Full face respirator or a powered hood?
A full face respirator seals to your face and covers your eyes; a powered hood does not seal at all and covers your whole head. The full face needs a clean shave and a fit test. The hood does not, and it is easier to wear for hours.
Both cover your eyes, so people treat them as the same category. They are not.
A full face respirator is a sealed mask with a big visor. The seal runs around the edge of your face and the same rules apply as any sealed mask: bare skin all the way round, a fit test, and no beard. You are still pulling air through the filter with your own lungs, so it is hot work and it fogs, and most full face masks are heavier on your head than a half mask.
A powered hood does not seal. A blower pushes filtered air in and it escapes past your face, so nothing is trying to grip your skin. No fit test. Beards and glasses are irrelevant. The airflow clears fog and takes some of the heat with it.
Where the full face wins: it is more compact, quicker to put on and take off, and with the right cartridge it can be certified for hazards ours is not. Ours is particulate only, and not approved for paint fumes, solvent vapors, gases, or oxygen-deficient environments.
Where the hood wins: hours. If you are in dust all day, or your face will not seal, the sealed option is the one that ends up hanging on a nail.
Related questions
I have a beard and I wear glasses. Is there anything that works? Do I actually need a respirator for woodworking, or is that overkill? Is a powered respirator heavy? Does it hurt your neck? Does the carbon pre-filter mean it handles fumes?The Breathie Thingy
A powered air-purifying respirator for woodworkers. $499 for the first 30 units of each batch, including a spare filter kit.
See the current batch