Czech CM-5D Gas Mask Review

Hello, so another brief mask review today, and this is one a few people requested and thankfully was on eBay for reasonable amounts of money at the moment. It's a Czech CM5D, I believe. Now, we'll open it up and have a look at it. Came in this nice, very basic handle sack. Quite like the design of this. It's just sort of a satchel-type bag with a single clip in the middle and a bit of Velcro. So not an over-engineered satchel, something I like. So what we got was the filter in here, which is an ABEC2 NOP3D. So basically a comprehensive ABEC filter. I quite like the design of this. So there's that. Sort of an instruction manual that says CM5D. So at least that's cleared up what the mask is. And here is the face piece itself, the CM5D. So let's get this out. So basically, lots of you will be familiar that there's a mask called the Czech CM4. Now, I've reviewed the CM4 before on this channel. I might do an updated video on them again, because they're one of those masks that now and again will turn up on eBay in the UK for like 20 pounds or something like that. Very good price for them. So the CM4 was quite a good Czech design. It's basically sort of a copy of, you know, Israeli M15s, Draeger M65s, those sort of style masks. But for a Warsaw Pact gas mask, they were very good. They were made during the period of communist Czechoslovakia. Now, what ended up happening is later on, they put a panoramic lens on the CM4 and it was called the CM5. And then there was a few derivatives of the CM5. So this one in particular being the CM5D. So this one has sort of a more updated head harness that, you know, you can see is a nice mesh design or fully loose in the straps. And then I'll put it on and everything. But there was one that had a drinking tube on that had a different derivative. The original CM5s, I believe, looked exactly like the CM4. They were that kind of tan sort of yellowy green rubber. And then, obviously, this one is in black. Now, from when I was chatting with people to try and understand this, apparently, although these are all still GOST, some were done under different derivatives based on, you know, whether they were for industry, civil defense, that sort of thing. So I've, well, actually, saying that, I imagine this one is still GOST, but you never know, do you? Because if, and it says CM5 there, if they were made later for industry use, they might have converted them over to NATO. But anyway, the only markings on this mask say F4-35. This one says 01. So I imagine that's actually 2001, which you'd hope would be NATO by this point, but you don't know. And it says four there, so that would be size four. So panoramic lens at the front. You've got an oral nasal cup on the inside there. You've got your voice diaphragm there, filter intake port there, exhale valve there. Very good assembly. Makes sense. Also, something to always point out that's worth pointing out with these masks. Having an exhale valve on the bottom there is always a good idea. Reason being sweat from your face and exhale moisture will drip out the mask. If you put an exhale valve on the side there or something, your mask is gonna start filling up with liquids after a while. So there's that. Now let's have a look at the filter. I'm wondering, does this say RD4, RD44, to indicate that it is, oh yeah, there we go. It actually says there, GOST-OZ40X4. So a handy thing with having this, even though the filter's gonna probably be out of date now, so not guaranteed to protect you, is it is another GOST filter I've got at my disposal, or if you buy one of these, you get a GOST filter of it. So if you wanted a modernish GOST filter to put on the mask, there you go. So this one was from 2016-12. Don't know if that was production date or expiry, but if that was the production date, it might still even be good. So that's interesting. So opening up the bottom, it looks very similar, saying that, to the kind of rip-off of the S10 filter that came with the ON90. Weirdly, I actually prefer the Czech civil defence master military ones, because the CM3s I prefer to M17s, and CM4s I prefer to the ON90 sort of design, but there's this. Anyway, so let's hope this one fits me. So let's put it on. It's gonna be a rather tight fit, look. There we go. Yep, so there we go. So yeah, this is quite comfortable. Very good field of view, because obviously it's a big panoramic lens. Weirdly, I'm getting a bit of ghosting in the front of my vision. Now, ah, there is something there. Okay, let's take the mask off and just check if that was some sort of optical, not optical thing. What's, ow, what's the word I'm looking for? You know, something designed to keep the mask in shape when you've got it in the storage bag. You know, like a face-form thing. That is strange, isn't it? Because that doesn't seem like it wants to come out. I don't know. Ah, that would be for inserting glasses onto, I reckon. Like those perforated little holes in it, which are really hard to show on camera. Probably for where you stick, you know, your lens corrective things in and then stick them in. But can I take this off? Because ideally, if I'm not wearing glasses or a mask, that's a bit pointless having this here. So yeah, that's a bit strange. There