Superior Lung Protection: 3M 6800 Full-Face Respirator

3M 6800 Full-Face Respirator ► Check Amazon

Hey, everyone. In today’s video, we’re going to be reviewing the 3M 6800 full-face mask, stay tuned.

When it comes to personal protective equipment or PPE, 3M dominates that segment. When you shop for PPE at your local home improvement store, 3M is most likely prominently displayed on the shelves. So, when it came time to look for a full-face mask to do some automotive painting, I looked at 3M before I looked at any other brand.

3M 6800 Full-Face Respirator – First Look

Here’s the original packaging in which the 3M mask came. So, you get your mask here…and it also came with these 6001 cartridges, and you get an instruction manual. So, here’s the 3M 6800 full-face mask, and it comes in three different sizes. The 6700 is small, 6800 is medium and 6900 is large. Most people are going to fall in the 6800 mask range…it covers about 75 percent of the population out there as I mentioned in another video. And if you’re about 6’5” and above, you’re most likely going to want to buy the 6900 mask because of your larger features.

3M 6800 Full-Face Respirator vs Half-Mask Comparison

In this video, as we review the full-face mask, we’re also going to do a side-by-side comparison to the 3M half-mask. So right off the bat, one of the differences is that the full-face mask obviously has the lens here…the half-mask does not. Also, the straps are different, so you’ve got this strap that goes over your head and then this strap here goes behind your neck. This one here, the strap’s on the back. I’ll talk about those a little more in detail here, but they actually go around your head instead. Since the straps on the half-mask go around your neck and your head. This neck strap for sure is definitely not something you want to wear for a long time. It gets very uncomfortable using the half-mask with the strap. Whereas, the full face mask, because it goes around your head, it’s a lot more comfortable…and also the straps are softer. They both have the same 3M style filter attachments here. You can see that right there with the three tabs on it. Same thing on this one here.

As far as seals are concerned, the half-mask seals around your nose and your mouth, whereas the full-face mask seals up against the flatter surfaces of your face. That’s one distinct difference that really made me choose the full-face mask over the half-mask when it comes to painting. If you look at this half-mask, one of the problems with it is that you’ve got this nose and mouth contour situation going on where not everyone’s face is going to be the same. So, this mask is going to work much better for some people than it will for others. Because this full-face mask does have a built-in lens, it offers much better eye protection, also. So, if you’re doing a lot of sanding or doing anything involving a lot of wood where you’re worried about getting fibers in your eyes, this will protect your eyes much better than if you have to wear goggles.

3M 6800 Full-Face Respirator – Closer Look

The 3M mask is made of a really durable, lightweight plastic, so it was both strong and lightweight at the same time. If we look at the lens, it’s not just for frontal vision…you also have pretty good side of peripheral vision here. There’s a 3M cool valve on the front, so when you exhale the hot air is expelled instead of being trapped in the mask. 3M provides a lot of accessories for this mask, including supplied air systems, lens covers, which you see here, and then also there is a spectacle kit you can get if you want to wear glasses with the mask.

As far as the lens cover goes, that’s a very important thing to have. You don’t want to have your lens get scratched up. So, I have a kit of 25 of these lens covers that I keep around so I can change them out as I need to. One of the things I like about this mask is that it’s very modular in that all the parts can be pulled off of it. So, like for example, this front cover comes off as I showed a little bit earlier here…just pop that off. You can also take this inner portion out and then you can also take the lens apart. So, if you have to replace the lens at all, you just take these two screws out… there’s one here, and then one on this side here…pull the frame apart, and then replace the lens. The straps can also be removed as you can see there. So, this is great if you have to actually clean the mask. You can actually take it apart and put the parts in a bucket of soapy water and let it sit overnight. To tighten the straps, all you do is pull on these little tabs here. You can hear that it’s tightening there…and then to loosen the straps, all you do is hold up this little tab here and then just pull the straps through like that. Very simple.

So, I’m going to go ahead and quickly install some cartridges on the 3M mask just to kind of demonstrate that it’s pretty much like any other 3M mask you would use. Just line up the tabs and then twist it. Same thing on this side.

Trying on the 3M 6800 Full-Face Respirator

Alright, so we’re going to go ahead and put the mask on. The first thing you want to do is loosen the straps. After that, you want to put your chin in first…that’s the first part of your face that goes in the mask. So, I’m going to demonstrate that real quick here. All right, so my chin is in here first. I’m going to pull the strap now…nice and tight.

The next thing I want to do is a positive pressure test. So, I’ll put my hand over the exhaust port here and blow outward, and I’m checking for leaks around the seal here…and if you see the mask bulging and there are no leaks, then you’re in good shape. Now, we’re going to do a negative pressure test. We’re going to put our hands over the filters and then we’re going to suck inward. Again, we’re seeing that the mask is contracting onto our face and that there are no leaks around here at all, so we’re in good shape there.

Final Thoughts on the 3M 6800 Full-Face Respirator

On the DIY Apprentice Wrench Rating Scale, I’m going to give this mask a five out of five. This mask is very comfortable and can easily be worn for a long period of time. It’s also like wearing goggles and a respirator in one and offers superior eye protection over just using a half-mask and goggles. I also like that the parts in this mask can be replaced if something were to fail, and this mask can be used with supplied air systems, too. The only negatives I’ve found with this mask is that the lens covers are essential if you want to really protect the lens, and also you need a spectacle kit if you want to wear glasses with it.