I can consistently fit two dimes in the vent hole on the Vios. The I4s small vents only hold a dome and a little bit of space, but some vents are slightly large and will hold two dimes firmly.

And tossing in the Profiler 2 to compare, it has significantly less vent holes and the holes only fit a single dime.

the dual density foam in the Vio makes.

[Cdn_Cuda]

And for the Profiler 2, just for comparison, it has much less venting and is only a dime wide.


And a comparison of the vents of the Profiler 2 to the I4 and Vio (dual foam)

[uv_halo]

I can't remember looking at the ASTM portions covering masks. I am certain there is a maximum opening size for the goggle frame (with the assumption of it being in the mask). I wonder what it is.