doesn't seem to be an easy way of ripping this off, but, well, you know, without ripping it off, that's what I'm sort of saying. But we'll leave it in there for now, but that's the only annoying feature, is ideally you'd want something like that that would come out easier. Because if you're not wearing glasses with it, then it obstructs your vision a bit, because obviously it's not too bad, but again, defeats part of the point of having a panoramic lens if there's something there in the middle of it. But really, at some point, I ought to try and get some optical inserts so I can stick in some gas mask so I can try on my glasses. But anyway, comfort is very good. Makes a good chin seal for me. It turns out getting the CM3, CM, sorry, CM4 style masks in a smaller size is definitely a better option for me. Yeah, overall, actually very, very good. So there you go. So if you still can find these on eBay for about the 50 pound mark, this is why I'm trying to get these reviews done of these masks that are still available quite quickly for people wanting to know about corona reasons. Yes, I would definitely recommend this, because yeah, the CM5D, it's pretty comfortable. I mean, it is ghost, which is not a great thing, because it's easier to get NATO filters, but as this comes with a ghost filter, it's not too much of a worry, because the filter that comes with this is presuming it wasn't leaking, and you couldn't use the filter. This would be absolutely fine for corona use. It's a comfortable enough mask. I said the only thing that's annoying me really is that ridge there, which there might be a way of disassembling the mask, taking it out, and then putting it back together. I'll look at that for a later video. But yeah, it's a comfortable enough mask. The head harness with the mesh sort of system is comfortable enough. So all in all, this is a very good mask. And now, yeah, 50 pounds worth, I don't know, but if you consider what a lot of masks cost at the moment, that's certainly not bad. The voice diaphragms are always excellent on these. It's very similar to the type on the Israeli M15 and US M40s and things like that. But yeah, this is the weird thing I was saying about Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, that the masks they actually domestically made and made derivatives of are actually very good. The masks I don't like they made so much are the ones that are just straightforward copies of other people's masks. So anyway, let's take that off. Most masks for me at the moment aren't all that comfortable just because I've got that swollen gland in the back of my neck, which is painful when there's pressure put on it. But yeah, overall, this is very good. So the only thing for me to figure out with this is is there a way of taking out this rubber thing without cutting it out? Because obviously I don't want to do that because I don't like the idea of damaging masks. But yeah, overall, this is a very good design. So as I said, nice and straightforward. Only thing I could think that could be improved... Oop, you could do this yourself actually. Not that I'd recommend it, but where there's a chin section here, if you cut a little slit in here, that would allow your sweat to drain out from your chin. A lot of masks have that in the design. I don't know like this one doesn't. Again, if you didn't want this rubber sort of thing here and you really didn't want it there permanently, you could cut it out, but I'm not going to do that with mine because I want it as it is for a collector's sort of reason. But yeah, one of the other pros of this, if you get one that comes with a modern ghost filter, you've got a modern ghost filter. So if you ever wanted to, you could put this on a GP5 and you've got a filter that should screw in perfectly with old ghost masks. I'll get a GP5 in a second before I end this video and I'll try that just to check it works. But you know, it's not a bad thing at the moment, especially with Russian PPE exports, you know, being banned where you can't get the bris filters and all that if you didn't want to get a ghost filter that you can actually get one that's built to like standard of a good NATO filter, you know, easily like that. So let me go get a GP5M and we will see if this screws in all right. So I've got the GP5M. Sort of awkwardly tucked under my arm. So let's take out this awful ghost to NATO adapter that was useless. Check that down there, try and find it later on. So now let's see, does this screw in all right? It should do because they're both advertised as ghost. There's probably a case of getting that lined up properly with the thread. But the thing to point out though is that sometimes you will end up getting two sets of ghost masks and ghost filters or NATO masks and NATO filters and still find certain masks don't seem to like certain filters for some bizarre reason. Anyway, that looks like it's screwed in. I don't want to put it in too tight. So GP5M on, there we go. And now for the moment of truth, certainly works better than the other adapter. I can get a bit of smell coming through, but I don't know if there is a damaged bit in this mask actually saying that. It could be that both bits of the XL valve don't work properly on this. But it does, there, that wasn't in quite right. So let's have a look. So obviously I do want to get this. It's advertised as ghost, but why it's, I don't know if that's just the GP5's thread bit. Ah, the extra rubber washer was in there. So right, let's chuck that out. That might have been the washer interfering with it. Yeah, that's gone in better now. Yeah, that's the other problem with putting rubber washers in what I was saying in that other video is, although adding extra rubber washers can be a great thing for like forcing a NATO filter to seal properly, it sometimes stops other filters going in properly. So there's that. Anyway, let's try again. Mask, no banana oil smell at all. Right, so that's working perfectly now. And again, I definitely recommend using a CM5 over this, but the point stands that, you know, if you did end up getting one of these, you do get a ghost filter. So if you wanted to safely put this ghost filter on any other ghost mask, you've got it. So yeah, RD40X4 rather than being RD40X41 forward slash seven or whatever it is. But yes, there you go. So there's that. And an important point to make. Ah, that's a shame. I was hoping there might've been a rubber washer in that top cap, but there wasn't. But yeah, so overall, I'm quite impressed with this. It's very simple. As I said, only complaint I really have of this is that it's got that rubber sort of band across there for glasses inserts, I imagine. Again, I'd rather they'd come up with some way where it could be taken in and taken out. Because the Israeli M15 has that, but the Israeli M15 one is just like a little rubber tab that sits, I think, above the oral nasal cup like that. So it doesn't get in the way of your vision, but whatever. They did it how they did it. And yeah, this one came with a filter that may even be in date or not. But it has come with a modern safe ghost filter. So, you know, the point is, if you did want to use this filter with a different ghost mask, you can. And you get a very nice mask as well. So this one, I think, was from Centurion Surplus. I bought it, if I'm remembering right, on eBay. I also bought another CM4 from them just to show that. I thought I'd include it in this video. Just, you know, I'll do another re-review of the CM4 if people want me to. Because it's quite a while on from when I last reviewed it. But yeah, here's the standard CM4. This'll show you, oh, it's still sealed in the bag, look. Let's open this up. So that's your standard CM4. So there's the CM4 and CM5. Primarily, as I was saying, the regular CM5D, the regular CM5, sorry, is the same colour rubber as the CM4. But essentially, the basis of the mask is the same. So, you know, the point I was making, at least, was let's get this one on and then put, I should just do it first. But yeah, the point is, obviously, you could use these filters or CM4s if you wanted to as well. There we go. The only problem I found with some masks is these covers actually stop you screwing the filter in properly. If that does prevent the filter going in fully, what I'll end up doing is just taking that plastic cover off. But let's try this. I also want to see if this CM4 in a much smaller size works better with my, you know, making a good seal. Well, I actually do really like the CM4. As I was saying to people, it is a great old communist mask for the price point. I don't know if I can even get that strap to tighten any further than it's already tightened. There we go. It's a bit stiff. There we go, right. Let's try this a bit on a row. Oh, excellent. So I've now got a CM4 that fits me properly. And yeah, it does look like my eyes are in the right place on this. So there you go. Check CM4s and CM5s. Very good masks. I will do a proper extra review on this because these again are turning up for like 15 to 20 pounds. A little bit of fogging on this, but I don't know if that's a stuck valve in the oral nasal cup or whatever. It looks like the oral nasal cups got a bit folded from years of being stored in a bag. But there you go. Both of these masks are excellent and I'd recommend them. Now for the tough job of trying to undo these straps that I've tightened. Because that is one of the issues I've sometimes had with the CM4 style straps is that they get a bit stuck once you've tightened them and you get the mask stuck on your face. There we go. And I can smell the banana oil as soon as I take that off. So yeah, that's the only issue there is this has become a bit crumpled through storage. I'll need to sort of squeeze that back out. But otherwise, yes, the CM4 is excellent. The CM5 is excellent. And yeah, this is the thing that somebody said I was insulting Czechoslovakia or the Czech Republic the other day were saying they copied masks. No, all I'm saying is the masks they designed a bit more domestically I think are a lot better than the ones where they just ripped off other nations. But there you go. So what we've concluded from this is the CM4 and CM5 are good. And I also like the fact it's come with a definitely safe ghost filter. That's modern that you can put on your older ghost masks if you want to as well. That's nice. Because as I said, with FP5s, it can be a bit of a crapshoot whether you get the newer or older ones. And stuff like that.